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13th Amendment
Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864. -
Black Codes
Laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War. These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt. -
Sharecropping/ Tenant Farming
A form of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on their portion of land. -
14th Amendment
Adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. -
15th Amendment
Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". It was ratified on February 3, 1870. -
Lynching
To kill someone, usually by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial. Most frequent from 1890 to the 1920s, with a peak in 1892 -
Jim Crow Laws
State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. Ended in 1965. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Court case in 1896 about whether Louisiana's train segregation law was against the 14th amendment. Was decided 7-1 on favor of Ferguson, the train segregation law was not removed. -
Congress of Racial Equality
An African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Sit-ins
A form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, to promote political, social, or economic change. -
Hector P. Garcia
Was a Mexican-American physician, surgeon, World War II veteran, civil rights advocate, and founder of the American G.I. Forum. -
Thurgood Marshall
American lawyer, serving as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice. Prior to his judicial service, he successfully argued several cases before the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Court case in 1954 about whether segregation of public education violates the 14th amendment. Was decided unanimously in favor of Brown, segregation was made illegal in the public education system. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
A seminal event in the Civil Rights Movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. -
Emmett Till
A 14 year old African American boy who was lynched. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the US. -
Rosa Parks
An activist in the Civil Rights Movement. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey the bus drivers order to give up her seat in the "colored section" to a white passenger. -
Orval Faubus
An American politician who served as 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967. A Democrat, he is best remembered for his 1957 stand against desegregation of the Little Rock School District during the Little Rock Crisis -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
An African-American civil rights organization. SCLC, which is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr, had a large role in the American Civil Rights Movement. -
Little Rock Nine
A group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Civil Rights Act of 1957 was to show the federal government's support for racial equality following the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown decision. -
Stokely Carmichael
Prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement and the global Pan-African movement. Active in the Black Power movement, first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and lastly as a leader of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) -
Non-violent Protest
the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, or other methods, while being nonviolent. -
Desegregation
The ending of the policy of racial segregation. -
Civil Disobedience
The refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. -
Freedom Riders
Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States, in 1961 and subsequent years, ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. -
Ole Miss Integration
On September 30, 1962, riots erupted on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford where locals, students, and committed segregationists had gathered to protest the enrollment of James Meredith, a black Air Force veteran attempting to integrate the all-white school. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using the tactics of nonviolence and civil disobedience. Most famous speech is "I have a dream" -
U of Alabama Integration
When African American students attempted to desegregate the University of Alabama in June 1963. They were blocked by the new governor of Alabama -
George Wallace
George Wallace, the Democratic Governor of Alabama, in a symbolic attempt to keep his inaugural promise of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" and stop the desegregation of schools, stood at the door of the auditorium to try to block the entry of two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood. -
March on Washington
Held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for civil and economic rights for African Americans. At the march, Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech -
Lester Maddox
An American politician who served as the 75th Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971. A populist Democrat, Maddox came to prominence as a staunch segregationist when he refused to serve black customers in his Atlanta restaurant. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Affirmative Action
Policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who suffer or have suffered from discrimination within a culture. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Act in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. -
Watts Riots
On August 11, 1965, an African-American motorist was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving. A minor roadside argument broke out, and then escalated into a fight. The community reacted in outrage to allegations of police brutality that soon spread, and six days of looting and arson followed. -
Cesar Chavez
Originally a Mexican American farm worker, Chavez became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement. Lead the Delano grape boycott, in which people boycotted table grapes. -
Black Panthers
A revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in October 1966. -
Betty Friedan
In 1970, after stepping down as the National Organization for Women first president, Friedan organized the nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. -
Title IX (9)
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
