IB HOA Civil Rights Vocab

Freedom Summer 1964 (MS)

Organizations including the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized a voter registration drive that aimed to dramatically increase voter registration in Mississippi. SIG: Comprised of black Mississspians and more than 1,000 out-of-state, predominately white volunteers, faced constant abuse and harrassment from Mississippis white population. Mississippi was chosen as the site of the Freedom Summer project due to its historically low levels of African-American voter registration; in 1962 less than 7 percent of the state's eligible black voters were registered to vote. It managed to register only twelve hundred Afro-Americans.

A. Philip Randolph

Was a trade unionist and civil-rights leader who was a dedicated and persistent leader in the struggle for justice and parity for the black American community Significance: He helped African Americans gain fair wages through the establishment of the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters. He led the 1963 March on Washington DC. The March led to President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Executive Order #8802 to desegregate war factories.

March on WA 1963

a political rally known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organized by a number of civil rights and religious groups, the event was designed to shed light on the political and social challenges African Americans continued to face across the country. SIG: The march became a key moment in the growing struggle for civil rights in the United States, as seen in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a spirited call for racial justice and equality. More than 200,000 black and white Americans shared a joyous day of speeches, songs, and prayers led by a celebrated array of clergymen, civil rights leaders, politicians, and entertainers.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

an African-American civil rights organization established by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. SIG: Operated primarily in the South and some border states, conducting leadership-training programs, citizen-education projects, and voter-registration drives. The SCLC played a major part in the civil rights march on Washington, D.C., in 1963 and in notable antidiscrimination and voter-registration efforts in Albany, Georgia, and Birmingham and Selma, Alabama, in the early 1960s

Civil Rights Act of 1960

was a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. SIG: designed to deal with discriminatory laws and practices in the segregated South, by which blacks had been effectively disfranchised since the late 19th and start of the 20th century. was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served to eliminate certain loopholes left by the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Albany Movement 1961-62 (GA)

was a desegregation coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, on November 17, 1961, by local activists, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). SIG: Was the first mass movement in the modern civil rights era to have desegregation of an entire community as a goal. It resulted in the jailing of more than 1,000 African Americans in Albany and surrounding rural counties. Martin Luther King Jr. was drawn into the movement in December 1961 when hundreds of black protesters, including himself, were arrested in one week, but eight months later King left Albany admitting that he had failed to accomplish the movement's goals. Albany was important because of King's involvement and because of the lessons he learned that he would soon apply in Birmingham, Alabama.

NAACP

A civil-rights organization founded to protest racial violence in the United States Significance: It fought on a basis of law rather than taking violent actions (litigation). It was one of the earliest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. They called for federal anti-lynching laws and coordinated a series of challenges to state-sponsored segregation in public schools, an effort that led to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared the doctrine of "separate but equal" to be unconstitutional. Though other civil rights groups emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, the NAACP retained a prominent role within the movement, co-organizing the 1963 March on Washington, and successfully lobbying for legislation that resulted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Act.

Little Rock Crisis 1957

After Brown v. Board, Arkansas declared that they would comply, and 9 black student (after a rigorous process that included interviews and tests) were able to be admitted to Central High School SIG: These students were faced with an angry mob of students, parents and other people who were completely against segregation. In addition to facing physical threats, screams, and racial slurs from the crowd, Arkansas Governor Orval M. Faubus intervened, ordering the Arkansas National Guard to keep the nine African American students from entering the school. President Dwight Eisenhower dispatched nearly 1,000 paratroopers and federalized the 10,000 Arkansas National Guard troops who were to ensure that the school would be open to the nine students. On September 23, 1957, the "Little Rock Nine" returned to Central High School where they were enrolled. Units of the United States Army remained at the school for the rest of the academic year to guarantee their safety. This became a widely discussed topic about civil rights, racial discrimination and States's rights within the nation

de facto segregation

Segregation of the races in fact rather than in law Significance: De facto segregation occurs when widespread individual preferences, sometimes backed up with private pressure, lead to separation. Segregation in the North, evidenced in schools, housing, and some public facilities, was segregation in fact rather than law. In the North, there was no law stating that segregation was legal, but it happened anyway. This is significant because it still shows the amount of discrimination, segregation, and racism faced in the North, whether the law supports it or not. In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, de facto segregation was not ended. African American unemployment was higher than whites and housing discrimination was still prevalent

de juro segregation

The legal segregation of the races set down in laws in the south until 1964 Significance: Segregation in the South was enshrined in state law rather than through attitude. This reveals that legally, people were required to segregate and discriminate against people of "color." This is significant because it helps reveal the trouble the South caused and it foreshadowed the clash between the state and federal government regarding racism.

Rosa Parks

Was an African-American Civil Rights activist, whom the United States Congress called "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement" SIG: On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation and a bus boycott was soon organized.

Thurgood Marshall

Was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice Significance: Marshall earned an important place in American history on the basis of two accomplishments. First, as legal counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he guided the litigation that destroyed the legal underpinnings of Jim Crow segregation. Second, as an associate justice of the Supreme Court-the nation's first black justice - he crafted a distinctive jurisprudence marked by uncompromising liberalism, unusual attentiveness to practical considerations beyond the formalities of law, and an indefatigable willingness to dissent.

Freedom Rides - May 1961

a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals. SIG: Was a mixed group of 13 people recruited by CORE, a U.S. civil rights group, that departed from Washington, D.C., and attempted to integrate facilities at bus terminals along the way into the Deep South. African-American Freedom Riders tried to use "whites-only" restrooms and lunch counters, and vice versa. Group encountered tremendous violence from white protestors along the route, but also drew international attention to their cause. Several hundred Freedom Riders engaged in similar actions and in September 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in bus and train stations nationwide.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS

case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. SIG: Overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. One of the first steps to school integration of races. However, many schools took their time in integrating and treated the Blacks badly.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

civil rights organization that became one of the leading activist organizations in the early years of the American Civil Rights Movement. SIG:Worked with other civil rights groups: launched a series of initiatives like the Freedom Rides (aimed at desegregating public facilities) the Freedom Summer voter registration project and the historic 1963 March on Washington.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

goal of the 1957 Civil Rights Act was to ensure that all Americans could exercise their right to vote. SIG: It created a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department. Also wanted to win black votes and only 20% of the Blacks voted. Democrats didn't really support it and was finally passed with modifications. Political support and public confidence for the Act had been eroded when Eisenhower publicly admitted that he did not understand parts of it.

Voting Rights of 1965

guaranteed the right to vote (first awarded by the 15th Amendment) to all African Americans. SIG: Specifically, the act banned literacy tests as a requirement for voting, mandated federal oversight of voter registration in areas where tests had previously been used, and gave the U.S. attorney general the duty of challenging the use of poll taxes for state and local elections.

Civil Rights Act 1964

is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. SIG: It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public.

Selma 1965 (AL)

protesters attempting to march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery that were met with violent resistance by state and local authorities. SIG: the focus of its efforts to register black voters in the South. It helped raise awareness of the difficulty faced by black voters in the South, and the need for a Voting Rights Act, passed later that year. Governor was pro-segragation so set up resistance forces that would force marchers back to Selma. However, President Johnson backed the marchers, going on national television to pledge his support and lobby for passage of new voting rights legislation he was introducing in Congress.

Birmingham Protests 1963 (AL)

was a movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. SIG: Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., James Bevel, Fred Shuttlesworth and others, the campaign of nonviolent direct action culminated in widely publicized confrontations between young black students and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city's discrimination laws. Tactics from the "failed" Albany movement were applied to this and was considered a success. Was a model of direct action protest and, through the media, drew the world's attention to racial segregation in the South. It burnished King's reputation, ousted Connor from his job, forced desegregation in Birmingham, and directly paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited racial discrimination in hiring practices and public services in the United States.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. SIG: Was the direct result of Rosa Parks getting arrested, though it was all planned by the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. Eventually led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional

Emmett Till

was an African-American from Chicago teenager who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after allegedly flirting with a white woman. SIG: His mother decided for him to have a an open-casket funeral to show how badly his body was mutilated. The 2 murderers were found not guilty, but admitted to the crime after a reporter paid them for an interview (they were still free after admitting their crime). This attracted attention throughout all of America; rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the condition of black civil rights in Mississippi,

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. SIG: He was part of the many events/movements for African-American Civil Rights. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia (the Albany Movement), and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. Also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

was one of the most important organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and originated from a student meeting organized by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in April 1960 SIG: Famously known for their sit-ins at lunch counters and other public institutes that banned/segregated blacks from whites. Also played a huge part in marches and the Freedom Rides, which aimed to desegregate buses. Was composed of a large amount of radical, young students who wanted equality.