civil rights?

civil rights
pl.n.
The rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship, especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress, including civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws, and freedom from discrimination.

adj. or civ·il-rights (sĭv'əl-rīts')
Of or relating to such rights or privileges: civil rights legislation.
Of or relating to a political movement, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, devoted to securing equal opportunity and treatment for members of minority groups.

some websites:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html
http://www.42explore2.com/civilrights.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-Americans
http://www.usdoj.gov/kidspage/crt/crtmen...
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory...

Civil Rights movements have existed for centuries. It's not something typified by the 1950's and 60's solely. It's a very very long winded answer to put on Yahoo! Answers, but if you can get it at your local library try to find "Generations of Captivity" by Ira Berlin. He's very concise and easy to understand. If you can't find that, look for "Many Thousands Gone" by the same author. It's just an older edition of the book and the organization isn't as good, but its got all the same information as Generations of Captivity.

Typically though you're going to want to examine the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the American Constitution. The last of those being in 1870. They are the culmination of civil rights work done in the post-revolutionary to civil war/reconstruction period.

African-American history sites:

http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/tm/black.html

http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/

http://www.aawc.com/aah.html

The Declaration of Independence, issued on July 4, 1776, stated "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal..." Yet the new nation declaring its independence permitted the continuation of the practice of slavery for people of African heritage - a practice that continued until the Civil War in the 1860s. At the conclusion of the Civil War, much remained to be done to ensure the rights and privileges of citizenship to all Americans. As America became a more diverse nation, welcoming immigrants from around the globe, problems of racial discrimination endured for many minority group members. Women and persons with disabilities also fought for and obtained laws that provided for fairness and equality.
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is responsible for enforcing the civil rights laws passed by the Congress. These pages describe the federal civil rights laws and give examples from history that led to their passage.

I didn't think there were civil rights at that time for african americans...That is probably why you can't find one. It was a very dumb time in history...