Civil Rights Since 1787Winner of the 2001 Gustavus Myers Program Book Award. Traces the black struggle for civil rights back to 1787 Contrary to simple textbook tales, the civil rights movement did not arise spontaneously in 1954 with the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. The black struggle for civil rights can be traced back to the arrival of the first Africans, and to their work in the plantations, manufacturies, and homes of the Americas. Civil rights was