The French Revolution was subject to Bonapartism, that's where we get the word from. It resulted in an era of brutal settler-colonialism and slavery that lasted for several decades. The first thing the communards of 1812 did was to burn the guillotine in protest of the failures of the French revolution.

The civil rights movement on the other hand did have a wonderful effect on progress: It made ordinary citizens less racist. People relate to this history and are defined by it in many ways, it inspires a great deal of solidarity.

But the US government remains just as racist, the 13th amendment is still in effect, and the reason why the topic of slavery abolition is not even part of the public consciousness is because of how discourse is carefully regulated through false choices. At most you got "Tough on crime" versus "rehabilitation." But no one is so much as mentioning constitutional reform.