Civil Rights Movement

Flashcards for key vocabulary, people, and landmark events of the Civil Rights Movement

Boycott:

Refusal to buy or use goods/services to protest injustice (e.g., Montgomery Bus Boycott)

Segregation:

Legal or social separation of people by race

Integrate:

To end separation and bring groups together in society or schools

Civil disobedience:

Nonviolent refusal to obey unjust laws (inspired by Gandhi)

Sit-in:

Protest where activists sit in segregated places to challenge segregation (notably Greensboro, NC)

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People):

Legal battles against segregation; Thurgood Marshall was a key lawyer

SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference):

Led by Martin Luther King Jr., advocating nonviolent protest

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee):

Youth-led group organizing sit-ins and Freedom Rides

CORE (Congress of Racial Equality):

Organized Freedom Rides and other nonviolent protests

Nation of Islam:

Black Muslim organization promoting Black empowerment

Black Panthers:

Militant group advocating self-defense and Black rights

KKK (Ku Klux Klan):

White supremacist group opposing civil rights

Thurgood Marshall:

NAACP lawyer, won Brown v. Board of Education; first Black Supreme Court Justice

Martin Luther King Jr.:

Leader of nonviolent civil rights movement; delivered “I Have a Dream

Rosa Parks:

Her refusal to give up a bus seat sparked Montgomery Bus Boycott

Mohandas Gandhi:

Inspired civil disobedience tactics used in the US civil rights movement

A Philip Randolph:

Labor leader who planned the March on Washington

Ella Baker:

Influential SNCC organizer promoting grassroots activism

James Meredith:

First Black student to integrate the University of Mississippi

George Wallace:

Segregationist governor of Alabama who opposed integration

Medgar Evers:

NAACP field secretary assassinated for fighting segregation

Lyndon B. Johnson:

US President who signed the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965)

Robert Kennedy:

Attorney General who supported civil rights enforcement

Stokely Carmichael:

SNCC leader who popularized the “Black Power” slogan

Malcolm X:

Nation of Islam leader advocating Black pride and self-defense

Jackie Robinson:

First Black Major League Baseball player, breaking sports segregation

Orval Faubus:

Arkansas governor who opposed Little Rock 9 integration

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896):

Supreme Court ruling legalizing “separate but equal” segregation

Brown v. Board of Education (1954):

Overturned Plessy, declaring school segregation unconstitutional

Little Rock 9:

First Black students to integrate Central High School, faced violent opposition

Montgomery Bus Boycott:

Year-long boycott sparked by Rosa Parks, ended bus segregation

Sit-ins (Greensboro, NC):

Students sat at segregated lunch counters to protest

Freedom Rides:

Integrated groups rode buses through the South challenging segregation

March on Washington (1963):

Massive rally where MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech

Selma (Bloody Sunday):

Brutal police attack on voting rights marchers, leading to Voting Rights Act

Civil Rights Act of 1964:

Banned discrimination in public places and employment

Voting Rights Act of 1965:

Protected Black voters from discriminatory practices

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA):

Proposed amendment for gender equality (not ratified)

Race Riots (Watts, LA):

1965 riot reflecting frustrations over inequality and police brutality

Demonstrations in Birmingham

Nonviolent protests met with violence; MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” defended civil disobedience