Civil Rights

Fred Hampton

Chairman of the Black Panther Party, murdered by White policemen who raided the apartment in Illinois without any justifiable reason.

Medgar Evers

Director of the NAACP in Mississippi and a lawyer who defended accused Blacks, he was murdered in his driveway by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Nation of Islam

Organization, also called the Black Muslims, dedicated to black separation and self-help

Truman

desegregated the military wanted civil rights for blacks passed a law on lynchings Fair Employment Practices Commission: end racial discrimination in federal hiring

Civil Rights Act of 1965

also known as the Voting Rights Act gave federal protection to black voters which allowed many more to vote and participate in the government.

Elijah Muhammad

leaders of the Black Muslims and the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975. He also was an early important teacher and mentor to Malcolm X

Civil Rights Act of 1968

this law banned discrimination in housing, the segregation of education, transprotation, and employment, it helped African Americans gain their full voting rights.

National Urban League

tried to improve job opportunities and housing for african americans especially for migrants moving north from the southern states; worked closely with NAACP to achieve its goals

Elizabeth Ann Eckford

Girl who walked in school at little rock highschool

W.E.B. DuBois

1st black to earn Ph.D. from Harvard, encouraged blacks to resist systems of segregation and discrimination, helped create NAACP in 1910

Black Panthers

A black political organization that was against peaceful protest and for violence if needed. The organization marked a shift in policy of the black movement, favoring militant ideals rather than peaceful protest.

black power

A slogan used to reflect solidarity and racial consciousness, used by Malcolm X. It meant that equality could not be given, but had to be seized by a powerful, organized Black community.

Michael Schwerner

A white CORE member that investigated burning of black churches, was murdered in Mississippi during the civil rights movement along with Chaney and Goodman

24th Amendment

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1964) eliminated the poll tax as a prerequisite to vote in national elections.

SCLC

An organization founded by MLK Jr., to direct the crusade against segregation. Its weapon was passive resistance that stressed nonviolence and love, and its tactic direct, though peaceful, confrontation.

Bull Connor

Birmingham police commissioner; "I got plenty of room in the jail"; arrested MLK & 900 others

SNCC

Black civil rights organization that drew heavily on younger activists and college students

James Farmer

Founder of CORE and leader of the 1961 freedom ride which led to the desegregation of interstate transportation.

George Wallace

Four time governor of Alabama. Most famous for his pro-segregation attitude and as a symbol for states' rights.

Birmingham, AL

Fred Shuttlesworth, head of Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, invited MLK Jr and SCLC to Birmingham, AL to do planned boycotts of segregated stores in the city. In response, students and children were beaten, arrested and jailed.

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

Group that sent its own delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 1964 to protest discrimination against black voters in Mississippi

Kennedy

He supported integration in schools and sent troops to put down riots after the United States Supreme Court ordered the University of Mississippi to accept an African American student. Kennedy felt strongly that African Americans should have the right to vote, to attend public school, to have equal access to jobs, and to have access to public accommodations.

James Meredith

He was a civil rights advocate who spurred a riot at the University of Mississippi. The riot was caused by angry whites who did not want him to register at the university. The result was forced government action, showing that segregation was no longer government policy.

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.

Selma March

King helped organize a demonstration in Selma, Alabama to press the right of blacks to register to vote. Sheriff Jim Clark responded by leading local police in an attack against the demonstrators which was televised nationally.

Marcus Garvey

Many poor urban blacks turned to him. He was head of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and he urged black economic cooperation and founded a chain of UNIA grocery stores and other business

Lynching

Murder of an accused person by a mob without a lawful trial

Emmett Till

Murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman by her husband and his friends. They kidnapped him and brutally killed him.

de facto segregation

Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.

Orval Faubus

The Governor who opposed the integration of Central High, Sent the Little Rock National Guard to keep them out. Then gave them no protection at all.

"All deliberate speed"

The desegregation of schools could not be done overight; the courts ordered that federal courts would have to oversee the desegregation in time.

Jackie Robinson

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

Jim Crow

The system of racial segregation in the South that was created in the late nineteenth century following the end of slavery. Mandated segregation in public facilities.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

This act made racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places.

Kerner Report

This commission, chaired by Otto Kerner, decided that the race riots were due to the formation of two different American cultures: inner-city Blacks and suburban Whites.

Brown v. Board of Ed.

Thurgood Marshall & NAACP defended Topeka families whose kids were in segregated schools -Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of families and struck down Plessy v. Ferguson. -Brown II (follow-up case) -deseg should be carried out w/ "all deliberate speed"

CORE

U.S. civil rights organization that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. Membership in CORE is stated to be open to "anyone who believes that 'all people are created equal' and is willing to work towards the ultimate goal of true equality throughout the world."

James Baldwin

United States author who was an outspoken critic of racism (1924-1987) - warned Americans were angry and tired of broken promises

Rosa Parks

United States civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery (Alabama) and so triggered the national civil rights movement (born in 1913)

Plessy vs. Ferguson

a case that was brought to supreme court by black lawsuits to challenge the legality of segregation. The court ruled that segregation was legal as long as it was "equal"

Civil Rights Act of 1960

a law designed to further secure the right to vote for blacks and to meet problems arising from racial upheavals in the south

Johnson civil rights

believed that "white men alone should rule the south", he blocked reconstruction, and vetoed Freedman's Bureau and Civil Rights Act

Freedom Rides

civil rights campaign of the Congress of Racial Equality in which protesters traveled by bus through the South to desegregate bus stations; white violence against them prompted the Kennedy administration to protect them and become more involved in civil rights.

MLK

civil rights leader, used nonviolent means like marches, boycotts, and legal challenges to win civil rights. was eventually assasinated

Malcolm X

converted to Nation of Islam in jail in the 50s, became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter; his beliefs were the basis of a lot of the Black Power movement built on seperationist and nationalist impulses to achieve true independence and equality

NAACP

founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans, got Supreme Court to declare grandfather clause unconstitutional

Eisenhower

he himself didn't believe in segregation and did order the desegregation of navy shipyards and veterans' hospitals; however, he thought that desegregation could only be brought about gradually as people's values and mindsets changed; was scared of dividing the country during the Cold War; publicly disagreed with the decision in Brown v. Board of Ed but still enforced it by sending troops to the South to protect African Americans

Stokely Carmichael

head of the SNCC making a separatist philosophy of black power as the official objective of the organization

Civil Rights Act of 1957

primarily a voting rights bill, was the first civil rights legislation enacted in the United States since Reconstruction. It was proposed by Congress to President Dwight Eisenhower.

de jure segregation

segregation that is imposed by law

sit-ins

protests by black college students, 1960-1961, who took seats at "whites only" lunch counters and refused to leave until served; in 1960 over 50,000 participated in sit-ins across the South. Their success prompted the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.