Final Research Paper The Civil Rights Era, which took place during the years of 1955 till 1968, was indeed the movement that gave African Americans the push to achieve their first major accomplishments of the decade. The Civil Rights Movements goals were to break down the walls of legal segregation in public places, achieve equality and justice for African Americans, and to help make African Americans become more self-conscious when standing for all their interest. This movement not only benefited men, but it also benefited women. African American women played a large role in the history of the civil rights era. According to Lee Sartain, “Female activists were integral to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and often in the front lines of the civil rights struggle. Commentators on the period, however, have generally ignored the role of these activists mainly, because women were not prominent in media reporting on the early struggles for civil rights (Sartain).”Even as of today most NAACP members and most local branch presidents are women. Vivian Malone Jones defied segregationist Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace to enroll in the University of Alabama in 1963 and later worked in the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department. The African American women of the Civil Rights Era were often overlooked, because of the race and their gender. Not only was racism an issue, but also sexism. No one took a woman serious during those times; they barely took men serious, because of the color of their skin. The women often just took the backseat roles to the men of their society. Many of the wives of the men in the public eye were often seen by their side, to give support, but they often ever took on their own leadership roles. Not many women would step up and speak and not that many of them took on leadership roles that would have them