Rights and Protest

Civil Rights

The rights of an individual to political, social and legal equality

Constitution

Contains the written documentation of civil rights, guarantees the right to vote in elections, equal treatment under the law, the right to a fair trial and the right to free speech, movement and religion

Civil Rights Movement

Aimed to secure the civil rights of all peoples through changes in the law or in the way the law is interpreted, also incorporated gaining the support of the federal government

Federal System of Government

National government in the capital and each state has its own government

Congress

The law-making body, consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, allows for equal representation from each state in lawmaking

Legislature

The state equivalent of Congress, lawmaking within states themselves

Supreme Court

Role is to interpret the Constitution and determine if laws passed are constitutional or not, is the highest power court in the US

Amendments

Changes to the constitution, requires a two-thirds majority in Congress to be passed, African Americans wanted to make these granting them their rights

Confederacy

Loosely-held group of autonomy-seeking states that were in support of maintaining slavery

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery in the US

Reconstruction

Era after slavery was abolished, dealt with the Confederate states and how to provide for four million freed slaves

Freedmen

Another term for freed slaves

Sharecroppers

Work on someone's land in exchange for housing and food, but the debt from buying supplies to work that land effectively returned those who practiced it to less-harsh slavery

White Supremacy

Belief that whites are superior to all other races, many people in the Southern states wanted to practice this

Ku Klux Klan

Founded in 1865, was a group of terrorizing ex-Confederate soldiers who wanted to maintain white supremacy in the South

14th Amendment

Guaranteed equal protection of the law to all citizens

15th Amendment

Granted black males the right to vote

Jim Crow Laws

Once Reconstruction ended in the North and troops were removed, attention returned to maintaining white supremacy, and these were passed to effectively keep segregation legal, name is based off of a dumb comic character, did actually guarantee equal rights but these were never practiced

Minstrel

Groups of white people who painted their faces black and performed music supposedly of African origin

Jim Crow

Stereotypical slow, dumb black kid who was not well balanced and crippled

Blackface

Putting blackening makeup on one's face to pretend to be African

Segregation

The separation of people by race in schools, public transport and facilities

Poll Tax

Levied on new black voters to discourage anyone besides white males from voting, was a "legal" method to prevent blacks from voting

Grandfather Clause

A black voter could only vote if his grandfather was a freedman before 1865

Disenfranchisement

The prevention of voting

Lynching

Illegal killing (usually hanging) of (usually black) people, was instigated largely by rape accusations

Ida Wells

Wrote that lynching is a way to get rid of black Americans who were gaining a foothold

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Court case in 1896 where Homer Plessy, who was 1/8th black, refused to move from his seat in a whites only section of a train in Louisiana and he was jailed, the court ruling upheld that segregation was not illegal if the facilities provided to blacks and whites were equal

Separate but Equal

Provided by the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision, said that segregation should be upheld if both blacks and whites are guaranteed the same facilities

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Organization founded partially by W.E.B. Du Bois that aimed to publicize black discrimination and violence, as well as fight against injustice through legal means

The Crisis

Newspaper written by the NAACP that reported on the injustice experienced by blacks as well as on black progress in America

Great Migration

The movement of 350,000 blacks from the South to the North in search of job opportunities and positions in industry

The Army

Treated the blacks that joined poorly and they were embittered after WWI, segregated regiments destroyed unity and strength

Double V Campaign

WWII era, blacks wanted to win a victory both in Germany against the Nazis and in America against racism

Benjamin O. Davis

First black general, was appointed during WWII, called for equal opportunities for all men in the armed forces

Ghetto

A poor area of a town overwhelmingly populated by one ethnic group or race, were popular places for whites to hunt accused rape victims

Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong

Performers who maintained black culture in the North in spite of pushes away from integration

Fair Employment Practices Commission

Established by Roosevelt to ensure blacks would be employed in the war industries

A. Phillip Randolph

Threatened to organize a march on Washington demanding job opportunities in war industries

Grassroots

The formation of a political movement in a local community

Electoral Register

A list of names saying who is voting, the percentage of black men in the South on this rose from 3% to 12%

Thurgood Marshall

Charles Houston's star student who initially set out jointly to acquire equality within schools

Charles Houston

The top lawyer in the NAACP, trained many younger lawyers so that the injustice could continue to be fought legally by many people

FDR

Granted blacks huge advancements in civil rights through his black cabinet and many black advisers

Desegregation

The removal of segregation from a facility and implementation of integration, was done to the armed forces by Truman

To Secure These Rights

Committee on Civil Rights investigated the violence against blacks, then produced this report

Committee on Civil Rights

Established by Truman to investigate black violence

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka

Part of a string of victorious court cases headed by Thurgood Marshall that was based on Oliver Brown wanting to send his kid to a closer white school than a farther black school, court ruled in favor of desegregating all public funded schools to comply with the 14th Amendment

Brown II

Second court case ruling that called for desegregation of all public schools " with all due speed" because the first case did not put this into effect

Deep South

Opposed the Brown v. Board ruling and little to no actual desegregation happened here, saw the ruling as an attack on customs and way of life, and as an attack on states' rights

Southern Manifesto

Condemned the Brown v. Board ruling and unified the Deep South under this resistance, was signed by most Southern Congressmen

White Citizens' Councils

Supposedly nonviolent organizations created to maintain segregation and deter integrationists

Elizabeth Eckford

Little Rock attendee who faced harassment and abuse from whites

Orval Faubus

Sent National Guard troops outside Little Rock High School who prevented the nine black students from entering

Cold War

State of tension between the US and USSR, civil rights issues in the US made it more difficult to calm the tension

United Nations

Organization aiming to settle international disputes, received many reports about civil rights issues by Soviet diplomats in the US

Civil Rights Acts

Eisenhower's attempts at legal reformation of civil rights, were diluted in Congress and he did not fully support them himself, only gained 3% more black voters

Boycott

Refusal to have anything to do with an organization, was done to the Montgomery Bus Company

Rosa Parks

Black woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus and was jailed as a result, ran the NAACP Youth Council

Emmett Till

Young boy who catcalled a white woman and was lynched as a result, picture of the brutality was put in the magazine the Jet, was on Rosa Parks' mind when she didn't give up her seat

Claudette Colvin

Pregnant, unmarried 15 year old girl who was in a similar situation as Rosa Parks had her case kept private because of the controversy about her pregnancy

ED Nixon

Helped organize the bus boycott and the Montgomery Voters' League

Montgomery Improvement Association

Organization that coordinated the Montgomery bus boycott, led by ED Nixon and MLK Jr

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Organized by ED Nixon and MLK Jr, was a call for more courteous treatment of black passengers, whites fill the bus from the front and blacks from the back, and the employment of black drivers, did not call for the desegregation of buses, just better treatment

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Formed by King in January 1957 to coordinate the power of black churches so mass demonstrations could be carried out, developed the idea of nonviolent protesting

Ella Baker

Executive director of the SCLC in 1960, noted that there was not enough grassroots support for the SCLC

Greensboro Four

Students who sat in at Woolworth's store and refused to leave, gained lots of attentions and sit-ins became really popular, reignited the Civil Rights Movement

James Lawson

Started organizing sit-ins in Nashville, Tennessee, effectively created a code of conduct including no jail no bail, and being courteous when faced with discrimination

Bail

Paid removal of someone from jail

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Student-run organizations formed after the sit-ins, gained Ella Baker's movements lots of popularity among ordinary blacks

Litigation

Taking a case to the court of law

John Kennedy

Supported the civil rights movements more than Eisenhower did, secured his victory against Nixon in the presidential election of 1961

Interstate Transport

Transport across state borders that was under control of the federal government Interstate Commerce Comission

Congress of Racial Equality

Founded by James Farmer, pioneered the sit-ins in the South

Freedom Rides

White and black people got on buses and rode into the South to oppose segregation, were asphyxiated and firebombed

Attorney General

Head of the Justice Department

Bull Connor

Police chief who supported the actions of the KKK against the Freedom Riders

"Cooling-off period"

What Robert Kennedy called for but James Farmer said they would be in a deep freeze if they did

The Battle of Ole Miss

Happened in 1962, Kennedy wanted James Meredith to be the first black man to attend the University of Mississippi, turned into violence as white government officers and white people opposed his admission, ended in Kennedy intervening with government force

Ross Barnett

Obstructed James Meredith from attending the University of Mississippi

The Albany Movement

SNCC and local activists led attacks against discrimination in Albany, Georgia, were later joined by MLK Jr and the SCLC

Laurie Pritchett

Trained his officers to be nonviolent against the people in the Albany Movement to oppose King at his own game

George Wallace

Governor of Alabama who said segregation now and forever

Black Nationalists

Blacks who wanted to stay segregated instead of integrated with the white people

Project C

Attempted desegregation of businesses so blacks could get jobs there

Ralph Abernathy

When King marched on the City Hall in Birmingham, Alabama, he was put into solitary confinement by this man

Letter from Birmingham City Jail

The responses in the margins to the Birmingham News report of Project C, warned people from turning to black nationalism

Children's Crusade

Kids sent to protest against segregation in place of adults so that a bold, brave image could be conveyed, they were arrested and carted to jail

Todd Purdum

Wrote that Kennedy had done what no other president had done

March on Washington

Was led by A. Phillip Randolph and MLK Jr to put pressure on Congress to pass the civil rights bill, demanded jobs and freedom, Kennedy tried to warp it into support of his own bill, but 250,000 white and black people showed up and showed support for civil rights

Bayard Rustin

SCLC member who helped organize the March on Washington

I Have a Dream

King's speech at the March on Washington that

Lyndon B. Johnson

Successor to Kennedy who was able to get the civil rights bill through Congress as part of Kennedy's legacy

Great Society

LBJ's plan to decrease poverty and inequality in the US

Zephyr Cook

LBJ's vice president's black cook who was declined entry into gas station toilets and had to squat-pee on the side of the road

Johnson Treatment

Moving in close with a grab of the knee, done by Johnson to get the civil rights bill passed

Everett Dirkson

The man that LBJ pressured to advocate for the Civil Rights Act, did it because he liked the attention

Civil Rights Act

Wiped out Jim Crow laws, established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, guaranteed faster legal action for blacks

Higher Education Act of 1965

Johnson's legislation that funded poor black colleges, increased the amount of blacks in college by 400%

Taboo

Something which custom or convention prohibits, used to describe interracial marriage prior to integration