Civil Rights, Vietnam War, and Social Changes

Flashcards about the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and social changes from the 1950s to the early 2000s.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Legitimized state governments to enforce “Jim Crow” laws that segregated different skin color groups from European Americans

Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899)

Ruled that the education of people in schools maintained by state taxation is a matter belonging to the respective states, limiting federal interference.

Brown v. Board of Education

Outlawed school segregation.

Emmett Louis Till

African American boy murdered in 1955 after being accused of flirting with a white woman; his death became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

Governor Orval Faubus

Wanted to prevent the Little Rock 9 from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

President Dwight Eisenhower

Deployed the military to Little Rock to protect the Little Rock 9.

Malcolm X

An activist who, in the 1950s-early 1960s, advocated for segregation and self-defense against white supremacy but later became open to limited integration.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became the 1st president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), advocating for voting rights and desegregation.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Civil rights organization which advocated voting rights and desegregation throughout the U.S. South during the 1950s and 1960s

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

U.S. Congress authorized the U.S. President to deploy soldiers to South Vietnam to guard U.S. air bases.

Watergate Scandal

A break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex in Washington was carried out under the direction of White House staff members, leading to Nixon's resignation.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

College student organization that protested shortcomings in U.S. life.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Established in 1966 by Betty Friedan to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Proposed Constitutional amendment that stated “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied by the U.S. or any state on account of sex” but was not approved by enough U.S. States by 1982.

Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT 1)

Reductions to anti-ballistic missile defense

Detente

Relaxing of tensions

Operation Rolling Thunder

U.S. bombing missions over North Vietnam (1965 – 1968) followed by Operation Linebacker (1969 – 1972)

My Lai Massacre

The killing of 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops in March 1968.

Tet Offensive

A series of coordinated attacks by North Vietnamese forces on South Vietnamese cities in January 1968; considered a North Vietnamese victory.

Perestroika

Russian meaning for “economic restructuring” where a mixed economy applied in Soviet Union allowing for limited capitalism (initially in service industries).

Glasnost

Russian meaning for “openness” where Soviet Union’s censorship in media and free speech was reduced (allowing for more open criticism).

Reagan Doctrine

A strategy to reduce the Soviet Union’s global influence during the 1980s. Offering more assistance and $ to anti-communist efforts in low income regions and prompt Soviet Union to provide its limited $ to stop anti-communist efforts

Fulgencio Batista

Cuban President-Dictator (1952 – 1959)

Mujahideen

Afghani anti-communist freedom fighters who fought to overthrow communism in Afghanistan

Operation Cyclone

Arming, training from C.I.A, and U.S. funding to Afghani Mujahideen.

PMRC (Parent, Music, Resource, Center)

Parent, Music, Resource, Center that that lobbied to Increase parental control over children’s access to certain music deemed too violent, or mentioning drug use or sex.

Coolidge Effect

The phenomenon where sexual arousal is renewed or heightened in males when exposed to a new sexual partner

Yuppies

Mobile, affluent young americans with few or no children but high paying jobs

D.I.N.K.s (Double Income No Kids)

Rise of Family Revolution in the U.S