USH2H - Vocab - Civil Rights

Chapter 13

Brown v. Board of Education

the 1954 Supreme Court ruling declaring that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

a 1978 Supreme Court ruling that narrowly upheld affirmative action, declaring that race may be one factor, but not the sole criterion, in school admissions

Warren Court

the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren from 1953 to 1969, known for its activism on civil rights and free speech

Kerner Commission

the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders that concluded that White racism was the fundamental cause of the Watts riot

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

an organization founded in 1942 that was dedicated to civil rights reform through nonviolent action

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

an organization formed by Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders in 1957 to use nonviolent resistance to achieve social and political goals

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

a civil rights organization formed in 1960 by college students, who organized sit-ins and other nonviolent protests

Freedom Rides

civil rights protests in which Black people and White people rode interstate buses together in 1961 to test whether southern states were complying with the Supreme Court ruling against segregation on interstate transport

March on Washington

a 1963 protest in which more than 250,000 people demonstrated in the nation's capital for "jobs and freedom" and the passage of civil rights legislation

Montgomery Bus Boycott

a 1955 boycott that resulted in the integration of the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama

Black Panther Party

a group founded in 1966 that demanded economic and political rights and was prepared to take violent action

Black Power

the call by many civil rights activists, beginning in the mid-1960s, for African Americans to have economic and political power, with an emphasis on not relying on nonviolent protest

Nation of Islam

a religious group, also known as the Black Muslims, that promoted complete separation from White society by establishing Black businesses, schools, and communities

Watts Riot

a 1965 race riot in Watts, a Black neighborhood in Los Angeles, caused by frustrations about poverty, prejudice, and police mistreatment

Freedom Summer

a 1964 campaign by CORE and SNCC to register Black voters in Mississippi

de facto segregation

segregation established by practice and custom rather than by law

de jure segregation

segregation by law

Civil Rights Act of 1964

a landmark act that banned discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin; the most important civil rights law since Reconstruction

Voting Rights Act of 1965

an act of Congress outlawing literacy tests and other tactics that had long been used to deny African Americans the right to vote

Civil Rights Act of 1968

a law that included a ban on discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, or sex