15th Amendment
Amendment to the United States Constitution stating: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
1877
This is the year in which the Reconstruction Era came to an official end in the Southern United States.
21st Amendment
This amendment passed in 1933 repealed the prohibition of alcohol, the 18th amendment.
Brown V. Board Of Education
This Supreme Court case, decided in 1954, declared that the segregation doctrine of 'separate but equal,' was not Constitutional when applied to the public school system.
Adolf Hitler
This was the totalitarian leader of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Baby Boom
This is a period of greatly increased birth rate that occurred in the US after the end of WWII.
Baby Boomers
These are people who were born during a population "explosion" after World War II.
Battle Of Midway
This was a WWII naval battle in the Pacific Theater in June of 1942. It was a clear defensive victory for the US against the attacking Japanese and permanently weakened the Japanese Navy.
Battle Of The Bulge
This is the name given to the World War II battle between US and German forces in Belgium in late 1944 and early 1945. It was the last attempt by Hitler to break through Allied lines, but he could only muster a "bulge" in them.
Bay Of Pigs
This was the unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro by Cuban exiles. It was funded by the US in 1961.
Chinese Exclusion Act
This law, passed in 1882, forbade any laborers from China to enter the United States for 10 years.
Civil Rights Act Of 1964
Signed into law by President Johnson, this bill protected African Americans and women from job discrimination and any discrimination in public places.
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was a confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over nuclear missiles the Soviets had allegedly deployed to Cuba.
Douglas MacArthur
This was a United States general who served as chief of staff and commanded Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II; he accepted the surrender of Japan (1880-1964).
Dust Bowl
This was the term given to the area of the Great Plains that was most greatly affected during the Great Drought of the 1930's.
Dwight Eisenhower
This was a United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany; 34th President of the United States (1890-1961).
Eisenhower Doctrine
A message to congress from the President that the United States would use armed forces upon request in response to imminent or actual aggression to the Middle East.
Fair Deal
This is the policy of social improvement introduced by U.S. President Harry Truman.
Fireside Chats
This was a series of radio talk shows featuring President Franklin Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944.
Fourteenth Amendment
This is one of the post-Civil War amendments to the US Constitution that includes the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.
Franklin Roosevelt
This was the longest-serving president of the United States and the only president elected more than twice.
GI Bill
This is what provided for college or vocational education for WWII veterans as well as one-year of unemployment compensation.
Gilded Age
This was a period of economic development and wealth transfer in the United States when every American was a potential Andrew Carnegie.
Good Neighbor Policy
This was President Roosevelt's plan on international relations; specifically to moderate U.S. intervention in foreign affairs in Latin America and Europe.
Great Depression
This was a period of global economic crisis that lasted from 1929 to 1939. There was widespread poverty and high unemployment.
Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution
This was an agreement in Congress that facilitated an increase of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Harlem Renaissance
This was the period during 1920's of outstanding creativity centered in New York's black ghetto.
Henry Ford
This was the founder of an automobile company and the first person to apply assembly line manufacturing to affordable automobiles.
Herbert Hoover
He was the 31st President of the U.S. He was progressive, humanitarian and Republican. He lost favor with the American public due to the Great Depression and his ill-fated technical solutions.
Hiroshima
This is the Japanese city that was the first to be subjected to nuclear warfare to bring about the end of WWII.
Hoovervilles
This is the name given to the Depression-era villages, comprised of shacks built with leftover wood, crates, and sheet metal. They were usually havens for disease and represented the desperation of the masses after the collapse of the stock market.
Jazz Age
This is a period during the 1920s when the national attitude was positive and upbeat, and Americans had money as the stock market soared. Traditional values saw a decline, and Modernism was the cultural focus.
Jim Crow Laws
Laws requiring that facilities and accommodations, public and private, be segregated by race.
John D. Rockefeller
The New York industrialist who made hundreds of millions of dollars in the 19th century with this Standard Oil Company and pioneered the corporate strategy of vertical integration.
King's Letter From A Birmingham Jail
This was written in 1963 to defend the author's peaceful civil rights campaign.
Korean War
This was a national conflict in an Asian country aided by Russia in the North and the U.S. in the South (1950-1953).
Langston Hughes
He was a prolific African-American poet, novelist and playwright who is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance.
Los Alamos
This is the national laboratory in New Mexico founded during WWII to develop the atomic bomb.
Marshall Plan
Following World War II, this called for giving away billions of dollars in aid to help rebuild war-torn Europe, with the purpose of creating a viable trading partner and post-war allies.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
This was an American political activist who was the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement.
McCarthyism
This is a term that describes the severe anti-communist suspicion in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s.
New Deal
This was the programs and policies to promote economic recovery and social reform introduced during the 1930's by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
NOW
This is an American feminist group founded in 1966 that seeks to advance women to equal standing with men.
Panama Canal
This connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Central America.
Pearl Harbor
This is the U.S. Naval base attacked by the Japanese that brought the U.S. into WW II.
Plessy V. Ferguson
This was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the legality of racial segregation so long as facilities were 'separate but equal.'
Public Works Administration
This New Deal program allowed money to be spent on the construction of public works to provide employment to out of work Americans, improve the public welfare, and contribute to a revival of American industry.
Red Scare
This was the period after each world war which saw massive upheaval in the U.S. and fear of many foreigners. It was characterized by widespread fears of Communist influence on U.S. society and Communist infiltration of the U.S. government.
Roosevelt Corollary
This policy reasserted the U.S. position as protector of the Western Hemisphere.
Rural Electrification Act
This 1936 law provided federal funding for installation of electrical distribution systems to serve rural areas of the United States.
SCLC
This is a Civil Rights organization that was instrumental in the 60s Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King was its first president and it is rooted in nonviolent civil disobedience.
SNCC
This group was formed in 1960 to organize peaceful disobedience to segregation laws throughout the American South. They played key roles in organizing the Freedom Rides in 1961 and the famous March on Washington two years later.
Spanish American War
This was a conflict in which the U.S. gained many island territories, especially Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
Sputnik
This was the name for the Soviet Union's program of unmanned space objects that were launched in the 1950s. Sputnik I's launch in 1957 alarmed the US into speeding up plans for its space program.
Stock Market Crash
This was a famous dramatic loss of value in the shares of stock in corporations that hit the U.S. in 1929.
Theodore Roosevelt
This was a 26th President of the United States; hero of the Spanish-American War; Panama canal was built during his administration; said `Speak softly but carry a big stick` (1858-1919). He was considered by many to be the nation's first conservation President.
Thirteenth Amendment
Amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing and prohibiting slavery. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Truman Doctrine
This said that the United States would aid any nation in resisting the growing threat of communism and became the guiding force of American foreign policy during the Cold War
TVA
Created by Congress as one of the major public-works projects of the New Deal, this built a system of dams in the southeast.
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
This is a naval tactic where submarines sink merchant ships without warning.
Woodrow Wilson
28th President of the United States; led the United States in World War I and secured the formation of the League of Nations (1856-1924).
World War I
The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was the name given to the US military who fought in this war.
Yellow Journalism
This was the use of sensationalized news in newspaper publishing to attract readers and increase circulation.
Zimmerman Note
Germany sent this to Mexico instructing an ambassador to convince Mexico to go to war with the U.S.