The Civil Rights Movement, 1954–1975

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the key organisations, events, court cases, leaders, and legislative milestones of the American Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1975.

Brown v. Topeka (1954)

The NAACP-backed Supreme Court case that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson by unanimously ruling that 'separate educational facilities are inherently unequal' and declaring 'separate but equal' unconstitutional.

Little Rock High School (1957)

The Arkansas school where nine Black students attempted to enroll following the Brown v. Topeka ruling; they faced an angry mob of over 1000 white protesters and state troopers before President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army to protect them.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956)

A 381-day protest launched after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to yield her seat to a white passenger, ending when the Supreme Court upheld a federal district court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.

Women's Political Council (WPC)

The civil rights group in Montgomery that initiated the city bus boycott, which was supported by 90% of the bus company's Black customers.

Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)

An organisation founded on 5 December 1955 to oversee the Montgomery bus boycott and coordinate car-pools, electing Pastor Martin Luther King as its president.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

A civil rights organization established by Martin Luther King in 1957 to campaign against segregation using non-violent direct action and to support voter registration.

Lynching

The illegal killing of individuals by white racist mobs acting outside the law; approximately 5000 lynchings were recorded across the south between 1882 and 1968.

Emmett Till

A 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was kidnapped, beaten, mutilated, and shot in Money, Mississippi, in August 1955; his killers were acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury before selling their story to a magazine for $3500.

Southern Manifesto

A declaration signed on 12 March 1958 by 19 Senators and 77 House Representatives publicly rejecting the Brown v. Topeka decision as illegal and claiming that desegregation was unconstitutional.

White Citizens' Council (WCC)

An organisation first founded in Indianola, Mississippi, in July 1954 that attracted middle-class southern white membership to oppose desegregation through economic intimidation and threats of violence.

Dixiecrats

Southern Democrat politicians who utilized legislative delaying tactics and amendments to block or dilute civil rights laws, arguing they were protecting states' rights.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

A federal law passed under President Eisenhower that affirmed all Americans had the right to vote and created a six-member Civil Rights Commission, but only increased southern Black voter registration by 3% by 1960.

Greensboro Sit-in (1960)

A non-violent protest begun on 1 February 1960 by four Black college students at an all-white Woolworth's lunch counter in North Carolina, which sparked sit-ins involving over 70000 participants across 55 cities by the end of 1960.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

An activist organization formed in April 1960 by student sit-in leaders, applying Martin Luther King's principles of non-violence to fight segregation.

Freedom Rides (1961)

Bus journeys through the American South organized by CORE and SNCC to challenge non-compliance with the Supreme Court's order desegregating interstate buses and bus station facilities.

James Meredith

The first Black student admitted to the University of Mississippi ('Ole Miss') in 1962 following a Supreme Court ruling, whose registration required 500 federal marshals and military troops to contain violent campus rioting.

Project C

The SCLC's 1963 campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, that used sit-ins, boycotts, and youth marches to confront segregation head-on, provoking Police Chief 'Bull' Connor to use firehoses and police dogs against demonstrators.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963)

A gathering of 250000 people on 28 August 1963 celebrating the centenary of the Thirteenth Amendment, where Martin Luther King delivered his 'I have a dream' speech.

Freedom Summer (1964)

A voter registration drive in Mississippi organized by SNCC and CORE that founded 30 Freedom Schools, during which three civil rights volunteers were murdered in Neshoba County by the Ku Klux Klan.

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)

A political party established by civil rights volunteers during the 1964 Freedom Summer campaign to represent Black Mississippians excluded from the regular Democratic Party.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal legislation passed under President Johnson that outlawed segregation in all public spaces, prohibited employment discrimination, and established the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Bloody Sunday (1965)

The 7 March 1965 incident where 600 civil rights demonstrators attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, were tear-gassed and beaten with clubs by police.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A federal law that outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes, allowing federal officials to monitor voter registration and enabling nearly 250000 new Black voters to register within the same year.

Stokely Carmichael

A civil rights activist elected Chair of the SNCC in 1966 who coined the slogan 'Black Power' during the March Against Fear and later became honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party in 1969.

Lowndes County Freedom Organization

A political party founded in 1965 by Stokely Carmichael to represent Black Americans in Alabama, adopting a panther as its symbol.

Black Panther Party for Self-Defense

A Black Power group established in California in October 1966 with a ten-point programme; known for armed patrols against police brutality, military attire, and community service projects such as free breakfast programmes.

1968 Mexico Olympics Protest

A demonstration on the international stage where US medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists in a Black Power salute during the national anthem.

Kerner Report (1968)

A presidential commission report on urban riots which concluded that the nation was 'moving toward two societies, one Black, one white - separate and unequal', placing blame on white racism and police brutality.

Malcolm X

A prominent Black nationalist and civil rights leader who advocated self-defense 'by any means necessary', spent years as the chief spokesman for the Nation of Islam, and founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the OAAU before his assassination in 1965.

Nation of Islam (NOI)

A militant Black nationalist religious organisation that rejected racial integration, held that white people were evil, and grew to 30000 members by 1963.

Chicago Freedom Movement (1966)

An SCLC campaign led by Martin Luther King targeting housing and employment discrimination in the north, which ended with limited success after encountering violent white opposition and ignored agreements.

Civil Rights Act of 1968

Federal legislation passed rapidly following the assassination of Martin Luther King on 4 April 1968, addressing discrimination in housing, protecting civil rights workers, and stiffening penalties for rioting.