U.S. Topic 9.3 Successes and Setbacks

black power

The movement in the 1960s that urged African Americans to use their collective political and economic power to gain equality.

Lester Maddox

A high school dropout who ran a restaurant in his hometown Atlanta, Georgia, from 1947 to 1964, when he closed because he refused to serve African Americans. Maddox (1915-2003) fought against school desegregation when he served as governor (1967-1971).

Malcolm X

A spokesman and minister for the Nation of Islam who helped the group from 400 members in 1952, when he was released from prison, to 40,000 members by 1960. Malcolm X (1925-1965) broke with the group shortly before his assassination in 1965.

Nation of Islam

An African American religious organization founded in 1930 that advocated strict rules of behavior, including no drugs or alcohol, and demanded a separation of the races.

Black Panthers

An organization of militant African Americans founded in Oakland, California, in 1966. They organized armed patrols to protect people from police abuse in urban neighborhoods and created antipoverty programs. They gained national attention for their protest against efforts to restrict their right to bear arms when they entered the state capitol in Sacramento carrying shotguns and wearing berets and black leather jackets.

Voting Rights Act

The 1964 law that banned literacy tests and empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration.

affirmative action

The Nixon administration's formal policy that gave special consideration to women and minorities to make up for past discrimination as a way to reduce economic disparities.

Twenty-fourth Amendment

The constitutional amendment that banned the poll tax as a voting requirement.

Freedom Summer

The effort by SNCC in 1964 to register African American voters in Mississippi.

Kerner Commission

The group set up by President Johnson to investigate the causes of race riots in American cities in the 1960s. Officially, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Named for the chairman, Otto Kerner, the commission advised providing assistance to impoverished neighborhoods. The controversial proposal was no put into place.