civil rights

• Jim Crow Laws

  Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites. "separate but equal".

  
• Brown v. Topeka


  1954 - A momentous Supreme Court Case declaring racial segregation in schools unconstitutional.

  
• NAACP


  Interracial organization founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans.

  
• KKK (Ku Klux Klan)


  extremist group that promotes hatred and discrimination against specific ethnic and religious groups
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

  Congress of Racial Equality, and organization founded in 1942 that worked for black civil rights

  
• Emmett Till (1955)


  brutally murdered by members of the KKK. his death led to the American Civil Rights movement.
• Rosa Parks


  1955- refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery (Alabama) and so triggered the national civil rights movement.

  
• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)


  protest to end segregation on buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Led by Martin Luther King

  
• Little Rock (1957)


  Governor Orville Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School following the ruling of Brown V Topeka Board of Education. Eisenhower had to send in U.S. paratroopers to ensure the students could attend class.

  
• SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)


  group of mostly African American ministers who worked to fight injustice through nonviolence

  
• Greensboro sit-ins (1960)


  protests where 4 students from sat down at whites only lunch counter, refusing to move. Each day, they came back with many more protesters. Sometimes, there were over 100. These sit-ins led to the formation of the SNCC. Led to sit-ins across the country.
• SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)


  group formed by student activists; used the sit-in as an effective method of protest

  
• Freedom Riders (1961)


  Group of civil rights workers who took bus trips through southern states to protest illegal bus segregation

  
• James Meredith


  United States civil rights leader whose college registration caused riots in traditionally segregated Mississippi. it took federal intervention to ensure his admission.

  
• Albany Movement

  peaceful protests situated in Albany, Georgia. organised by NAACP, however it was unsuccessful due to lack of media and strong resistance.
• March on Washington (1963)


  demonstration in which more than 200,000 people rallied for economic equality and civil rights. MLK famous speech.

  
• Birmingham Campaign (1963)


  Organized by (SCLC), and led by MLK, thousands of black people marched through town, the police chief, Eugene "Bull" Connor unleashed his forces against them. The images, broadcast on TV, of children being assaulted with nightsticks, high-pressure fire hoses, and attack dogs produced a wave of revulsion throughout the world and led to President Kennedy's endorsement of the CRM.
• Civil Rights Act (1964)


  outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. introduced by JFK, passed by LBJ.

  
• literacy tests


  tests requiring reading or comprehension skills as a qualification for voting
• poll tax


  A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote. Used as a way to prevent African Americans to vote

  
• Selma March (1965)


  Protest to register African American voters in the South, violence against protesters. Led to the Voting Rights Act

  
• Voting Rights Act (1965)


  LBJ introduced a policy designed to reduce the barriers to voting for those suffering discrimination including prohibition of poll tax and literacy tests.

  
• Black Power Movement


  movement that called for African American independence

  
• Black Panthers


  A black political organization that was AGAINST peaceful protests and FOR violence IF needed. The organization marked a shift in policy of the black movement, favouring militant ideals rather than peaceful protest.

  
• Nation of Islam

  A group of militant Black Americans who profess Islamic religious beliefs and advocate independence for Black Americans.
• WW2 Impact

  Helped to break negative stereotypes held of African Americans by people who were against desegregation. Opened the eyes of Black people.
• Freedom Summer (1964)

  attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi, which up to that time had almost totally excluded black voters. Freedom Summer volunteers were met with violent resistance from the Ku Klux Klan and members of state and local law enforcement. News coverage of beatings, false arrests and even murder drew international attention to the civil rights movement. The increased awareness it brought to voter discrimination helped lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• kerner report (1968)


  the Kerner Report blamed urban rioting on segregation and poverty and offered a powerful indictment of white racism.