Unit 8, Chapter 26: Walking Into Freedom Land: The Civil Rights Movement, 1941-1973

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

A prominent black trade union of railroad car porters working for the Pullman Company.

Congress of Racial Equality

Civil rights organization founded in 1942 in Chicago by James Farmer and other members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) that espoused nonviolent direct action. In 1961 CORE organized a series of what were called Freedom Rides on interstate bus lines throughout the South to call attention to blatant violations of recent Supreme Court rulings against segregation in interstate commerce.

"To Secure These Rights"

The 1947 report by the Presidential Committee on Civil Rights that called for robust federal action to ensure equality for African Americans. President Truman asked Congress to make all of the report's recommendations — including the abolition of poll taxes and the restoration of the Fair Employment Practice Committee — into law, leading to discord in the Democratic Party.

States' Rights Democratic Party

Known popularly as the Dixiecrats, a breakaway party of white Democrats from the South that formed for the 1948 election. Its formation shed light on an internal struggle between the civil rights aims of the party's liberal wing and southern white Democrats.

American GI Forum

A group founded by World War II veterans in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1948 to protest the poor treatment of Mexican American soldiers and veterans.

Community Services Organization (CSO)

A Latino civil rights group founded in Los Angeles in 1947 that trained many Latino politicians and community activists, including Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

Brown v. Board of Education

Supreme Court ruling of 1954 that overturned the "separate but equal" precedent established in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The Court declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and thus violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Yearlong boycott of Montgomery's segregated bus system in 1955-1956 by the city's African American population. The boycott brought Martin Luther King Jr. to national prominence and ended in victory when the Supreme Court declared segregated seating on public transportation unconstitutional.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

After the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders formed the SCLC in 1957 to coordinate civil rights activity in the South.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

A student civil rights group founded in 1960 under the mentorship of activist Ella Baker. SNCC initially embraced an interracial and nonhierarchical structure that encouraged leadership at the grassroots level and practiced the civil disobedience principles of Martin Luther King Jr. As violence toward civil rights activists escalated nationwide in the 1960s, SNCC expelled nonblack members and promoted "black power" and the teachings of Malcolm X.

March on Washington

Officially named the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, on August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million people marched to the Lincoln Memorial to demand that Congress end Jim Crow racial discrimination and launch a major jobs program to bring needed employment to black communities.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Law that responded to demands of the civil rights movement by making discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations illegal. It was the strongest such measure since Reconstruction and included a ban on sex discrimination in employment.

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)

Party founded in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Its members attempted to attend the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as the legitimate representatives of their state, but Democratic leaders refused to recognize the party.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Law passed during Lyndon Johnson's administration that empowered the federal government to intervene to ensure minorities' access to the voting booth.

Black Nationalism

A major strain of African American thought that emphasized black racial pride and autonomy. Present in black communities for centuries, it periodically came to the fore, as in Marcus Garvey's pan-Africanist movement in the early twentieth century and in various organizations in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party.

Nation of Islam

A religion founded in the United States that became a leading source of black nationalist thought in the 1960s. Black Muslims preached an apocalyptic brand of Islam, anticipating the day when Allah would banish the white "devils" and give the black nation justice.

Black Panther Party

A militant organization dedicated to protecting African Americans from police violence, founded in Oakland, California, in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. In the late 1960s the organization spread to other cities, where members undertook a wide range of community-organizing projects, but the Panthers' radicalism and belief in armed self-defense resulted in violent clashes with police.

Young Lords Organization

An organization that sought self-determination for Puerto Ricans in the United States and in the Caribbean. Though immediate victories for the YLO were few, their dedicated community organizing produced a generation of leaders and awakened community consciousness.

United Farm Workers

A union of farmworkers founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta that sought to empower the mostly Mexican American migrant farmworkers who faced discrimination and exploitative conditions, especially in the Southwest.

Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)

A Mexican American civil rights organization founded in 1967 and based on the model of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. MALDEF focused on legal issues and endeavored to win protections against discrimination through court decisions.

La Raza Unida

An organization founded in Texas in 1970 by Mexican Americans as an alternative to the two major political parties; La Raza Unida (The United Race) ran candidates for state governor and other local government positions in the 1970s. It was an expression of the Chicano/a movement's attempts to create political unity among American citizens of Mexican descent.

American Indian Movement

Organization established in 1968 to address the problems Indians faced in American cities, including poverty and police harassment. AIM organized Indians to end relocation and termination policies and to win greater control over their cultures and communities.