Great Migration
The migration of 1.5 million African Americans from the South to the metropolises of the North in the years 1915 to 1940
Harlem Hell Fighters
The 369th Infantry Regiment, formed from the Fifteenth New York National Guard in Harlem, one of the most highly decorated fighting units of World War I
Silent March
A mass march orchestrated by the NAACP down New York City’s Fifth Avenue on July 29th, 1917, to protest the horrific East St. Louis, Illinois, race riot of July 2
New Negro
A term used increasingly after World War I to describe a growing assertiveness animating African Americans, especially those associated with Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Harlem Renaissance
Black History Month
A celebration of African American history and culture that began in 1926 as Negro History Week, established by Carter G Woodson. It became Black History Month in 1976
United Negro Improvement Movement UNIA
The global organization founded by Marcus Garvey in Jamaica in 1914 that promoted race pride, racial unity, black separatism, and African redemption
Harlem Renaissance
The New Negro arts movement, a flourishing of African American art and culture rooted in Harlem in the 1920’s
Scottsboro Boys
A highly publicized series of trials of black youths in Scottsboro, Alabama, who were falsely accused of rape and successfully defended by lawyers paid for by the Communist Party
Jesse Owens
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March on Washington Movement 1941
A. Philip Randolph’s call for 50,000 to 100,000 black Americans to gather in Washington, DC, on July 1, 1941, to demand equal opportunity for blacks in defense industries and the armed services
Executive Order 8802, 1941
President Franklin Roosevelt’s response to the March on Washington Movement. It banned racial discrimination in defense industries and created the Fair Employment Practices Commission FEPC
Double V Campaign
Nickname for “Double Victory Campaign,” a World War II strategy committing African Americans to fight for liberty both at home and abroad
Tuskegee Airmen
Black pilots trained by the Army Air Corps at Tuskegee Institute during World War II. The pilots earned distinction despite efforts to disband and malign them
Zoot Suit Riots
World War II riots in Los Angeles pitting white sailors and civilians against African American and Hispanic men. So called because of the “blacks’ and Latinos’ felt hats, pegged trousers, and gold chains, which were popularly referred to as zoo suits
Soldiers Without Swords
The name given to African American journalists because of their relentless reporting of the injustices blacks suffered during World War II
Morgan Vs. Virginia 1946
The US Supreme Court ruling that declared the practice of making blacks sit in the back of the bus behind whites in interstate bus travel illegal
Congress on Racial Equality
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Negro Legues/ Jackie Robinson
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De Facto Segregation
Racial separation that occurs in practice- as a result of housing patterns or social custom, for example- but is not based on law. Unintentional or natural circumstances
De Jure Segregation
Racial seperation mandated by law
Brown Vs. Board of Education of Topeka 1954
A landmark US Supreme Court case that overturned Plessey vs. Ferguson (1896) by declaring that segregated schools were inherently unequal
The Lynching of Emmett Till 1955
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Little Rock Nine
The nine black students who in 1957, tested Brown vs. Board of Education Topeka by enrolling in Little Rock High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
Greensboro Four
The four black college students who, by sitting down at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and requesting service in February 1960, initiated the nationwide sit-in movement
Freedom Rides
An organized effort in 1961 to desegregate interstate travel by having white and black students ride buses through the South and use “white-only” facilities
Restrictive Covenants
Discriminatory clauses in deeds that prohibited owners from selling their property to an individual or family of a particular race or religious group
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 1963
A gathering of more than 250,000 Americans on August 28th, 1963, to protest discrimination in all facets of the American life. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” during this event
Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC
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Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC
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Congress of Racial Equality CORE
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Lowndes County Freedom Organization LCFO
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Civil Rights Acts 1964
A law prohibiting discrimination in places of public accommodation, outlawing bias in federally funded programs.
Title VII
The most contentious part of the Civil Rights Act Movement 1964, it banned discrimination in employment on bias of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Black Power/ Black Nationalism
A diffuse ideology founded on the idea that black people constituted a nation within a nation. It fostered black pride and encouraged black people to control the economy of their communities
The cultural side of black power, in which black musicians, artists, dancers, playwrights, and novelists in the 1960’s and 1970’s used their talent to demonstrate black pride and nationhood
Mississippi Freedom Summer
A massive education and voter registration campaign conducted in the summer of 1964
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party MFDP
An independent, nondiscriminatory political party established to represent black Mississippians at the 1964 Democratic National Convention
Voting Rights Act 1965
An act outlawing literacy requirements and poll taxes and sending federal election examiners south to protect blacks’ rights to register and vote
Institutional Racism
Discrimination practiced by corporations and governments
Moynihan Report
The controversial 1965 report written primarily by Assistant Secretary of Labor Danial Patrick Moynihan that labeled the black family dysfunctional and set off a storm of protest within black America
Kerner Commission
Officially, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. In 1968, it found violence plaguing in inner cities could be traced through job discrimination and institutional racism rather than black power ideology or a particular organization
COINTELPRO
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Black Panther Party
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Southern Strategy
Policies adopted by Richard Nixon in 1969 aimed at moving southern whites, who were traditionally Democrats, into the Republican Party
Busing
A strategy to promote integration by transporting black children to predominantly white schools and white children to predominantly black schools
Rockefeller Drug Laws 1973
New York State laws imposing a mandatory sentence to fifteen years to life for possession of four once of narcotic
Congressional Black Caucus
An organization of black representatives that became official presence in Congress of 1971. It supports black candidates, lobbied for social reforms, and attempted to fashion a national strategy to increase black political power
Fair Housing Act 1968
A law prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in the sale or rental of housing
Million Man March 1995
A gathering of mostly African American men on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The men gathered to affirm their commitment to black women, children, and communities and to dedicate their lives to improving themselves and their communities
Shirley Chisholm
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Angela Davis
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Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke
The US Supreme Court decision ruling that the university’s medical school at Davis had discriminated against Allan Bakke, a white male, when it took race into account in determining admission
