Civil Rights For Beginners fills a major gap by placing the modern civil rights movement into a broader historical perspective. It also discusses the civil rights and liberation movements from the 60s to the present that the African American freedom struggles helped to catalyze including the Chicano Movement, the American Indian Movement, the Asian-American Movement, the Women's Movement, and the Gay Liberation Movement. Unlike most civil rights books, Civil Rights For Beginners focuses less on major leaders and more on the ordinary African Americans who provided the backbone of the successful protests and demonstrations. Moreover, it deals with the expressive culture of the movement, surveying key developments in literature, music, visual art, and film, all of which served both as integral features of the movement as well as contributing to its enduring legacy.

The historical origins of the modern civil rights movement -- Modern stirrings : the early 20th century through the 1940s -- The 1950s : beginnings of the modern civil rights movement -- The 1960s : the golden age of the modern civil rights movement -- The resurgence of black nationalism and development of Black Power -- The expressive culture of the civil rights movement -- The influence of the civil rights movement : other liberation movements from the 1960s to the present.