Although the conclusion of the Civil War during the mid-1860s demolished the official practice of slavery, the oppression and exploitation of African Americans continued. Although the rights and opportunities of African Americans were greatly improved during Reconstruction, cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896, which served as the legal basis for segregation, continue to diminish the recognized humanity of African Americans as equal people. Furthermore, the practice of sharecropping impoverished unemployed African Americans, recreating slavery. As economic and social conditions worsened, the civil rights movement began to emerge as the oppressed responded to their conditions, seeking equality and protected citizenship. With such goals in mind, associations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which came to the legal defense of African Americans and helped march for civil rights reforms. Working against laws restricting African Americans, the NAACP saw progress by winning cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, which allowed the integration of public schools after its approval in 1954 and 1955. In the years following the reform instituted by Brown v. Board of Education, the fervor of the civil rights movement increased; nonviolent mass protests against the unfair treatment of blacks became more frequent. New leaders, like Martin Luther King, emerged. Civil rights activists thus found themselves searching for the unconsciously conceived “noble dream” to instill in the democratic ideals of the Founding Fathers. However, such goals came too slowly for some, who also disagreed that nonviolence...center of paper......he American, 1:411.. Ibid. , 412.Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. “Black Power Movement.” In UXL Encyclopedia of United States History, 172-74. vol. 1. Detroit:UXL, 2009. Accessed January 16, 2014. Gale Virtual Reference Library(GALE|CX3048900077).. Ibid.,174. Carson, “Civil Rights Movement,” in Encyclopedia of the American, 1:412. Gianoulis, Tina. "Gay liberation movement". In St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture., edited by Thomas Riggs, 438-43. 2nd ed. vol. 2. Detroit: St. James, 2013. Gale Virtual Reference Library (GALE|CX2735801056). Carson, “Civil Rights Movement,” in Encyclopedia of the American, 1:411.. Gianoulis, “Gay Liberation Movement,” in St. . James Encyclopedia of Popular, 2:439. Ibid.,439. Ibid.,440. Ibid.. Ibid.,441. Ibid.Ibid.. Ibid., 442. Ibid.. Ibid.