Civil Rights Movement- 1950s and 1960s

American Indian Movement

(AIM) A Native American organization founded in 1968 to protest government policies and injustices suffered by Native Americans.

13th Amendment

1865. Amendment abolishing slavery.

14th Amendment

1868. Declared that all persons born in the US were citizens and that all citizens were entitled to equal rights (equal protection clause).

15th Amendment

1870. Male citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896- Supreme court ruled that segregation of public places facilities were legal as long as the facilities were equal. "Separate-but-equal."

19th Amendment

1920. Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections.

Sweatt v. Painter

1950, Supreme Court ruled that separate professional and graduate schools for blacks failed to meet the test of equality.

Affirmative Action

A policy in educational admissions or job hiring that gives special attention minority groups and women in an effort to overcome effects of discrimination.

Freedom Rides

A series of political protests against segregation. Blacks and whites rode buses together through the American South in 1961.

Title IX

Banned gender discrimination in educational institutions. Guaranteed girls in school the same opportunities as boys (such as sports). Linked enforcement of the act to federal funding.

Integration of the military

Executive Order by President Truman that abolished racial discrimination in the United States armed forces which eventually led to an end of segregation in the services.

Dolores Huerta

Organized Union Farm Workers (UFW) with Cesar Chavez; helped Mexican farmworkers gain better pay & working conditions. Later worked for women's rights, environmental protection, and immigration policy.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools become integrated.

Hernandez v. Texas

1954- Hernandez convicted of murder by an all-white jury. Supreme Court ruled that Mexican Americans, though not a separate race, were still entitled as a class to protection under the 14th Amendment.

Equal Pay Act

1963- law that required both men and women to receive equal pay for equal work.

24th Amendment

1964- Outlawed poll taxes in federal elections.

Selma Marches

1965- Dr. King organized a march demanding voting rights for African Americans. When demonstrators were attacked, President Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act.

Regents of University of California v. Bakke

1978- Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals solely because of their race. Upheld affirmative actions, but no the use of racial quotas.

John F. Kennedy

35th president, proceeded over the early Civil Rights Movement. After his assassination, there was a new willingness to pass legislation he had proposed before his death (Civil Rights Act).

Trail of Broken Treaties

A cross-country protest in 1972 designed to bring attention to American Indian issues. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement it led to the sovereignty of Indian Nations.

Civil disobedience

A form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences.

George Wallace

A governor of Alabama who widely and openly opposed integration of public schools. Blocked the University of Alabama from being integrated.

Black Panthers

A group founded in Oakland, California, to protect blacks from police harassment; promoted militant black power. Opposed to Dr. King's non-violent approach.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

A letter written by Martin Luther King Jr.that argued that civil disobedience was necessary because everyone has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

Betty Friedan

American feminist, activist and writer. Best known for her book "The Feminine Mystique". Wrote that women were as capable as men and should be permitted to compete for the same jobs. Encouraged women to enter the workplace.

Orval Faubus

Arkansas governor who called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Little Rock's Central High School under federal court order.

Thurgood Marshall

Attorney who successfully argued the case of Brown V. Board of Education in front of the Supreme Court. First African American on the Supreme Court.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Became 36th president after Kennedy's assassination and reelected in 1964; Democrat; signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.

Chicano mural movement

Began in the 1960s in Mexican-American barrios throughout the Southwest. Artists began using the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican-American culture.

Nation of Islam

Believed Islam should be the religion of African Americans, who should form their own black state. Led by Malcolm X.

Malcolm X

Believed that African Americans should meet violence with violence. He urged African Americans to obtain control of their own businesses and communities. He was assassinated by rival Black Muslims in 1965.

Rosa Parks

Civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama and triggered the national civil rights movement.

Equal protection clause

Clause in the 14th amendment that prohibits states from denying equal protection under the law, and has been used to combat discrimination.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Eliminated literacy testes as a prerequisite for voting, and led to a substantial increase in the number of African American voters.

Cesar Chavez

Farm worker, labor leader, and civil-rights activist who helped form the United Farm Workers. Used non-violent protests such as boycotts.

Women's Liberation Movement

Feminist movement of the late 1960's, which demanded political & economic equality with men. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement.

National Organization of Women

Founded in 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women.

Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Formed by students whose purpose was coordinate a nonviolent protest on segregation and other forms of racism. Participated in sit-ins, freedom rides, and marches.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. King led a boycott of city buses. After 13 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.

March on Washington

In August 1963, civil rights leaders organized a massive rally in Washington to urge passage of President Kennedy's civil rights bill. The high point came when MLK Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech to more than 200,000 marchers in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Little Rock Nine

Incident in which nine African-American students were prevented from integrating an Arkansas High School in 1957 during the Civil Rights Movement.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

Legislation that gave federal courts the power to register African American voters. Enabled the Justice Department to enforce Civil Rights laws.

Chicano Movement

Mexican-American movement that sought political and social justice. The Chicano Movement addressed negative stereotyping of Mexicans.

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans.

Non-violence

Peaceful resistance to a government by refusing to cooperate.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or ethnic origin in all places of employment.

Sit-ins

Protests by college students, 1960-1961, who took seats at "whites only" lunch counters and refused to leave until served.

Civil Rights Movement

Social movement to demand equal rights for African Americans and other minorities. People worked together to change unfair laws. They gave speeches, marched in the streets, and participated in boycotts.

Jim Crow laws

State laws in the South that legalized segregation of benches, theaters, restaurants, water fountains, buses, and other public places.

Jackie Robinson

The first African American player in the major league of baseball. His actions helped to bring about other opportunities for African Americans.

Red Power

The movement among American Indians during the late 1960s, and early 1970s, that sought to revitalize Native American communities and cultures, often though direct action.

Black Power

Those who believed African Americans should use their votes elect African Americans to government and that they should control their own communities and businesses to free themselves from whites.

Congressional Bloc of Southern Democrats

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Southern Democrats in Congress banded together to block civil rights legislation.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations.

litigation

a legal proceeding in a court.