Honors AMEX Review UNIT 5: Expanding Rights for African Americans

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to the expansion of rights for African Americans during Reconstruction and beyond.

Reconstruction Era

The period from 1865-1877 aimed to punish the South and reunite the country, involving laws and amendments like the 13th, 14th, and 15th.

KKK (Ku Klux Klan)

A white terrorist group founded in 1865, known for committing extreme acts of violence against Black people and their supporters.

Underground Railroad

A secret network of people and safehouses that helped enslaved people escape to the North and freedom.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld the 'separate but equal' doctrine, legitimizing racial segregation.

Emmett Till

A 14-year-old who was lynched in Mississippi, sparking national awareness of racial hatred and the civil rights movement.

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction seeking economic opportunities, while also helping to establish schools and promote equality.

Black Codes

State laws passed in Southern states during Reconstruction that limited the rights and opportunities of African Americans.

Sharecroppers

Tenant farmers, often Black, who paid landowners a portion of their harvest, which perpetuated cycles of poverty.

Free Black Communities

Settlements established by free African Americans that served as safe havens and were significant stops on the Underground Railroad.

Jim Crow Era

Period of enforced racial segregation and discrimination in the United States from the Plessy decision in 1896 until the Brown case in 1954.

De Jure Segregation

Segregation that is upheld by law, such as Jim Crow laws that enforced ‘separate but equal’ facilities.

14th Amendment

An amendment that established birthright citizenship, equal protection under the law, and applied the Bill of Rights to the states.

Brown vs. Board

A 1954 Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

A protest against bus segregation in Montgomery led by Dr. King, resulting in the desegregation of public buses.

Lynching

A racially motivated murder used as a tool of terror to suppress the rights of African Americans.

Dred Scott

A Supreme Court case ruling that declared enslaved individuals were not citizens and therefore had no standing to sue.

Scalawags

White Southerners who supported Republican policies during Reconstruction, viewed as traitors by others in the South.

Andrew Johnson

President who succeeded Lincoln, disapproved of civil rights, vetoed key legislation but was overruled by Congress.

Harriet Tubman

An abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad who helped many enslaved people escape to the North.

Freedmen’s Bureau

A federal agency established to help formerly enslaved individuals transition to freedom, providing education, food, and healthcare.

Missouri Compromise

An agreement allowing Missouri to enter as a slave state and Maine as a free state, aimed at maintaining the balance between slave and free states.

Bleeding Kansas

A series of violent confrontations in Kansas following the Kansas-Nebraska Act, highlighting the tensions over slavery.