U.S. History Definitions

Sit-Ins

D: Groups of integrated or Black students have a presence at lunch counters in order to slow down business and gain national awareness of racial violence and mistreatment 
E: Shift from slow moving change from older attorneys (lawsuits), speakers and writers toa new group of activists all demanding fair housing, equal employment, consumer access and educational opportunities. These included the American Indian Movement (occupied Alcatraz), Mexican American groups led by Cesar Chavez on behalf of farmers’/harvester's’ rights, Environmental groups responding to the Santa Barbara oil spill, Cuyahoga fire and pollution of Lake Erie, and large national groups working to desegregate the country and work to sold the crisis of violence against the Black community: the NAACP (WEB DuBois, CORE-Congress of Racial Equality, SCLC-Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). Remember that a commitment to non-violence is a promise to not respond with violence in a situation that is 100% likely to be violent.  
S: Extraordinarily fast progress—restaurants and stores begin to desegregate on their own without government intervention in order not to lose money or gain public notice. Inspires other forms of public civil protest, especially with the Freedom Riders. 
Black Nationalism 

Credibility Gap

D: Difference between a public figure’s statements and the actual reality, leading to skepticism and distrust among the public 
E: 1. JFK puts out contradictory information on the Cuban Missile Crisis 2. LBJ puts out misleading information on Vietnam, including the Tet Offensive where it became clear that North Vietnam was a powerful adversary and that 200,000 more troops were required, escalating the draft. 3. Pentagon Papers are released, showing involvement of 5 Presidents and their fighting of an undeclared war 
S: LBJ: continuing to insist on successes in Vietnam when nightly news showed the opposite, Nixon: tried to take down Daniel Ellsberg with a crew called the plumbers, who later spied on the Democratic National Committee and denied all knowledge—this is the foundation of Watergate. Release of testimony and reports on the Mai Lai Massacre show Americans committing war crimes (another instance of Congress refusing to speak out). This leads to widespread lack of faith in official government pronouncements. Lack of censorship and “on the ground” presence of the news media widens the gap. 

Black Power Movement

D: Self-Sufficiency, Equality 
E: A group that thought the Civil Rights movement was not moving fast enough 
S: Black Panther Party, the Black Women’s United Front and the Nation of Islam

Stagflation

D: unemployment up, inflation up, prices up, consumer buying down, international relationships uncertain 
E: 1973 Arab oil embargo increases cost of production
S: increasing government spending, deregulating industry 

Glasnost

D: Policy of 1980s: Russian government secrecy now discouraged and open distribution of information with the West encouraged. 
E: Detente 
S: Russia open to Western interests/money/commercialization/ideals (to a point).