Civil rights can be defined as the right of individuals to receive equality. This equality includes the right to equal employment, justice, the right to be free from harsh treatment and discrimination by whites in various ways. These rights include education, the right to vote, employment, same-sex marriage, housing, and many others. Civil rights include the rights of gays and lesbians, the rights of women to vote and hold office, as well as the rights of African Americans and Hispanics. Looking at it from a historical point of view, the civil rights movement consists of struggles, protests and demonstrations, all in a non-violent form, by African Americans to achieve equality among whites. Today, civil rights can be used to describe the demand for equality for all people regardless of culture, race, sex, age, disability, national origin, religion, or some other characteristic. Likewise the civil rights movement in the United States and apartheid in Africa have been noted in history as two major events and/or activities that forever changed the lives of African Americans around the world. Both events had a huge impact on the daily lives of blacks in Africa and African Americans in the United States in one way, shape, or form. In both movements, African Americans fought for what they believed in, for equal rights, and to end racial segregation, just to name a few of the major issues. The two share many similarities and differences. However, it seems that they share more similarities than differences. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” Evidence of Injustice: The brutal murder of fourteen year old Emmett Till, a young Chicago teenager in 1955 can also be seen as an action. .. middle of paper... on the other hand, apartheid began with the election of the Afrikaner National Party. (ANP). The PA wanted Africa to be divided into races separate from each other, so there were nations of whites, blacks and coloureds. This segregation of white and colored nations soon led to blacks being stripped of everything they owned, such as land and citizenship. These two civil rights movements had differences but were also similar in that they were largely nonviolent, both boycotted, fought for white oppression, fought for inequality and faced issues of discrimination, and used a lesser form of violence in their fight for racial segregation. Both civil rights movements were nonviolent and forced Africans and African Americans to come together and act in unison so that equality could be achieved as a whole..