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Fidel Castro
Source Fidel Castro was a ruler in Cuba surign the Cold War. He tbegan to take over the Cuban governemtn in 1958. While he did make imporvements to healthcare and education, civil rights and liberties were severly taken down. The Communism collapse in 1991 broke down Cuba's economy, so he let some of the restrictions be taken off. He was the leader until 2008, where he passed the governement off to his son, Raul Castro. -
Nation of Islam
Source The Nation of Islam is America's oldest black nationalist organization, having been accused and solidified of racism and anti-Semitism. Malcolm X was a major member of it during the civil rights movement, but he was kicked out for having opposing views and revealing a scandal. They are still around today, and still promote views that attack Jewish people and also promotes racism, transphobism, and other forms of hate. -
38th Parallel
Source In Korea, after World War II, American and Russian forces were both planning to invade Korea, but we did not want the Russians to invade the entire country. The Russians and us decided on using the 38th Parallel as the boundary between the two, supposedly temporary countries. But with the Cold War brewing, this boundary soon became a border, with the north being a Communist regiem and the south being an anti-communist republic. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Source The Iron Curtain speech was a speech delivered by Great Britain's former prime minister during WWII, Winston Churchill. It included many topics, such as comparing the appeasement of Hitler to the stopping of Russia's communist expansion or how the US and Great Britain were to have a closer bond between the two countries. -
Marshall Plan
Source The Marshall Plan was a program to help rebuild war-ravaged Europe after World War II. The main reason was not that we wanted to help, but that we were able to increase our market with goods sold to there and also to prevent Communist Expansion. -
Berlin Airlift
Source The Berlin Airlift was a massive campaign to provide food for West Germany after the Soviet Union created road bloackades to that area. Response came from us and the United Kingdom in waves of planes flying over Soviet-occupied areas to then drop supplies in West Germany and land at airports to deliver other supplies. This both solidified the division in Europe and helped against the fight against communism. -
Beatnik
A beatnik was a person who was part of a social movement in the 1950's to the 1960's who was expressing their artistic side and the rejection of society's guidelines. -
Execution of Julies and Ethel Rosenburg
Source Julius and Ethel Rosenburg were two Doviet spies,, bringing information from the United States and selling it to Russia. They were executed on these suspiscions, and many Americans believes that were were actually innocent, only being arrested because of the high anti-Communist thinking in America. Others thought the punishments were justified. Either way, they were executed on the charges. -
Joe Mcarthy - Mcarthyism
Joseph Mcarthy was a Republican Senator who was a disilliusioned man who tried to expose multiple supposed Communists, according to him. Many people would not speak out against him for fear of being intimidated. It was not until he attacked the US Army in which his power over people would crumble. The Army showed multiple tapes of him intimidating young officers, and at point, the Army's chief counsel physically yelled at him, saying "Have you no sense of decency, sir!?". He died in 1957. -
Brown v. Board of Education
SourceThis court case is one of the most recognizable court cases in the United States during the civil rights movement. The background is that Linda Brown, an eight year old girl, was to be enrolled in the all-white school only five blocks from her home. School officials denied her entry and turned her to the all-black school, 21 blocks away. The parents filed a lawsuit against the school, and it soon made mass media and led to the court case, with the parents winning -
Rosa Parks
Source Rosa Parks was one of the most influential civil rights leaders during the movement and was essentially the spark that led to the entire movement as we know it today. What she did, while simple, was at the time deemed unruly: she did not give up her seat to a white person as required by law. Today, this is a monumental symbolic gesture, showing theat black people will no longer tolerate the injustice that is thrust upon them. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
SourceThe Montgomery Bus Boycott was a movement against the arrest of Rosa Parks and against the segregation of whites and blacks on public transportation. What happened was that black people did not ride the buses whenever they could. Most chose to simply walk to work or walk anywhere if they needed to, or they used the taxi's. Not even a year passed and the law now stated that it was unconstitutional and required that buses be desegregated. This brought violence, but it was quickly quelled. -
Martin Luther King Jr
Source Martin Luther King Jr. was a massively influential leader in the civil rights movement and became an icon of it. He started the Bus Boycott in Montgomery, he became the president of the local NAACP chapter, and soon became the virtual leader of the Civil Rights movement. A firm believer of non-violence tactics, inspirder by Ghandi. many of his protests were non-violent, but were met with aggression from white racists. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Source The Civil Rights Act was signed into law on September 9th, during the year of 1957. It included many programs, such as the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department and created the Civil Rights Commission made to investigate voters infringment. This was the first legislative bill since Reconstruction that the federal gov. undertook to protect civil rights. -
Elvis Presley
Source Elvis Presley is one of the icons of America, known as the King of Rock and Roll. He was a huge influence on the music of the time, performing many hits. At the peak of his career, he got a letter saying that he had been drafted into the US Army as a private, in which he finished a song he was recording, and then was sent into service. He rose to the rank of Sergeant, in which he served in Company D. Later, he gave rise to polio vaccinations, which shot up after he was shown getting one. -
Nikita Krushchev
Source Nikita Khrushchev was the Communist leader durin g most of the Cold War. He had many ideals that opposed Stalin's, such as making peace with Western society. He even publicly criticized Stalin for his views. During the peak of the Cold War, Russia had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, only 90 miles from the shore of the United States. It was thought that true nuclear war would soon be a reality, but it was peacefully resolved, with the missiles being taken out of Cuba. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Source The Cuban Missile Crisis was when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev placed muclear missiles into Cuba. This sparked fear into America with missiles being so close to home, only 90 miles from the southern shore of Florida. Tensions were high, and many people thought there would be a nuclear war, but it ended after President Kennedy publicly vowed not to attack Cuba, and secretly took missiles out of Turkey. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Source The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a follow-up to the earlier one. This one ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It is thought to be one of the crowning achievements , legislatively of the civil rights movement. This propelled congress to add additional acts to further the rights, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was another leader of the civil rights movement, with many differing views than King. He was a Black Muslim and proposed many ideas that used violence as a tactic to get rights for blacks. He became the leader of the Nation of Islam, but was soon suspended from the group for his comment abotu President Kennedy's assassination. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965.
