The Idea of Democracy

Anecdote

a short account of a particular incident or event

Apartheid

any system or practice that separates people according to color, ethnicity, caste

Colonization

to settle into areas other than one's own

Chattel slavery

the enslaving and owning of human beings and their offspring as property, able to be bought, sold, and forced to work without wages

Codified

compiled into an orderly, formal code

Commodity

an article of trade or commerce

Crispus Attucks

of African and Native American descent, he is regarded as the first person killed in the Revolutionary War (at Boston Massacre in 1770)

Degradation

humiliation; disgrace; dishonor

Domestic terrorism

the committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator's own country against their fellow citizens

Dred Scott decision (1857)

SCOTUS decision that denied the legality of black citizenship

Egalitarian

belief in the equality of all people

Endemic

natural to or characteristic of a specific people or place; indigenous

The Great Migration

the movement of six million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West between 1910 and 1970

The Great Nadir

nadir means "low point; the great nadir refers to the lowest point of race relations, from the end of Reconstruction 1877 well into the 20th Century

Indelible

impossible to eliminate, forget, or change

Indian Removal Act 1830

Congress passed the act and President Andrew Jackson signed it into law, essentially forcibly removing indigenous peoples from their land and moving them west

Industrial Revolution

the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines; it is generally agreed upon to span from about 1760 to 1840

Insurrection

an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government

Jim Crow Laws

state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation; they remained in place until 1965

Lynching

to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority

Marginalized

placed in a position of little or not importance, influence, or power

Mason-Dixon Line

in the pre-Civil War period, it was regarded, together with the Ohio River, as the dividing line between slave states south of it and free-soil states north of it

Middle Passage

the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas

Mississippi Delta

the most important coastal region of the U.S.; contains more than 2.7 million acres of wetlands

Osmosis

a subtle or gradual absorption or mingling

Pejorative

having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force

Perfecters

a skilled worker who perfects something

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

SCOTUS decision that deemed separate but equal the law of the land

Recalcitrance

the resistance of authority or control; state of disobedience

Reconstruction

the process by which the states that had seceded were reorganized as part of the Union after the Civil War; the Reconstruction Era only lasted 12 years, 1865-1877 when federal troops who were protecting black people were removed from the south

Redlining

a discriminatory practice by which banks, insurance companies, etc., refuse or limit loans, mortgages, insurance, etc., within specific geographic areas, especially inner-city neighborhoods

Redress

to set right what is wrong

Segregated

restricted to one group, especially exclusively on the basis of racial or ethnic membership

Sharecropping

a system where the landowner allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop; sharecroppers remained tied to the land, unable to amass wealth to buy their own farm

Subjugated

to bring under complete control; to conquer, to master

Systemic

relating to or noting a policy, practice, or set of beliefs that has been established as normative or customary throughout a political, social, or economic system

Terrorism

the unlawful use of violence or threats to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or government, with the goal of furthering political, social, or ideological objectives

Textile

any cloth or goods produced by weaving, knitting, or felting