I took 2 courses in American history when I went to college in the States.
US has a relatively short history, so 2 courses pretty much covered it all.
But if I remember right, little did they mention Jim Crow laws.

But I have always been amazed by and attracted to movies, documentaries, stories and articles about how blacks fought for their rights, namely, Civil Rights Movement, and how government and the public were forced to replace Jim Crow laws with Civil Rights Act in 1964.

By "Civil Rights" they actually meant "Basic Human Rights".
"Civil Rights" just made it sound more civilized and less damaging to the white people who had denied blacks basic human rights.
Someone once sarcastically said Americans are the greatest, because they liberated all the black slaves.

Jim Crow laws:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_Laws