1950's & Civil Rights Vocabulary

blue-collar worker

a person who works in a factory or at a skilled trade, usually for an hourly wage; usually in middle to lower class

white-collar worker

a person who works in an office-based profession that does not involve manual labor, usually for a set salary; usually in middle to upper class

Baby Boom

the large increase in the number of babies born after World War II until the early 1960s; changed demographics that affected schools, businesses, and development of suburbs

GI Bill

helped ease the return of World War II veterans by provided funding for education, home loans, and employment aid; GI=Government Issue

polio

a serious disease that affects the nerves of the spine and often makes a person permanently paralyzed or unable to move particular muscles; the disease is now rare since the development of a vaccine by Jonas Salk

litigation

an action brought to court to enforce a particular right; the process of taking legal action

Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court case that established controversial "separate but equal" policy making segregation legal as long as the facilities provided to blacks were equal to those provided to whites

Sweatt v. Painter

Supreme Court case that ruled University of Texas had violated the 14th Amendment by establishing a separate, but unequal all-black law school

Brown v. Board of Education

Supreme Court ruling declaring that segregation in all public schools was unconstitutional; several southern states resisted integration

affirmative action

policy that calls for employers to actively seek out minorities to increase their number in the workplace and in universities; some whites consider this to be reverse racism

political activism

the use of action in opposition or support of a political issue; examples: marches, boycotts, sit-ins and freedom rides

civil disobedience

the nonviolent refusal to obey a law that the protester considers to be unjust; example: boycotts of businesses, sit-ins at lunch counters

segregation

practice or policy of keeping people of different races, religions, gender, etc. separate from each other; legally allowed after Plessy v. Ferguson with Jim Crow laws

integration

combining racial, religious, or ethnic groups into one united system

desegregation

doing away with laws, customs, or practices under which people of different races, ethnic groups or religions were restricted to facilities or schools

Jackie Robinson

first African-American player in major league baseball; broke the color barrier

Rosa Parks

sparked the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person; led to the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott

Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK)

leader of the Civil Rights movement who advocated the use of civil disobedience; gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington

Thurgood Marshall

NAACP attorney for Linda Brown in the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit; first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court

George Wallace

governor of Alabama who fought integration of schools; blocked African Americans from entering the University of Alabama

Orval Faubus

governor of Arkansas who fought integration by blocking the "Little Rock Nine" from entering Little Rock High School

Lester Maddox

fought integration by closing his restaurant to avoid serving blacks; later became governor of Georgia