Civil Rights Movements and UN Organs Study Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes covering the US Civil Rights Movement, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Civil Rights Movement, key historical figures, land rights concepts, and United Nations organs.

US Civil Rights Movement

A movement in the 1960s where African Americans staged a powerful struggle for civil, political, and legal rights against Jim Crow laws and racial oppression.

Jim Crow Laws

Unfair legal barriers in the U.S. that kept African Americans separated from white people in schools, buses, and public places.

Brown v. Board of Education

A 1954 Supreme Court ruling declaring that separating students by race in public schools was illegal.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

A massive 381-day bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked in 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger.

Rosa Parks

An African American civil rights figure arrested in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger.

Greensboro Sit-ins

A series of peaceful protests initiated in 1960 by Black students sitting at 'whites-only' lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Birmingham Protests (1963)

Protests in Birmingham, Alabama, where peaceful marchers—including children and teenagers—were attacked with police dogs and fire hoses on live TV.

March on Washington

An August 1963 gathering of over 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights leader who delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the August 1963 March on Washington.

Bloody Sunday (1965)

An event in 1965 where peaceful voting rights marchers crossing a bridge in Selma, Alabama, were brutally beaten by police.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 & Voting Rights Act of 1965

Major U.S. federal legislation passed following public protests that legally ended segregation and protected voting rights.

Day of Mourning

The name given by Aboriginal Australians to 26th January 1938, observed while white Australians celebrated the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet.

Protection Boards

Australian government entities that dictated where Indigenous Australians could live and work.

1965 Freedom Ride

A bus journey led by Charles Perkins and Sydney University students through regional New South Wales towns to expose hidden racism and segregation in local pools, clubs, and picture theatres.

Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA)

An organization co-founded by Charles Perkins and Sydney University students that organized the landmark 1965 Freedom Ride.

1967 Referendum

A historic vote where over 90% of Australians voted 'Yes' to change the constitution so Indigenous people would be counted in the census and the federal government could legislate for them.

Aboriginal Tent Embassy

A protest structure established in 1972 on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra to advocate for land rights.

Mabo Decision (1992)

A landmark High Court ruling legally recognizing that Indigenous people held traditional ownership of the land (native title) prior to European arrival.

Eddie Mabo

A Torres Strait Islander man from Mer Island (Murray Island) who led a ten-year legal battle that successfully overturned the doctrine of terra nullius in 1992.

Terra Nullius

A legal fiction meaning 'land belonging to no one', which was challenged and overturned by Eddie Mabo in 1992.

Kevin Rudd

Prime Minister of Australia who delivered a formal national apology on February 13, 2008, acknowledging the suffering inflicted on the Stolen Generations.

Stolen Generations

Indigenous Australian children who were forcibly removed from their families under past government policies.

Charles Perkins

An Arrernte man, professional soccer player, SAFA co-founder, 1965 Freedom Ride leader, first Aboriginal man to graduate from an Australian university (1966), and Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs (1984).

Native Title

The legal recognition in Australia that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hold pre-existing rights and interests to land and waters based on traditional laws and customs.

Land Rights

Specific legal and moral recognition by governments of Indigenous ownership and control over traditional lands and waters.

The Intervention (2007)

A set of policies introduced by the Howard government across 73 Northern Territory Indigenous communities following the Little Children are Sacred report, involving alcohol bans, withholding 60% of welfare payments, and increased policing.

Little Children are Sacred Report

A report claiming crisis levels of child neglect and abuse in Indigenous communities, which prompted the 2007 Intervention (though only 2 of its 97 recommendations were addressed).

General Assembly (UN)

The main policy-making body of the UN where all 193 member states vote on global issues and resolutions.

Security Council (UN)

The 15-member UN body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, capable of issuing binding resolutions and sanctions.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

The UN organ responsible for coordinating economic, social, and environmental policies and managing specialized UN agencies.

Secretariat (UN)

The administrative and bureaucratic arm of the UN led by the Secretary-General that manages day-to-day operations.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The principal judicial organ of the UN that settles legal disputes between nations according to international law.

Trusteeship Council (UN)

A UN organ established to supervise trust territories in gaining self-governance, currently suspended as all territories have achieved independence.