Key Terms of the Civil Rights Movement

Reconstruction

The period immediately after the Civil War (1865-1877) in which slavery was ended but which also saw the denial of equal rights to African Americans and the establishment of segregation in the South.

segregation

The separation of racial groups in public, in school, in housing, and other areas.

The Jim Crow system

A system of life in the South designed to maintain white supremacy and relegate African Americans to second-class citizenship. Included segregation laws and humiliating social customs. Enforced by a corrupt criminal justice system and the threat of racial violence.

14th Amendment

Part of the US Constitution that guarantees equal treatment under the law to all Americans. Was used by civil rights activists to challenge segregation.

15th Amendment

Part of the US Constitution that says the right to vote cannot be denied because of race.

disenfranchisement

Taking away the ability to vote or reducing the effectiveness of voting.

poll taxes

A type of voter suppression in which paying a tax is required prior to voting.

literacy tests

A type of voter suppression in which a person is asked to pass an impossible test in order to register to vote.

grandfather clause

A loophole sometimes included in voter suppression laws that exempted whites from obstacles to voting.

gerrymandering

A method of disenfranchisement in which electoral districts are deliberately drawn in such a way as to ensure that a specific group of people is consistently outvoted.

Plessy v. Ferguson case

A Supreme Court case in 1896 which legalized segregation so long as accommodations were 'separate but equal.'

de facto segregation

Segregation practices that were unofficial and supported by practice and custom, not by law. Occurred commonly throughout the country.

de jure segregation

Segregation practices that were official and legally supported by law. Mostly found in the South.

Jackie Robinson

Ended segregation in Major League Baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. His talent and courage in the face of abuse eroded support for segregation.

Executive Order 9981

An executive order issued by president Truman in 1948 that ended racial segregation in the US military.

Brown v. Board of Education case

Supreme Court case which overturned the legal justification for segregation in 1954 when it ruled unanimously that separate is inherently unequal.

Emmett Till

A black teenager from Chicago who was brutally murdered while visiting family in Mississippi. His open casket funeral and the subsequent acquittal of his murderers by an all-white jury raised nationwide awareness of racial injustice in the South.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The first major protest campaign of the nonviolent civil rights movement. Began in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat on a city bus. MLK became the leader of a large-scale campaign for the first time. Blacks organized in churches and refused to ride city buses for 11 months. Ultimately the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional.

Rosa Parks

An active member of the NAACP who helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she refused to get out of her seat on a bus and was arrested. Her arrest led to a lawsuit which ruled that segregation on buses is illegal.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Played the preeminent role in the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and ending with his assassination in 1968.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

An organization formed by Martin Luther King Jr. after the Montgomery Bus Boycott to fight racial injustice.

the Little Rock 9

A group of 9 high school students who agreed to be the first non-white students to attend Central High School in Little Rock, AR.

James Meredith

A civil rights activist who was the first African American to enroll at the University of Mississippi.

nonviolent civil disobedience

Deliberate, public non-cooperation with laws considered to be unjust followed by nonviolent endurance of consequences including violence and arrest.

sit-ins

A method of nonviolent civil disobedience in which activists sit down in a place they aren't supposed to be and refuse to get up.

James Lawson

A civil rights activist who spent time in India studying nonviolent methods used by Gandhi.

John Lewis

A male co-founder of SNCC and a leader of the youth movement within the Civil Rights Movement.

Diane Nash

A female co-founder of SNCC and a leader of the youth movement within the Civil Rights Movement.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

A multiracial organization formed by college students in Nashville after a successful sit-in campaign.

Freedom Rides

A nonviolent protest in which a multiracial group of activists rode interstate buses throughout the South to illustrate southern noncompliance with desegregation requirements.

the Albany campaign

A major civil rights campaign that, while unsuccessful in achieving desegregation, taught valuable lessons to civil rights activists including the value of media attention.

the Birmingham campaign

A major civil rights campaign led to massive media coverage after police commissioner 'Bull' Connor ordered fire hoses and police dogs to be used against peacefully protesting kids.

John F. Kennedy

President in the early '60s who became increasingly concerned about civil rights especially after the Birmingham campaign.

March on Washington

A peaceful rally of approximately 250,000 Americans of all races in the nation's capital to lobby the federal government to pass JFK's proposed civil rights legislation.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A law signed by LBJ that banned segregation in all public accommodations and outlawed discrimination in employment.

Freedom Summer

Refers to the summer of '64 when students, mostly white and from the North, organized voter registration drives in Mississippi, leading to significant media coverage about voter suppression.

Selma campaign

The last major campaign in the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement (1965) aimed at ending disenfranchisement of black voters, achieving massive media coverage after peaceful protesters were attacked.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Widely considered one of the US presidents most supportive of racial equality, he pushed through Congress and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Passed in 1965 with pressure from President Johnson and MLK, it outlawed literacy tests used to deny blacks the right to vote and authorized federal supervision of voter registration.

Black Power

A philosophy that demanded black control over the black community, rejected nonviolence, and promoted afrocentrism, becoming widespread in the mid to late 1960s.

Stokely Carmichael

A member of SNCC who turned against nonviolence after growing frustrated by the slow pace of change and invented the term 'black power.'

Afrocentrism

A concept that spread during the black power movement in which African Americans embraced and celebrated race, culture, fashion, dance, and history.

Malcolm X

A powerful speaker who became a spokesman for 'black nationalism,' rejected nonviolence, and was assassinated in 1965 after changing his views.

Nation of Islam

A radical group whose members were known as 'Black Muslims,' calling for the establishment of separate black institutions and rejecting nonviolence.

Black Panther Party

An organization established in Oakland, CA in 1966 dedicated to providing armed protection and social services to the black community.

Black Nationalism

A concept advocated by black power activists arguing for complete separation of blacks and whites in American society.

The Kerner Commission

A congressional commission assembled to find the cause of race riots in the mid to late '60s, concluding in 1968 that 'unfulfilled expectations' were a major cause.

Affirmative Action

A policy designed to close the economic gap between the white and black communities by allowing racial minorities to receive preference in employment and admission to universities.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

Passed shortly after MLK's assassination, this law banned discrimination in the sale/rental of housing.