Civil Rights

Rosa Parks Refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white person and was arrested, her actions led to several bus boycotts

Thurgood Marshall Lawyer who believed biggest change for civil rights was through the law; work on Brown vs. BOE; first black man into the supreme court

Little Rock Nine First black students to attend all white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas; faced much discrimination but won their challenge to uphold Brown vs. BOE

Martin Luther King Jr. Considered leader of the Civil Rights Movement; fought for equality through “civil disobedience” – a non-violent method of attaining equality; he encouraged all supporters not to sink to the level of the racists fighting against them

Malcolm X Militant black leader; heavily involved in the Black Muslims and fought for black separatism

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Landmark ruling that outlawed any form of discrimination against racial, ethnic, religious minorities and women

Brown vs. Board of Education Landmark Supreme Court case that overturned the ruling that schools could be segregated and declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional; ruled on May 17, 1954

Desegregation The act of eliminating the separation of groups from the main group with regards to public locales (schools, churches, organizations)

Apartheid Any system or practice that separates people according to race, class, etc

Segregation The act of separating one group (often a minority group) from the main group

Human Rights Fundamental rights granted to all people simply because one is a human being

14 th amendment Guaranteed that all people born in the US were considered natural citizens, regardless of race, and no state could take away this right

13 th Amendment Formally abolished slavery and was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865

Civil Rights Rights to personal liberty

Freedom Riders Civil Rights activists who went on bus rides into the segregated south to spread the word of outlawing segregation

Extra Terms to know

These laws were racial segregation laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 in the United States at the state and local level. Jim Crow

Bloody Sunday March 7, About 600 people begin a march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama, led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams. Marchers demand an end to discrimination in voter registration. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state and local lawmen attack the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas, driving them back to Selma.

George Wallace Was a four-time governor of Alabama and three-time presidential hopeful. He is best remembered for his 1960s segregationist politics. "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

Bull Connor Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. His actions were to enforce racial segregation and deny civil rights to Black citizens, especially during the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Birmingham Campaign of 1963, made him an international symbol of racism

KKK Opposed the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, they often forged alliances with Southern police departments, as in Birmingham, Alabama; or with governor's offices, as with George Wallace of Alabama. Several members were convicted of murder in the deaths of civil rights workers and children in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Emancipation Proclamation