Civil Rights Key Terms

  • jim crow laws

    it had become a pejorative expression meaning "Negro". When southern legislatures passed laws of racial segregation directed against blacks at the end of the 19th century, these statutes became known as Jim C
  • 13th amendment

    the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
  • black codes

    it had become a pejorative expression meaning "Negro". When southern legislatures passed laws of racial segregation directed against blacks at the end of the 19th century, these statutes became known as Jim C
  • 14th amendment

    The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War.
  • sharecropping/ tenant farming

    it is a form of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on their portion of land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range of different situations and types of agreements that have used a form of the system.
  • 15th amendment

    it was ratified in 1870, contained two sections. Section One stated that ''The right of citizens...to vote shall not be denied or abridged...on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.'' Section Two granted the U.S. Congress the power to enforcement through legislation
  • lynching

    especially by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial.
  • plessy v ferguson

    it was a landmark constitutional law case of the US Supreme Court decided in 1896. It upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal".
  • non-violent protest

    is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, or other methods, while being nonviolent.
  • civil disobedience

    Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant march to the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt, his boldest act of civil disobedience yet against British rule in India.
  • core

    The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement.
  • brown v board

    it was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.
  • desegregation

    it was long a focus of the Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, particularly desegregation of the school systems and the military (see Military history of African Americans).
  • emmett till

    he was a 14-year-old African-American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after a white woman said she was offended by him in her family's grocery store
  • rosa parks

    she was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement, whom the United States Congress called "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".
  • sclc

    is a civil rights organization founded in 1957, as an offshoot of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), which successfully staged a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery Alabama's segregated bus system.
  • little rock nine

    it was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957
  • civil rights act of 1957

    it was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
  • sit-ins

    A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change
  • freedom riders

    they were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States, in 1961 and subsequent years, in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the United states
  • affirmative action

    it was first used in the United States in "Executive Order No. 10925", signed by President John F. Kennedy on 6 March 1961, which included a provision that government contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment
  • cesar chavez

    he was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962.
  • ole miss integration

    On September 30, 1962, riots erupted on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford where locals, students, and committed segregationists had gathered to protest the enrollment of James Meredith, a black Air Force veteran attempting to integrate the all-white school.
  • betty friedan

    she was an American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States.
  • george wallace

    he was an American politician and the 45th Governor of Alabama, having served two nonconsecutive terms and two consecutive terms as a Democrat: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987.
  • u of alabama integration

    The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door took place at Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963
  • march on washington

    the March on Washington, or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963
  • civil rights act of 1964

    it was a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
  • voting rights act of 1965

    signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-73) on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States
  • watts riots

    sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion, took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. On August 11, 1965, an African-American motorist was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving
  • black panthers

    it was a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in October 1966
  • orval faubus

    he was an American politician who served as 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967
  • stockily carmichael

    as a Trinidadian-American who became a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement and the global Pan-African movement. He grew up in the United States from the age of 11 and became an activist while he attended Howard University.
  • lester maddox

    he was an American politician who served as the 75th Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971
  • title IX

    the tittle of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 is a federal law that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
  • thurgood marshall

    he was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice.
  • Martin luther king jr

    he was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice. and he gave the speech of "I have a dream"
  • montgomery bus boycott

    a seminal event in the Civil Rights Movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
  • hector p garcia

    he was a Mexican-American physician, surgeon, World War II veteran, civil rights advocate, and founder of the American G.I. Forum.