1. Civil Rights Vocabulary
Prejudice: irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion (holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convicts) THOUGHT
Discrimination: treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; to act on prejudice ACTION
Segregation: separate by race
de facto: segregation that exists by practice and custom ex) white flight after WWII
de jure: segregation by law
ex) Jim Crow laws
Integration: to open to people of all races or ethnic groups without restriction; desegregate

2. Civil Rights Vocabulary (con’t)
Jim Crow: discrimination against blacks especially by legal enforcement or traditional sanctions
Black Codes: laws passed by the Southern states after the Civil War to regain control over freed slaves, maintain white supremacy, and ensure the continued supply of free labor.
Oppression: unjust or cruel exercise of power or authority; to weigh down
Emancipation: the act of setting a person free from any type of restraint or servitude, particularly slavery

3. Civil Rights Vocabulary (con’t)
Civil disobedience: the act of intentionally breaking a law that one thinks is wrong or refusing to obey a governmental order, particularly if one publicizes the act of civil disobedience with the purpose of changing that law or order. Nonviolent protest
Pacifism: opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes
Bigotry/Bigot: one who regards or treats members of a group with hatred and intolerance
Racism: a belief that some races are by the nature superior to others; discrimination based on such a belief
Stereotype: an idea that many people have about a thing or group and that may often be untrue or only partly true; applying that idea to individuals as well as the group

4. 13th Amendment Jan. 31, 1865 (proposed) Dec. 18, 1865 (ratified)
Made slavery illegal throughout the US

5. Freedman’s Bureau 1865 Freedman’s Bureau
provide relief for all poor people—black
& white in the South

6. 14th Amendment 1866 (proposed) July 28, 1868 (ratified)
All people born or naturalized in the US are citizens.
Citizens guaranteed equal protection under the law
States could not “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Banned former Confederate officials from holding state or federal offices.
State laws are subject to review by federal courts.
Congress has power to pass any laws needed to enforce any part of amendment.

7. 15th Amendment Proposed Feb. 1869/ Ratified March 1870
gave African American men in US the right to vote

8. Civil Rights Act of 1875 Civil Rights Act of 1875
(later declared unconstitutional)
guaranteed African Americans equal rights in public places like theaters & public transportation

9. Tuskegee Institute 1881 Tuskegee Institute
founded by Booker T. Washington
to develop African American businesses
economic power =social change

10. Ida B. Wells late 1890s Ida B. Wells (-Barnett)
A Red Record—3 yr. listing of the lynchings of blacks—named the lynchers

11. Plessy v. Ferguson
1896
Declared that segregation was allowed if “separate but equal” facilities were provided for African Americans.

12. NAACP 1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Civil Rights organization formed by W.E.B. DuBois
and others to fight discrimination and segregation
Usually used the courts/justice system to work for change

13. UNIA 1914 UNIA—Universal Negro Improvement Association
Founded by Marcus Garvey to promote
racial pride and unity & urged blacks to
become economically independent

14. Great Migration
During the 1920’s, hundreds of thousands of black southerners began moving to the North to escape racial prejudice
Faced opposition from whites concerned about job losses
25 urban race riots during the 1920’s in the North

16. Harlem Renaissance 1920s (after The Great Migration)
An important period of African American artistic growth
Countee Cullen-- poet
Zora Neal Hurston-- author
Paul Robeson— singer/actor

17. African Americans in the Military
54th Massachusetts Regiment: 1st all black fighting regiment (Civil War, Fort Wagner, movie=Glory)
Buffalo Soldiers: built forts and maintained order in the Southwest US and Great Plains; also fought in Spanish-American War (San Juan Hill); with Gen. Pershing against Pancho Villa
Tuskegee Airmen: 1st all black military aviation program (movie=Red Tails)

19. Committee on Civil Rights
created by President Truman
Findings & recommendations:
racial discrimination throughout nation; should have new laws to protect all voters, desegregation of armed forces, permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission
Truman’s 1948 actions:
ended segregation in military; banned racial discrimination in hiring of federal employees

20. Sweatt v. Painter
(state) law schools must admit black applicants who qualify even if a black law school exists

21. Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, KN
May 17, 1954
major landmark Supreme Court case in which racial segregation was unconstitutional

22. Murder of Emmett Till
14 year old boy from Chicago, visiting relatives in Mississippi
Said “Bye Baby” or wolf whistled at a white woman
Kidnapped by woman’s husband & brother-in-law
Till’s mother had an open casket funeral so people could see the brutality
Jet magazine published picture of corpse (role of media)
5 day trial; l hour jury deliberations; not guilty verdict

23. Rosa Parks and Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 1, 1955
Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and was arrested.
Black leaders organized a boycott of the Montgomery Bus System

24. The Little Rock Nine” at Central High School Little Rock, Arkansas
1957
9 black students selected to integrate Central HS; Gov. Orval Faubus used
National Guard to prevent students from starting school; Pres. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to force desegregation;
Ernest Green=1st African American to graduate from Central HS;
Little Rock schools closed the next year rather than integrate

25. SCLC—Southern Christian Leadership Conference
1957
Founded by Martin Luther King, Jr. and 60 other ministers to coordinate non-violent protests

26. Feb. 1, 1960 Sit-Ins (Greensboro, NC)
4 black NC A&T students sit down at an all whites lunch counter and were refused service; returned the next day with even more African American students; this triggers many other similar non-violent protests in the South
Led to the formation of SNCC—Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh, NC

27. CORE—Congress of Racial Equality
May 4, 1961
began a series of Freedom Rides to protest segregation on buses and in southern bus stations

28. 1962 James Meredith
won federal court case that allowed him to (enroll) attend the all white University of Mississippi (Ole Miss—named after what they use to call the mistress of the plantation)
caused riots and he was shot
he did graduate

29. April 1963 Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail
King is jailed in Birmingham, Alabama for participation in a series of protest marches
*May 1963 protests continued and Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor used attack dogs and fire hoses on protestors including children seen on national TV, this outraged many and raised awareness of the struggle for Civil Rights

30. Medgar Evers
June 12, 1963
NAACP field secretary murdered outside of his home in Jackson, Mississippi; Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice for murder, both trials ending in hung juries—he is finally convicted in 1994

31. March on Washington August 28, 1963
250,000 people on the Mall in front of Lincoln Memorial for Civil Rights; MLK gave his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech

32. Sept. 15, 1963
4 little girls killed at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Birmingham, Alabama
A bomb explodes at African American church, known as a popular Civil Rights meeting place, killing the girls while they were attending Sunday school.

33. Civil Rights Act of 1964 July 2, 1964
banned segregation in public places such as restaurants and transportation facilities; also prohibited discrimination by employers, unions, or universities with federal contracts/money

34. Summer 1964 Freedom Summer
white college students traveled to Mississippi to help African Americans register to vote

35. Aug. 5, 1964 missing Civil Rights workers found murdered
names: James Chaney (Af. Am.); 2 whites--Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner
Situation: the 3 went to Mississippi to register
African Americans to vote

36. Assassination of Malcolm X Feb. 21, 1965
He had been a leader of the Nation of Islam, which favored black separatism—social and economic independence; in the beginning did not discourage violence—“by any means necessary”
left Nation of Islam and was reconsidering his ideas of integration when he was shot by three
members of the Nation of Islam in New York City

37. March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama March 7, 1965
voter registration march organized by MLK

38. Voting Rights Act of 1965 Aug. 10, 1965
gave federal government the power to inspect voter registration procedures and protect all citizens’ voting rights (final ban on literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, etc.)

39. Watts Riots August 18, 1965 riots in a neighborhood of Los Angeles
caused by anger over racism; lead to riots in other parts of the country

40. Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee
April 4, 1968
James Earl Ray was convicted for shooting Dr. King on the balcony of a Memphis hotel
His death caused riots in more than 100 US cities

41. Civil Rights Act of 1968
Prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and
financing of housing