Unit 3 AP AAS

13th Amendment

Officially abolished slavery, or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime.

14th Amendment

Defined the principle of birthright citizenship in the United States and granted equal protection to all people.

15th Amendment

Prohibited the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

The Freedmen’s Bureau

Established in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved people in their transition to American citizenship, providing clothing, food, legalizing marriages, and establishing schools.

Black Codes

Restrictive laws enacted in 1865 and 1866 that undermined the legal rights of African Americans and controlled their movement and labor.

Sharecropping

A system where landowners provided land and equipment to formerly enslaved people who in return had to give a large share of the crops to the landowner.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States, primarily enacted after the Plessy v. Ferguson decision (1896).

Nadir

The period of the lowest point of American race relations, marked by racial violence and acts of racism against African Americans.

Double Consciousness

The internal conflict experienced by subordinated groups in an oppressive society, allowing African Americans to examine the unequal realities of American life.

HBCUs

Historically Black Colleges and Universities established to provide higher education and professional training to African Americans.

Pan-Africanism

A movement advocating for the unity of African peoples and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy.

UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association)

Founded by Marcus Garvey in 1914, aimed to unite all Black people and promote the Back-to-Africa movement.

The Freedom Journal

One of the first African American newspapers that documented aspects of community life and served as a platform for protesting racial discrimination.

Black Greek-Lettered Organizations

Organizations founded for African Americans at HBCUs and predominantly white institutions, focused on self-improvement, educational excellence, and community service.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers

A student choir at Fisk University that introduced African American spirituals to the global stage during their international tours.

Carter Godwin Woodson

The founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and initiated Negro History Week, which became Black History Month.

Convict Leasing

A system where southern prisons profited by hiring out African American prisoners to landowners and corporations, often under conditions akin to slave labor.

Black Press

The expansion of newspapers and magazines that provided news to African Americans and served as a voice for protesting racism and discrimination.

Ebnoy and Jet

Magazines that emerged after World War II, contributing to the Black press and African American cultural expression.

Reconstruction Era

The period from 1865 to 1877 during which the United States attempted to rebuild and reintegrate the Southern states after the Civil War.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Landmark legislation that prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment and public accommodations.

Marcus Garvey

A Jamaican political leader and activist who promoted the Back-to-Africa movement and founded the UNIA.

Ellis Island

An immigration station in New York where millions of immigrants were processed, some African Americans migrated from the South to the North via this route, seeking better opportunities and escaping oppressive conditions.

The Great Migration

The mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North from approximately 1916 to 1970, seeking better opportunities.

Segregation

The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment.

Tuskegee Institute

A historically black university founded by Booker T. Washington in Alabama that focused on vocational education for African Americans.It played a key role in training teachers and promoting self-reliance among the African American community.