Civil RIghts

Birmingham Campaign

A civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr, to challenge segregation; it drew national attention due to police violence against peaceful protesters.

Executive Order 9981

A 1948 order by President Truman that desegregated the U.S. armed forces.

Stonewall Riot

A 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, sparked by a police raid, marked a turning point for the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Freedom Rides

Interracial civil rights activists rode buses into the segregated South in 1961 to test Supreme Court rulings banning segregation in interstate travel.

Civil Rights Act, 1964

A landmark law that banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment and public places.

Voting Rights Act, 1965

A federal law that banned literacy tests and other practices that suppressed Black voters, enforcing voting rights guaranteed by the 15th Amendment.

de jure segregation

Racial separation enforced by law, such as Jim Crow laws.

de facto segregation

Racial separation that occurs in practice or by custom, even if not legally required.

Title IX

A 1972 law that bans sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities.

Little Rock 9

Nine Black students who integrated Central High School in Arkansas in 1957, facing intense resistance and requiring federal protection.

Plessy v Ferguson, 1898

A Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Brown v Board of Education, 1954

A Supreme Court decision that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson.

Shelby v Holder, 2013

Supreme Court case that weakened the Voting Rights Act by removing federal oversight of voting laws in some states.

Dobbs v Jackson, 2022

A Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban or restrict abortion access.

Jim Crow

A set of laws and customs that enforced racial segregation in the U.S. South from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s.

civil disobedience

Peacefully breaking unjust laws to protest and bring about social change, often used during the civil rights movement.

Sit-ins

Nonviolent protests where people occupy a space, like lunch counters, refusing to leave until they are served equally.

Boycotts

Refusals to buy or use goods and services as a form of protest, often used to challenge segregation or discrimination.

24th Amendment

A 1964 constitutional amendment that banned poll taxes in federal elections.

Redlining

A discriminatory practice where banks and insurers refused services to residents of certain neighborhoods based on race or ethnicity.

Black Power

A movement in the 1960s and 70s emphasizing racial pride, economic empowerment, and the creation of Black political and cultural institutions.

Black Panthers

A revolutionary Black political organization founded in 1966 that advocated for self-defense and community programs to fight racial injustice.

La Raza Unida

A political party founded in the 1970s to promote Mexican American rights and political representation.

Cesar Chavez

A labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers to improve conditions for farmworkers through nonviolent protest.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

A Native American advocacy group formed in 1968 to address issues like police brutality and promote tribal sovereignty.

Indian Self-Determination & Education Assistance Act, 1975

A law that gave tribes more control over their own education and programs previously run by the federal government.

Betty Friedan

A feminist author whose book The Feminine Mystique (1963) sparked the modern women’s rights movement.

Emmett Till

A 14-year-old Black boy murdered in Mississippi in 1955, whose brutal killing helped spark the civil rights movement.

Harvey Milk

One of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., assassinated in 1978 while serving on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

A year-long protest starting in 1955 against bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest and led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Ed Roberts

Disability rights activist who led the independent living movement and fought for accessibility and inclusion.

ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)

A 1990 law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and requires accessibility in public places and workplaces.

NOW (National Organization for Women)

A group founded in 1966 that fights for women’s rights and gender equality.

Bilingual Education Act

A 1968 law that provided federal funding to support teaching students in their native language while they learn English.

Dolores Huerta

A labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers and fought for farmworkers’ rights alongside Cesar Chavez.

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)

A civil rights group formed in 1960 that organized student-led protests, sit-ins, and voter registration drives in the South.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

A civil rights group that used nonviolent protest to fight segregation and helped organize the Freedom Rides in the 1960s.

Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)

A civil rights group formed to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott; led by Martin Luther King Jr. and aimed to end bus segregation.

Boynton v. Virginia (1960)

A Supreme Court case that banned segregation in bus stations and other facilities serving interstate travelers.

Bloody Sunday (1965)

A peaceful voting rights march in Selma, Alabama, where marchers were brutally attacked by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Gerrymandering

The practice of drawing voting district boundaries to give one political party an unfair advantage.