AMSCO AP US History Civil Rights Flashcards

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Postwar push for equality sparked by Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier in 1947 and Truman integrating the military in 1948 while the South remained segregated and suppressed Black voting education and public access

Changing Demographics and Attitudes

Millions of African Americans migrated North gaining political power while Cold War competition made US racism hurt its global image against communism

NAACP and School Desegregation

NAACP focused on legal battles, working to overturn Plessy v Ferguson arguing segregation violated the 14th Amendment

Brown v Board of Education

1954 Supreme Court case led by Thurgood Marshall ruling segregated schools inherently unequal under Chief Justice Earl Warren. Led to southern outrage and return of the KKK.

Little Rock Crisis

Governor Orval Faubus blocked Black students forcing Eisenhower to send federal troops despite personal caution on civil rights.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955 protest sparked by Rosa Parks arrest led by MLK that ended bus segregation through Supreme Court ruling.

Civil Rights Acts

Eisenhower passed Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 creating a civil rights commission and expanding Justice Department power

Nonviolent Protest Movements

MLK’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) organized sit ins and marches supported by Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) though impatience led to later riots

Postwar Immigration and Operation Wetbacks

Asian exclusion bans ended but quotas remained while Mexicans entered as bracero workers or illegally and Operation Wetback deported about 3.8 million amid discrimination

1950s Conformity and Consumer Culture

White suburban culture emphasized sameness with the Television Boom, safety, mass consumption through advertising credit cards, and shopping centers. Criticized for sameness.

Corporate America and Labor

Rise of conglomerates white collar jobs and corporate conformity criticized by Whyte while unions strengthened after AFL CIO merger.

Popular Culture and Social Critics

Rock and roll paperbacks and novels like Catcher in the Rye and Catch 22 challenged conformity as critics attacked inequality and corporate power

Beatniks and Counterculture

Beatniks were rebellious writers like Kerouac and Ginsberg promoted nonconformity drugs and spontaneity, counterculture was a hippie movement embracing drugs, communal living, and music

Women in the 1950s

Baby Boom reinforced domestic roles though many women worked low paying jobs causing dissatisfaction

Election of 1960

Close race where TV debates favored Kennedy over Nixon highlighting media influence

JFK’s New Frontier

Called for youth leadership with expert advisors and programs for education healthcare and civil rights mostly realized under LBJ

LBJ’s Great Society

Expanded New Deal reforms boosting jobs growth and social spending

War on Poverty Programs

Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) funded Head Start, Job Corps, and Community Action inspired by The Other America

Major Great Society Reforms

Created the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Transportation departments, expanded parks, regulated autos, improved air quality, and removed billboards

Social Welfare Programs

Included Food Stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, higher education, child nutrition, and immigration reform ending quotas

Evaluating the Great Society

Criticized as costly and centralized but lifted millions of elderly poor and disabled though weakened by Vietnam

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Banned segregation and job discrimination and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Voting Rights Expansion

24th Amendment banned poll taxes and Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected Black suffrage after Selma violence

MLK’s Leadership

Led nonviolent movement justified in Letter from Birmingham Jail framing civil rights as moral and constitutional

Major Civil Rights Marches

March on Washington and Selma to Montgomery marches pressured passage of voting rights laws

Black Nationalism and Malcolm X

Nation of Islam promoted separatism and self defense/fighting back contrasting MLK with Malcolm X who later “cooled-off” before assassination

Black Power Movement

Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and Black Panthers embraced racial pride separatism and in Panthers’ case revolutionary socialism

Urban Riots and Kerner Commission Investigation

Watts and other riots prompted investigation concluding racism segregation and division caused the unrest

MLK Assassination and Backlash

1968 murder sparked riots nationwide and growing white working class opposition

Warren Court and Individual Rights

Expanded civil liberties reshaping criminal justice voting and privacy

Criminal Procedure Decisions

Mapp v Ohio, Gideon v Wainwright, Escobedo v Illinois, and Miranda v Arizona protected defendants from police abuse

Reapportionment and Voting Equality

Baker v Carr established one man one vote

Freedom of Expression and Religion

Yates v US protected radical speech and Engel v Vitale banned mandatory school prayer

Right to Privacy

Griswold protected contraception laying groundwork for later abortion rights

Student Movements and the New Left

Students for Democratic Society (SDS) and Port Huron Statement demanded participatory democracy and campus reform

Free Speech and Antiwar Protests

Berkeley movement expanded to challenge university authority and Vietnam War

Radical Student Activism

Weathermen: faction of Students for Democratic Society (SDS) used violence

Sexual Revolution

Birth control, Kinsey research (how homosexual people are), and media loosened sexual norms increasing premarital sex and controversy

Women’s Movement Revival

Betty Friedan, creator of National Organization for Women (NOW) and feminism pushed workplace equality

ERA Campaign and Outcomes

Equal Rights Amendment failed but women gained broader professional opportunities despite pay gap