APUSH

Fair Employment Practices Committee

Enacted by executive order 8802 on June 25, 1941 to prohibit discrimination in the armed forces.

First Detroit Race Riots

Racial war broke out between Blacks and Whites and the government did not send help.

Gunnar Myrdal “An American Dilemma”

He wrote this to increase White awareness of the awful discrimination against Blacks.

To Secure These Rights

A report by the President's Committee on Civil Rights, it was given a year after the Committee was formed, and helped pave the way for the civil rights era. It recommended that the government start an anti-lynching campaign and ensure that Blacks got to vote.

Executive Order 9981

In July, 1948 Truman issued an executive order desegregating the Armed Forces. It established a policy of racial equality in the Armed Forces "be put into effect as rapidly as possible." He also created a committee to ensure its implementation.

Korean War

At the end of WW II, Korea had been divided into a northern sector occupied by the U.S.S.R. and a southern sector occupied by the U.S. who instituted a democratic government. On June 25, 1950, the North invaded the South. The United Nations created an international army, lead by the U.S. to fight for the South and China joined the war on the side of North Korea. This was the first time the United Nations had intervened militarily.

“Separate but Equal”

In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but supposedly equal facilities for Blacks and Whites were legal.

Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

Thurgood Marshall

In 1967, appointed the first Black Supreme Court Justice, he had led that NAACP's legal defense fund and had argued the Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case before the Supreme Court.

Rosa Parks, Montgomery Bus Boycott

December, 1955 - In Montgomery, Alabama, she refused to give up her bus seat for a White man as required by city ordinance. It started the Civil Rights Movement and an almost nation-wide bus boycott lasting 11 months.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

An Atlanta-born Baptist minister, he earned a Ph.D. at Boston University. The leader of the Civil

Rights Movement and President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he was

assassinated outside his hotel room.

Little Rock Nine

1957 - Governor Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School. Eisenhower sent in U.S. paratroopers to ensure the students could attend class.

Civil Rights Act, 1957

Created by the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights and the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department

Civil Rights Act, 1960

It gave the Federal Courts the power to register Black voters and provided for voting referees who served wherever there was racial discrimination in voting, making sure Whites did not try to stop Blacks from voting.

Literacy Tests, Grandfather Clause, Poll Taxes, White Primaries

Literacy tests: Voters had to prove basic literacy to be entitled to vote. Because of poor schools,

Blacks were often prevented from voting. Grandfather clause: Said that a person could vote only

if their grandfather had been registered to vote, which disqualified Blacks whose grandparents

had been slaves. Poll taxes and White primaries (only whites were allowed to vote in the primary

elections) were other methods used to keep Blacks from voting.

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

Decided that a state can require student to salute the flag in school.

Korematsu v. U.S.

Upheld the U.S. government's decision to put Japanese-Americans in internment camps during World War II.

Dennis v. U.S.

In 1948, the Attorney General indicted two key Communist leaders for violation of the Smith Act of 1940 which prohibited conspiring to teach violent overthrow of the government. They were convicted in a 6-2 decision and their appeal was rejected.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Headed by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., a coalition of churches and Christians organizations who met to discuss civil rights.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Founded in 1909 to improve living conditions for inner city Blacks, evolved into a national organization dedicated to establishing equal legal rights for Blacks.

Urban League

Helping Blacks to find jobs and homes, it was founded in 1966 and was a social service agency providing facts about discrimination.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Interracial until 1962, when it became predominately Black, after 1964, only Blacks were allowed to join. It concentrated on organizing votes for Black candidates and political causes, successful even in states like Mississippi and Alabama.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Organized in the fall of 1960 by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. as a student civil rights movement inspired by sit-ins, it challenged the status quo and walked the back roads of Mississippi and Georgia to encourage Blacks to resist segregation and to register to vote.

Sit-Ins, Freedom Rides

Late 1950's, early 1960's, these were nonviolent demonstrations and marches that challenged segregation laws, often braving attacks by angry White mobs.

"I Have a Dream" Speech

Given August 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

March on Washington

200,000 demonstrators converged on the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. King's speech and to celebrate Kennedy's support for the civil rights movement.

Medgar Evers

Director of the NAACP in Mississippi and a lawyer who defended accused Blacks; he was murdered in his driveway by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Malcolm X

One-time pimp and street hustler, converted to a Black Muslim while in prison. At first urged Blacks to seize their freedom by any means necessary, but later changed position and advocated racial harmony. He was assassinated in February, 1965.

Stokely Carmichael

In 1966, as chair of SNCC, he called to assert Black Power. Supporting the Black Panthers, he was against integration.

Black Panthers

Led by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, they believed that racism was an inherent part of the U.S. capitalist society and were militant, self-styled revolutionaries for Black Power.

Black Muslims

Common name for the Nation of Islam, a religion that encouraged separatism from White society. They claimed the "White Devil" was the chief source of evil in the world.

Black Power

A slogan used to reflect solidarity and racial consciousness, used by Malcolm X. It meant that equality could not be given, but had to be seized by a powerful, organized Black community.

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

It outlawed taxing voters, i.e. poll taxes, at presidential or congressional elections, as an effort to remove barriers to Black voters.