Civil Rights Movement

Jackie Robinson

  • Definition: First African American MLB player in the modern era.
  • Significance: Broke the color barrier in professional sports and inspired civil rights progress.

Thurgood Marshall

  • Definition: NAACP lawyer; first Black Supreme Court justice.
  • Significance: Argued Brown v. Board, helping dismantle school segregation.

Earl Warren

  • Definition: Supreme Court Chief Justice (1953–1969).
  • Significance: Led major civil rights rulings including Brown v. Board.

Nonviolent Movement

  • Definition: Civil rights strategy using peaceful protest.
  • Significance: Gained public sympathy and moral high ground.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

  • Definition: Supreme Court case that ended school segregation.
  • Significance: Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson; sparked civil rights activism.

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)

  • Definition: Student-led civil rights group formed in 1960.
  • Significance: Organized sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and voter registration drives.

Dixiecrats

  • Definition: Southern Democrats who opposed civil rights in 1948.
  • Significance: Reflected white Southern backlash to integration.

Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

  • Definition: Supreme Court ruling that “separate but equal” was inadequate in higher education.
  • Significance: Helped pave the way for Brown v. Board.

Massive Resistance

  • Definition: Southern campaign to block school integration.
  • Significance: Showed how entrenched opposition to civil rights was.

Rosa Parks

  • Definition: Refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, 1955.
  • Significance: Sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and energized the movement.

Martin Luther King Jr.

  • Definition: Leader of the civil rights movement and advocate of nonviolence.
  • Significance: Guided major protests, gave “I Have a Dream” speech, won Nobel Peace Prize.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

  • Definition: Protest against bus segregation after Rosa Parks' arrest.
  • Significance: Successful desegregation campaign; launched MLK’s leadership.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

  • Definition: Civil rights organization led by MLK.
  • Significance: Coordinated nonviolent protests across the South.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

  • Definition: First civil rights law since Reconstruction.
  • Significance: Created a Civil Rights Commission; limited but symbolic step forward.

Civil Rights Act of 1960

  • Definition: Strengthened voting rights protections.
  • Significance: Gave federal courts more authority to intervene in voter discrimination.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

  • Definition: Landmark law banning segregation and job discrimination.
  • Significance: Ended Jim Crow and gave legal power to enforce integration.

Little Rock Nine

  • Definition: Nine Black students integrated a white high school in Arkansas.
  • Significance: Faced national attention and forced federal intervention.

Freedom Riders

  • Definition: Activists who rode interstate buses to test segregation laws.
  • Significance: Met with violence, gained national support, pushed federal enforcement.

Sit-ins

  • Definition: Nonviolent protests by students at segregated lunch counters.
  • Significance: Spread nationwide and led to desegregation in public places.

Robert F. Kennedy

  • Definition: U.S. Attorney General and civil rights supporter.
  • Significance: Advocated for desegregation and protected civil rights activists.

James Meredith

  • Definition: First Black student to integrate University of Mississippi.
  • Significance: Required federal troops; symbol of federal backing of civil rights.

Eugene “Bull” Connor

  • Definition: Birmingham police commissioner known for violence against protesters.
  • Significance: His brutality shocked the public and built support for civil rights legislation.

March on Washington (1963)

  • Definition: Civil rights rally where MLK gave “I Have a Dream. ”
  • Significance: Showed national unity and helped influence passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965

  • Definition: Ended immigration quotas based on national origin.
  • Significance: Diversified U.S. immigration, especially from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Freedom Summer (1964)

  • Definition: Campaign to register Black voters in Mississippi.
  • Significance: Faced violence; highlighted resistance to Black political participation.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

  • Definition: Banned literacy tests and enabled federal voting oversight.
  • Significance: Dramatically increased Black voter registration in the South.

Black Power Movement

  • Definition: Movement emphasizing Black pride and self-reliance.
  • Significance: Marked shift away from nonviolence; inspired cultural and political activism.

Malcolm X

  • Definition: Black nationalist and Muslim leader.
  • Significance: Challenged nonviolent tactics, promoted self-defense and Black pride.

Black Panthers

  • Definition: Militant civil rights group founded in 1966.
  • Significance: Fought police brutality and ran community programs; controversial approach.

George Wallace

  • Definition: Alabama governor known for pro-segregation stance.
  • Significance: Embodied Southern resistance; symbolized anti-civil rights backlash.