Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Black Voting Rights

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering key people, organizations, laws, events, and slogans from the King era and the struggle for Black voting rights as described in the lecture notes.

Edmund Pettus Bridge

Bridge in Selma, Alabama over the Alabama River; site of the Bloody Sunday confrontation as marchers faced police violence in 1965.

Selma to Montgomery March

Series of nonviolent protests in 1965 from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery to demand voting rights; included crossing the Pettus Bridge.

Martin Luther King Jr. (King)

Baptist minister and leader of the SCLC who advocated nonviolent mass civil disobedience and won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Civil rights organization founded by King to coordinate and sustain nonviolent actions for Black rights.

Brown Chapel

African Methodist Episcopal church in Selma; headquarters for SCLC activities and start point of the Selma march.

Jimmie Lee Jackson

Black marcher killed by a state trooper during early 1965 protest in Selma, intensifying the voting rights campaign.

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Federal law prohibiting discrimination and banning segregation in many aspects of public life and employment.

White primary

Primary elections in the South that barred Black citizens from voting; used to circumvent the Fifteenth Amendment until ruled unconstitutional.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court decision upholding 'separate but equal' facilities, legitimizing Jim Crow segregation.

Convict leasing

System where states leased prisoners to private companies; brutal labor practices described as 'slavery by another name.'

Lily-white juries

All-white juries in the South; contributed to exclusion of Black citizens from fair juries.

Fourteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment granting citizenship and guaranteeing equal protection under the law.

Fifteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment prohibiting voting restrictions based on race, color, or previous servitude.

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Legislation that reorganized Southern states’ governments and required broad voting rights for Black citizens.

Radical Republicans

Republican faction pushing aggressive Reconstruction and Black suffrage after the Civil War.

Poll taxes and literacy tests

Devices used to disenfranchise Black voters by charging fees or requiring reading/ comprehension tests.

Freedom Rides

1961 CORE-led bus rides challenging segregation in interstate terminals; faced violent attacks and national attention.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Pacifist civil rights organization that organized the Freedom Rides and other anti-segregation actions.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Youth-led civil rights group that conducted sit-ins and voter registration campaigns.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955-1956 boycott of Montgomery, Alabama buses sparked by Rosa Parks; led to massive nonviolent resistance and change.

Rosa Parks

Black NAACP member who refused to yield her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, triggering the bus boycott.

I Have a Dream

King’s famous 1963 speech at the March on Washington envisioning racial equality.

March on Washington

1963 rally in which about 250,000 people gathered to advocate for civil and voting rights; broadcast nationally.

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)

Integrated alternative delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention challenging the regular Mississippi delegation.

Voting Education Project (VEP)

Program funded to promote voter registration and education; SNCC involvement in Selma’s campaign.

Dallas County Voters League (DCVL)

Local Black voting rights organization in Selma that collaborated with SNCC on registration efforts.

Bull Connor

Birmingham police commissioner known for violently enforcing segregation; a symbol of hostile local resistance.

Bombingham

Nickname for Birmingham due to the frequent bombings of Black homes and churches during the civil rights era.