CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (1954-1963)

Jim Crow laws

State and local laws that ordered racial segregation, named after an insulting slang term.

Separate but equal

Doctrine that justified the legal status of racial segregation because it did not violate the right to "equal protection of the laws."

Plessy v Ferguson

U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 1896 that gave legal status to laws ordering racial segregation.

Racial segregation

Systematic separation of people by race.

Brown v

U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 1954 that declared segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.

Civil disobedience

Refusing to obey rules as a form of nonviolent protest.

Rosa Parks

African-American woman who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Mass protest against segregated seating on Montgomery city buses from Dec 5th, 1955 to December 20, 1956.

Martin Luther King Jr

Organizer who became the most recognizable voice of the Civil Rights movement until his assassination in 1968.

Sit-in

Occupying a place and refusing to leave as a form of nonviolent protest.

Freedom Ride

An interracial group of bus riders who challenged racial segregation on interstate buses.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

A group founded in 1942 that organized nonviolent protests during the Civil Rights movement.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

A group formed in 1960 to give younger Black people more of a voice.

Selma to Montgomery March

Mass protest for voting rights that was met with violence and then reattempted with federal protection.

March on Washington

The mass demonstration that occurred in August 1963 when an estimated 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C.

"I Have a Dream" Speech

Memorable speech given by MLK on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The law that ended discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Law that outlawed practices that prevented Black Americans from voting.

Literacy test

Test determining one's ability to read and write, required for voting.