Civil Rights Movements Vocabulary

Flashcards for reviewing key vocabulary from the Civil Rights Movements lecture notes.

Systemic/Institutional Injustice

Systems created to privilege one group over another through legal, economic, educational means, and 'norms,' maintained by institutions like laws, schools, and representation.

Victim (Civil Rights context)

The individual or group being treated unjustly, who actively works to change the injustice.

Ally (Civil Rights context)

Someone who has a say in maintaining injustice but resists it, using their position to support the victim.

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

CORE

Congress of Racial Equality, another organization involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

Brown v. Board of Education (1955)

Landmark Supreme Court case that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson.

SNCC

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement.

SCLC

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization associated with Martin Luther King Jr., that played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement.

Loving v. Virginia (1967)

Supreme Court case that invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

Stonewall Riots

Series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBTQ+ community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.

Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA)

AAPA. This group encouraged Asian Americans to claim their own cultural identity and to protest the Vietnam War.

De jure

Relating to actions or circumstances that occur 'by law', such as segregation.

De facto

Relating to actions or circumstances that occur 'by fact' such as segregation.

Miscegenation

The interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types

Plessey v. Ferguson (1898)

Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Emmitt Till

Emmitt Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store.

Freedom Riders

Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and following years to challenge the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated seating on interstate public transportation was unconstitutional.

Birmingham Children's Crusade

The Children's Crusade was a series of marches and demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama May 2–10, 1963.

Bombingham

A reference to the city of Birmingham, Alabama, referring to the frequency of bombings.

Black Power

A political movement emphasizing racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions

Loving v. Virginia (1967)

Supreme Court case that invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg (1971)

Approved busing and redrawing district lines as ways of integrating public schools

Civil Rights Act, 1964

Landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act, 1965

Landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.

Fair Housing Act 1968

Prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, or national origin

Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (1996)

Denied same-sex couples benefits granted to opposite-sex couples: • Access to partner’s employment benefits • Rights to inheritance • Joint tax-returns • Next-of-kin status • Protection from domestic violence • States banning same-sex marriage not required to recognize same-sex marriage from other states • “for purposes of federal law, marriage can only occur between a man and a woman”

Obergefell v. Hodges (2014)

Supreme Court case that ruled that the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

School-to-Prison Pipeline

A disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

Black Lives Matter

A political and social movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people.