Black residents in the black belt many of whom had been involved in civil rights efforts since 1940s and 1950s emphasized voter registration rather than desegregation as a goal. During the 1950s civil right movements were formed as a struggle for social justice for the blacks to gain equal rights under the law in the united states. The civil war had abolished slavery but didn't end discrimination against blacks, therefore blacks had to endure struggle for equal rights. Such movements includes the SCLC which focused on urban affairs and the SNCC which mainly focused on the rural southern black areas of georgia, alabama, and mississippi where white resistance was present.
