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Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment freed slaves. The amendment forbade slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that persons will to benefit another. -
Black Codes
Black codes were local laws that attempted to control every aspect of Black life, mainly in the South. These laws had the intent of restricting African Americans freedom. For example, blacks were not allowed to make eye contact with whites, they were not able to sell or purchase goods, shop in white owned stores, or open their own establishment, or gather in groups larger than 20. -
Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment gave slaves their rights. The amendment declared that all people born in the US were citizens, that all citizens were entitled to equal rights regardless of their race, and their rights were protected. -
Sharecropping/Tenant Farming
After the American Civil War, southern plantation owners were challenged to find help working the lands slaves had farmed. Taking advantage of the former slaves' desire to own their own farms, plantation owners used arrangements called sharecropping and tenant farming. -
Fifteen Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment allowed black men to vote. Any American cannot be denied the right to vote, based on race, color, or being a former slave. However, the amendment didn't stop "tests" from being put into place to limit voting. -
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws were put into place to separate African Americans from white population. Facilities were separated between the black and the white and black facilities were usually worse. Jim Crow Laws existed mainly in the south and originated from black codes. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
A US Supreme Court case that sustained the integrity of segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. The incident occurred when Homer Plessy took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train, there by breaking the law. He then refused to move which resulted in arrest. -
Nineteenth Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. The amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. -
Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government. Civil disobedience is sometimes associated with nonviolent resistance. -
Twentieth Amendment
An Amendment that sets the dates at which federal government elected offices end. Also defines who succeeds the president if the president dies. -
Non Violent Protest
The success of the American Civil Rights Movement and the fight for racial equality in the United States is evidence to the determination of millions of African Americans who fought against discrimination. A major factor in the success of the movement was the strategy of protesting for equal rights without using violence. -
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually races. Desegregation was a long focus of the Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, resulting in desegregation of the school systems. -
Brown v. Ferguson
A US Supreme Court case in which the court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The court's decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. -
Thurgood Marshall
A US Supreme Court Justice and civil rights advocate. As council to the NAACP, he helped advocate equality for African Americans. He won the Brown v. Board of Education case, in which the Supreme Court ended racial segregation in schools. -
Rosa Parks
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man in a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Which helped begin the civil rights movement in the United States. She is known as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement." -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
An influential event in the civil right movement. The boycott was a protest against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system in Montgomery, Alabama. The protest was sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
He was a well known civil rights leader and activist who played a major role in the American civil rights movement. His strong belief in non-violent protest helped set the tone of the movement. -
Orville Faubus
He became the national symbol of racial segregation when he used Arkansas National Guardsmen to block the enrollment of nine black students who had been ordered by a federal judge to desegregate Little Rock's Central High School. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Primarily a voting rights bill, was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress. The purpose was to show the federal government's support for racial equality following the Supreme Court's Brown decision. -
Sit-Ins
A sit-in was a new tactic added to the peaceful activists strategy. It began when four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter and asked for coffee. When the service was refused, the students sat patiently. Despite threats and intimidation, the students sat quietly and waited to be served. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is the outcome of the Civil Rights Movement, intended to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment. Affirmative Action policies initially focused on improving opportunities for African Americans in employment and education. -
Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez was a well-known union leader and labor organizer. Chavez founded the National farm Workers Association. His union joined with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in its first strike against grape owners in California. With nonviolent methods, he drew attention with boycotts, marches, and hunger strikes and was able to secure raises and improve conditions for farm workers in California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. -
Twenty Fourth Amendment
The Twenty Fourth Amendment prevents Congress and States from requiring a poll tax before you can vote. The amendment is important because African Americans in the South faced discrimination and could not vote for elected officials that would work to end the discrimination. It wasn't a large expense but it was just enough to keep poor black and whites from voting. -
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist. She was a leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the twentieth century. -
George Wallace
One of America's most outspoken supporters of racial segregation. When he won the governorship of his home state on a platform of racial segregation and states' rights and was backed by the Ku Klux Klan, his inaugural speech concluded with the infamous line, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." He is also known for leading a stand in the schoolhouse door to prevent two black students, from enrolling at the University of Alabama. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national religion. It prohibited unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public facilities. -
Lester Maddox
A dedicated segregationist, owned and operated a restaurant which only served the white. He refused to serve 3 black men and was taken to court, in result, he decided to close his restaurant rather than desegregate. -
Head Start
Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low income children and their families. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination when voting: like poll taxes, and literary tests. The amendment aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the fifteenth amendment. -
Upward Bound
Upward Bound is a federally funded educational program within the United States. The goal of Upward Bound is to provide certain categories of high school students better opportunities for attending college. -
Lynching
Lynching is to kill someone, usually by hanging, who was considered guilty of a crime without trial or even proven guilty. Lynching mainly happened in the south. African Americans could be lynched for looking cross at someone or for robbery or assault. The last recorded lynching was 1968. -
Federal Housing Authority
The Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, is a landmark part of legislation in the United States that provided for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, religion, or national origin and made it a federal crime to "force by or by threat of force, injure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone by reason of their race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Twenty Sixth Amendment
The Twenty Sixth Amendment prohibits the federal government and the States from denying the ability to vote based on age, which resulted in lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. -
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 is a federal law that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." -
Hector P. Garcia
Dr. Hector P. Garcia was an advocate for Hispanic American rights during the Chicano movement. He was the first Mexican American member of of the US Civil Rights Commission and was awarded the Medal of Freedom.
