Civil Rights Movement

Affirmation Action

A policy that seeks to correct the affects of past discrimination by favoring the groups who were previously disadvantaged

American Indian Movement

A frequently militant organization that was formed in 1968 to work for Native American rights

Black Panthers

A militant African American political organization formed in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to fight police brutality and provide services in the ghetto

Black Power

A slogan used by Stokely Carmichael in the 1960s that encouraged African AMerican prude and political and social leadership

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

A 1954 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” education for black and white students was unconstitutional

Civil RIghts Act of 1964

A law that banned discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, or religion in public places and most workplaces

Congress of Racial Equality

An interracial group founded in 1942 by James Farmer to work against segregation in northern cities

Equal Rights Amendment

A proposed and failed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have prohibited any government discrimination on the basis of sex

Feminism

The belief that women should have economic, political, and social equality with men

Freedom Rights

One of the civil rights activists who rode buses through the South inthe early 1960s to challenge segregation

Freedom Summer

A 1964 project to register African American voters in Mississippi

Jim Crow Laws

Laws enacted by southern state and local government to separate white andblack people in public and private facilities

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - an organization founded in 1909 to promote full racial equality

Nation of Islam

A religious group, popularly known as the Black Muslims, founded by Elijah Muhammad to promote black separatism and the Islamic religion

National Organization for Women

An organization founded in 1966 to pursue feminist goals, such as better childcare facilities, improved education opportunities, and an end to job discrimination

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that separation of races in public accommodations was legal, thus establishing the “separtae but equal” doctrine

Segregation

The separation of people on the basis of race

Sit-ins

A form of demonstration used by African Americans to protest discrimination, in which the protesters sit down in a segregated business and refuse to leave until they are served

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

An organization formed in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders to work for civil rights through nonviolent means

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

An organization formed in 1960 to coordinate sit-ins and other protests and to give young blacks a larger role in the civil rights movement

United Farm Workers Organizing Committee

A labor union formed in 1966 to seek higher wages and better working conditions for Mexican American farm workers in California

Voting RIghts Act of 1965

A law that made it easier for African Americans to register to vote by eliminating discriminatory literacy tests and authorizing federal examiners to enroll voters denied at the local level