AMH2020 Chapter 17

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court case that ruled that racially segregated railroad cars and other public facilities, if they claimed to be “seperate but equal”, were permissible according to the Fourteenth Amendment.

Young Men’s Christian Association

Introduced in Boston in 1851, the YMCA promoted muscular Christianity, combining evangelism with athletic facilities where men could make themselves “clean and strong”.

National Park Service

A federal agency founded in 1916 that provided comprehensive oversight of the growing system of national parks.

Comstock Act

An 1873 law that prohibited circulation of “obscene literature”, defined as including most information on sex, reproduction, and birth control.

Atlanta Compromise

An 1895 address by Booker T. Washington that urged whites and African Americans to work together for the progress of all. Delivered at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, the speech was widely interpreted as approving racial segregation.

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

An organization advocating the prohibition of liquor that spread rapidly after 1879, when charismatic Frances Willard became its leader. It launched tens of thousands of women into public life, and was the first nationwide organization to target, and condemn domestic violence.

National American Woman Suffrage Associations

Women’s suffrage organization created in 1890 by the union of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. It played a central roles in campaigning for women’s right to vote.

feminism

The ideology that women should enter the public sphere not only to work on behalf of others, but also for their own equal rights and advancement.

natural selection

Social Darwinism

An idea, actually formulated not by Charles Darwin but by British Philosopher and sociologist Herbert Spencer, that human society advanced through ruthless competition and the “survival of the fittest”.

eugenics

An emerging “science” of human breeding in the late nineteenth century that argued that mentally deficient people should be prevented from reproducing.

fundamentalism

A term adopted by Protestants, between the 1890s, who rejected modernism and historical interpretations of scripture and asserted the literal truth of the Bible.

Social Gospel

A movement to renew religious faith through dedication to public welfare and social justice, reforming both society and the self through Christian service.

modernism

A movement that questioned the ideals of progress and order, rejected realism, and emphasized new cultural forms. It became the first great literary and artistic movement of the twentieth century and remains influential today.