To what extent was the Civil Rights Movement a success?

In order to answer this question, first of all it is vital to break down what it is actually asking. This essay's main discussion should centre quite clearly around the Civil Rights Movement, however this term also requires unpacking. As the question provides no time period, it is necessary for the individual answering the question to provide one themselves. This might take into consideration historiographical debate around the classical vs the long Civil Rights Movement. Whilst the former is considered to run from 1954-1965, from Brown v Board of Education to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the latter dates back as early as the 1920s/30s, with the battle over Labour Union Rights and to some extent, the emergence of black nationalism. Setting a time period for answering this question helps frame your answer as well as giving some context to the material you decide to prioritise. Once you have decided on and justified in your writing the temporal framework of the CRM, it is next important to unpack the term 'success'. By outlining what you consider to have been the ambitions and aims of the CRM (mind, this will vary depending on whether you are writing about a long or classical CRM) you can then determine whether they were successful. For example: the classical CRM ultimately culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act a year later. These two pieces of legislation were in many ways the hallmark of President Johnson's civil rights career, and were undoubtedly very successful, however were in fact rather one-dimensional in scope. While they outlawed the segregation of public accommodations and provided the right to vote for African-Americans, they did not begin to tackle the deeper concerns of institutionalised racism: issues of housing, education, and employment that formed the basis of later racial disturbances in America's urban spaces. Subsequently, while the CRA and VRA can be highlighted as points of success, the later racial backlash in the form of dangerous rioting demonstrates the limitations of the CRM. Overall, as always with a historical essay, it is very hard to argue definitively one way or the other, and therefore when writing a 'to what extent' question it is almost always easier to acknowledge the nuances in the debate and boost the quality of your response if your answer is able to acknowledge both the successes and limitations of a movement, time period, social group etc.