FINAL History Terms

Pullman Strike

in Chicago, a train company cut wages but refused to lower rents. This led to a worker strike which led to riots and a national train shutdown.

Eugene Debs

Leader of the American Railway Union, he voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike.

Sinking of the USS Maine

sunk by Spain off of the coast of Cuba; led to eventual declaration of war against Spain (Spanish-American War) after tensions regarding the independence of Cuba arose.

Spanish-American War

In 1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence.

Liliuokalani

Hawaiian Queen who tried to eliminate white control in the Hawaiian government. The white population revolted and seized power.

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites. Made in response to rising black middle class.

Progressives

A group of reformers who worked to solve problems caused by the rapid industrial urban growth of the late 1800s.

Theodore Roosevelt

26th President of the United States, known for emphasizing use of natural resources and creation of national parks system.

Muckrakers

Journalists who searched for corruption in politics and big business

Plessy v. Ferguson

a 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.

14th Amendment

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws

Prohibition

A law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages

18th Amendment

Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

19th Amendment

Gave women the right to vote

Great Migration

Movement of African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest, and West for jobs.

Birth of a Nation

Controversial but highly influential and innovative silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. It demonstrated the power of film propaganda and revived the KKK.

Jazz

A style of dance music popular in the 1920s.

Red Summer

Race riots, began in July when whites invaded a black section of Longview, Texas and burned shops and houses. It was a lash out against the growth of blacks in cities

Red Scare

Intense fear of communism and other politically radical ideas

Palmer Raids

Congressional support to raid houses of radicals believed to have connections to communism

The Second Klan

Resurgence of the KKK during the 1920s among white, Protestants. Unlike the first KKK, it was popular in the North and the West, and targeted Catholics and Jews.

National Origins Act of 1924

A law that severely restricted immigration by establishing a system of national quotas that blatantly discriminated against immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and virtually excluded Asians. The policy stayed in effect until the 1960s.

Herbert Hoover

31st President of the United States, advocated for little government involvement in economy.

Rugged Individualism

Herbert Hoover's belief that people must be self-reliant and not depend upon the federal government for assistance.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929; the day the stock market crashed.

Bank Failures

One of the factors that led to the Great Depression; when a bank ran out of reserves to pay customers who wanted to withdraw their deposits

Dust Bowl

Region of the Great Plains that experienced a drought in 1930 lasting for a decade, leaving many farmers without work or substantial wages.

Bonus Army

Group of WWI vets. that marched to D.C. in 1932 to demand the immediate payment of their goverment war bonuses in cash

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd US President - He began New Deal programs to help the nation out of the Great Depression, and he was the nation's leader during most of WWII

New Deal

A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1942 with the goal of ending the Great Depression.

Civilian Conservation Corps

New Deal program that hired unemployed men to work on natural conservation projects

Agricultural Adjustment Act

Gave farmers money to reduce crop size to reduce production and bring up the value of crops

Bank Holiday 1933

Franklin Delanor Roosevelt declared that all banks were to be closed on March 6, 1933. A few days later he allowed the reopening of economically sound banks.

Public Works Administration

New Deal agency that provided millions of jobs constructing public buildings

Glass-Seagall Act

the 1933 law that established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to protect individuals' bank accounts

Hoovervilles

Depression shantytowns, named after the president whom many blamed for their financial distress

"Great Society"

In 1965, Congress passed many measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education.

American isolationism

America's interests were best served by secluding itself from other nations and avoiding alliances at the beginning of WWII

Authoritarianism

A political system in which a small group of individuals exercises power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public.

Brown vs Board of Education

1954- court decision that declared state laws segregating schools to be unconstitutional. Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Civil Rights Act of 1964

outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

COINTELPRO

An FBI program begun in 1956 and continued until 1971 that sought to expose, disrupt, and discredit groups considered to be radical political organizations: Targeted antiwar groups during the Vietnam War.

Communism

A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation bewteen US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Double V Movement

Movement for victory in World War 2, and victory for civil rights of black americans.

Environment justice

An equitable spatial distribution of burdens and benefits to groups such as racial minorities, residents of economically disadvantaged areas, or residents of developing nations

environmental racism

patterns of development that expose poor people, especially minorities, to environmental hazards

Equal protection clause of 14th Amendment

States cannot unreasonably discriminate against individuals. They must treat people "equally".

Executive Order 9066

FDR's order to place all Japanese Americans in Internment Camps

Facism

A political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and has no tolerance for opposition

FDR's Four Freedoms

Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

GI Bill

law passed in 1944 to help returning veterans buy homes and pay for higher educations

Grandfather Clause

A clause in registration laws allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867.

Hiroshima

City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.

Hitler

German Nazi dictator during World War II (1889-1945), Nazi leader and founder; had over 6 million Jews assassinated during the Holocaust

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Immigration act of 1964

a law that increased the number of immigrants allowed to settle in the United States

Iron Curtain

A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites. Included segregated public accommodations, Laws against interracial marriage, Segregated Schools

John Lewis

student leader of SNCC who organized sit-ins, spoke in Washington, & marched in Selma

Korean War

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

Korematsu v. United States

1944 Supreme Court case where the Supreme Court upheld the order providing for the relocation of Japanese Americans.

Kristallnacht

(Night of the Broken Glass) November 9, 1938, when mobs throughout Germany destroyed Jewish property and terrorized Jews.

Lend-Lease Act

allowed sales or loans of war materials to any country whose defense the president deems vital to the defense of the U.S

Literacy test

A test administered as a precondition for voting, often used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote.

Little Rock Nine

A group of black students who were enrolled in an Arkansas white high school for purpose of integration.

Manhattan Project

A secret U.S. project for the construction of the atomic bomb.

March from Selma to Montgomery

civil rights march to bring attention to the need for a voting rights act. Included senator John Lewis.

March on Washington

1963 demonstration in which more than 200,000 people rallied for economic equality and civil rights

Marshall Plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952)

McCarthyism

The term associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee.

MLK

An American activist and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He helped the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.

Murder of Emmett Till

Boy murdered in 1955 in Alabama for interacting with white woman. Started nationwide protests.

Nagasaki

Japanese city in which the second atomic bomb was dropped.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Alliance formed by democratic Western nations as an attempt to contain communism.

Nazi Party

the political party founded in Germany in 1919 and brought to power by Hitler in 1933

Neutrality Acts

4 laws passed in the late 1930s that were designed to keep the US out of international incidents

Ngo Dinh Diem

South Vietnamese president that strongly opposed communism.

Nuremberg Laws

1935 laws defining the status of Jews and withdrawing citizenship from persons of non-German blood.

Oligarchy

a small group of people having control of a country

Pearl Harbor

United States military base on Hawaii that was bombed by Japan, bringing the United States into World War II.

plutocracy

government controlled by the wealthy

Poll tax

A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote

President Eisenhower

US President who sent military advisors to Vietnam and decided that the "Domino Theory" would be America's philosophy and reason for entering the Vietnam War

Racial Covenants

agreements written into real estate documents binding property owners not to sell, lease, or rent property because of race, creed, or color

Redlining

A practice in which banks refuse to make loans to people living in certain geographic locations.

Structural Racism

A system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity

Theocracy

government run by religious leaders

Totalitarianism

A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

Vietnam War

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to the NATO

Yalta Conference

Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem

South Vietnamese president that was catholic and strongly opposed communism. Criticized for poor leadership and corruption