Civil Rights Movement Vocabulary

U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

Refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. After she was jailed, the Montgomery bus boycott was organized.

American civil rights lawyer, first black justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall was a tireless advocate for the rights of minorities and the poor.

Malcolm X was an advocate of black power and was the figurehead of the Nation of Islam for some time. He was greatly influential in getting people to believe in black power and self-defense, as opposed to King's peace.

A leader of the Black Nationalist movement in 1966, he coined the phrase "Black Power". Broke off from the nonviolent movements.

Co founded Black Panthers and embraced separatism

Along with Huey P. Newton, co-founded the Black Panther Party For Self Defense on October 15, 1966. He also ran for Mayor of Oakland, California.

United States civil rights leader whose college registration caused riots in traditionally segregated Mississippi (born in 1933)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Student non-violent coordinating committee, also known as 'Snick.'

Led by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, they believed that racism was an inherent part of the U.S. capitalist society and were militant, self-styled revolutionaries for Black Power.

An organization founded by James Leonard Farmer in 1942 to work for racial equality.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, churches link together to inform blacks about changes in the Civil Rights Movement, led by MLK Jr., was a success

Created in July, 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States.

Ratified by the states on January 23, 1964, this amendment prohibits congress and states from using any method to keep someone from voting based on ethnicity.

A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically.

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.

Name given to the voting campaign in the summer of 1964 that helped African Americans register to vote

Nonviolent protests in which a person sits and refuses to leave.

A group's refusal to have commercial dealings with some organization in protest against its policies

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.

Federal Agency created to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination on the basis of race, creed, national origin, religion, or sex in hiring, promotion, or firing

He was the president that assured the nation that "we shall overcome" when he signed the Voting Rights act of 1965. He also took steps to end discrimination earlier when he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The system of segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The "C" in the project stood for confrontation, the strategy of nonviolent direct action designed to confront segregation through peaceful demonstrations, rallies, boycotts, and appeals to justice.

The Birmingham campaign was a strategic movement organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the unequal treatment black Americans endured in Birmingham, Alabama.

Freedom Riders rode in interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the ruling of unsegregated public places

Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional, overturned Plessey v Ferguson.

a 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.

In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.

Chief Justice during the 1950's and 1960's who used a loose interpretation to expand rights for both African-Americans and those accused of crimes.

Segregation imposed by law.

Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.

State level legal codes of segregation, such as literacy requirements and poll taxes