Social Justice, Oppression, and Civil Rights Review

A comprehensive vocabulary review set covering foundational social justice terminology, theories of prejudice and discrimination, historical milestones, and case studies of systemic oppression.

Power

The ability to exert control, change, or influence something or its outcome.

Change

To make or become different, or to replace one thing with another.

Privilege

A special right, advantage, or immunity available only for a particular person or group.

System

A structured network operating with established laws and rules.

Equity

The quality of being fair and just, specifically in a way that accounts for individual ability and disability to address existing inequalities.

Equality

Giving everyone the exact same rights, opportunities, resources, or treatment.

Entitlement

The official right to have or do something, or the belief that one deserves special privileges and benefits.

Justice

Seeking and doing what is morally right and fair.

Social Justice

Seeking a society in which the relationship between an individual and society is fair and just, regardless of their position.

Learned Theory

A theory of prejudice suggesting individuals adopt normalized discriminatory behaviors and racist ideologies at a young age through interactions with family, parents, and community members.

Competition Theory

A theory proposing that prejudice arises when distinct groups compete for limited resources, causing people to blame societal or economic problems on immigrants or non-white groups.

Frustration-Aggression Theory

A theory positing that individuals who face personal or economic shortcomings displace their frustration and anger onto a societal group that appears wealthier or more prosperous.

Ignorance Theory

A theory stating that prejudice stems from a lack of personal or social experience with other people, leading to unsupported assumptions about specific groups or classes in society.

Oppression

Being governed, treated, or controlled in a cruel and unjust manner, resulting in the denial of basic freedoms, rights, or opportunities by a system or by people in power.

Birdcage Metaphor

An analogy illustrating oppression where an oppressed person is represented by a bird; looking at a single wire suggests the bird could easily fly around it, but a macroscopic perspective reveals how the interconnected wires collectively form an inescapable barrier.

Marilyn Frye

The theorist who conceptualized the birdcage metaphor to expose systemic sexism in society and explain how interconnected structural barriers restrict women.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

The forced enslavement, oceanic transportation, and sale of an estimated 12 million African people across the Atlantic to the Americas to perform forced labor for European economic profit over a period of roughly 400 years.

Triangle Trade

A three-part transatlantic trade route consisting of manufactured goods shipped from Europe to Africa to purchase slaves, enslaved Africans shipped to the Americas, and slave-produced goods shipped back to Europe.

Middle Passage

The transatlantic voyage transporting enslaved Africans to the Americas in overcrowded cargo holds, resulting in approximately 2 million deaths (a mortality rate of roughly $16\%$ or one-sixth of all captives).

Three Estates

The social division of pre-revolutionary France consisting of the First Estate (clergy/church, privileged), the Second Estate (nobility, privileged), and the Third Estate (commoners, who bore the tax burden).

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

A French revolutionary document adopted on August 26, 1789 ($08/26/1789$) that established civil liberties, property rights, and access to education.

Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen

A French revolutionary text written on September 14, 1791 ($09/14/1791$) that advocated for women's equal rights and legal recognition.

Napoleonic Code

The French civil legal code established on March 21, 1804 ($03/21/1804$) that instituted legal equality and officially separated church and state.

Little Rock Nine (LR9)

A group of nine Black students who integrated Central High School on September 4, 1957 ($09/04/1957$) despite facing violent mob harassment and initial denial of entry by state government authorities.

Rosa Parks

The civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus, leading to her arrest and launching the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Martin Luther King Jr.

A Baptist preacher and key Civil Rights Movement leader who helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott, headed the SCLC, and authored the "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Malcolm X

A prominent Muslim minister and civil rights activist associated with the Islamic movement who advocated for Black empowerment and human rights.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

A student-led civil rights organization that coordinated grassroots direct actions including lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and voter registration campaigns.

Starlight Tours

A practice by police officers involving the arrest or pickup of intoxicated Indigenous individuals, driving them outside city limits in freezing temperatures, taking their clothing, and abandoning them in the cold, resulting in deaths and zero officer convictions.

Calls to Action (Truth and Reconciliation Commission)

A set of 94 recommendations presented by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission addressing the legacy of residential schools and outlining steps for reconciliation, including Call to Action #6 to repeal Section 43 (corporal punishment).

Leonard Peltier

An Indigenous activist wrongfully imprisoned following a shootout, widely regarded as a symbol of systemic injustice and discrimination.

Mumia Abu-Jamal

A journalist and political activist convicted of murder whose legal case generated widespread controversy regarding systemic racial bias in the justice system.

Dudley George

An unarmed Indigenous protester killed by police during the 1995 Ipperwash Crisis while demonstrating for land rights.

Fred Hampton

The deputy chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party who was assassinated in 1969 through a raid orchestrated under the FBI's COINTELPRO initiative.

Social Construction of Identity

The concept that identity is shaped through socialization and interactions with others across various facets, including gender, class, sex, race, ethnicity, age, religion, and disability.