Civil Rights Movement

Plessy v. Ferguson

Upheld "separate but equal" segregation laws, allowing racial segregation in public facilities as constitutional.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws enforcing racial segregation in the U.S., mainly in the South, from the late 19th to mid-20th century. Legalized discrimination against African Americans in public facilities, education, housing, and voting.

Civil Rights

Rights that protect individuals from discrimination based on characteristics like race, gender, or religion, ensuring equal treatment under the law.

Civil Disobedience

Nonviolent resistance against unjust laws or government actions often involves acts of protest or refusal to comply with authorities.

Nonviolent Resistance

A strategy that opposes oppression and injustice through peaceful means, such as protests, strikes, and civil disobedience.

Brown v. Board of Education

A landmark US Supreme Court case in 1954 declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional.

Rosa Parks

African American civil rights activist who refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.

Montgomery Buss Boycott

Civil rights protest in Alabama (1955-1956) sparked by Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat to a white person, led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Little Rock 9

Group of African American students who enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957, facing resistance and segregation.

National Urban League (NUL)

An organization founded in 1961 that advocates for economic and social justice for African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

An organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

An organization that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement utilizing sit-ins and other forms of civil disobedience to challenge segregation.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

A civil rights organization led by MLK Jr., advocating nonviolent protests for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s. They mobilized large, nonviolent protests in places like Birmingham and Selma to move the national conscience and push the federal government to support civil rights initiatives.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

An organization in the 1960s, advocating for Black equality through nonviolent protests and grassroots organizing.

Sit-In Movement

Nonviolent protests where participants occupied segregated spaces, demanding equal rights for African Americans in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

Freedom Rides

Bus trips in 1961 to challenge segregation in the South, led by civil rights activists to test Supreme Court rulings.

Integration at Ole Miss

An event in 1962 when James Meredith became the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, sparking protests and violence.

Children’s March

Part of the Civil Rights Movement in 1963, where kids protested segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, facing police violence but leading to national attention and support.

Bull Connor

A segregationist public official in Birmingham, Alabama, known for his violent opposition to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Freedom Summer

A 1964 voter registration drive in Mississippi to increase Black voter turnout and political power, organized by civil rights groups.

Selma March

An event led by civil rights activists in 1965, marching from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights. Met with violence, it spurred the Voting Rights Act.

March on Washington

An event where 250,000+ people marched for civil rights in 1963, where MLK delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, advocating for equality and justice.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation passed in 1964 prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended segregation in public places.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Landmark legislation that prohibits racial discrimination in voting, aiming to ensure equal access to the ballot for all citizens.

24th Amendment

Prohibits the denial of voting rights based on failure to pay poll taxes or any other tax. Ratified in 1964, removing a barrier to voting.

Black Panthers

An African American revolutionary organization founded in 1966 to combat police brutality and promote self-defense in black communities.

Stokely Carmichael

A prominent civil rights activist in the 1960s, known for popularizing the term "Black Power" and advocating for Black self-determination.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights leader who advocated for nonviolent resistance to racial segregation and discrimination in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.

Malcom X

A prominent civil rights activist in the 1960s, advocating for Black empowerment, self-defense, and Pan-Africanism. He was a key figure in the Nation of Islam before his pilgrimage to Mecca led him to embrace a more inclusive approach to civil rights.