Unit 3 Civil Rights Struggles and Freedom Practices in the Mid-20th Century

Civil Rights Movement

Mid-1950s to late 1960s sustained, multi-strategy struggle to end legally enforced racial segregation and discrimination and secure full citizenship rights for African Americans.

Jim Crow

System of laws and customs (especially in the South) enforcing segregation in public life and restricting Black voting through devices like literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation, and violence.

De jure segregation

Segregation that exists by law—formally mandated and enforced through legal rules and policies (a core feature of Jim Crow in the South).

De facto segregation

Segregation and inequality that exist “in fact” through housing markets, employment practices, and policing even when not explicitly required by law (often emphasized in the North).

Nonviolent direct action

Disciplined tactics (sit-ins, boycotts, marches, freedom rides) designed to create crises, expose injustice, draw media attention, and pressure negotiation and political change; nonviolent but not passive.

Three-front struggle

A way to understand movement mechanics as mutually reinforcing legal strategy, direct action/mass protest, and federal policy/enforcement working together.

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

Long-standing civil rights organization that pursued legal challenges and advocacy through litigation, public campaigning, and local chapters.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)

Legal arm noted for using courts to challenge segregation and discrimination, helping create key legal tools against Jim Crow.

SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)

Coalition rooted in Black churches and clergy that coordinated mass campaigns emphasizing nonviolent direct action and moral appeal.

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)

Student-led organization born from the sit-in movement that emphasized grassroots organizing, voter registration, and participatory democracy through local leadership development.

CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)

Direct-action organization committed to interracial organizing; supported actions such as the Freedom Rides to test federal enforcement of desegregation in interstate travel.

National Urban League

Civil rights organization focused strongly on economic opportunity, jobs, and social services, highlighting civil rights as also about employment, housing, and urban inequality.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court decision ruling state-sponsored segregation in public schools unconstitutional, attacking the legal foundation of “separate but equal,” though implementation faced massive resistance.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956)

Mass boycott by Montgomery’s Black community after Rosa Parks’ arrest that demonstrated economic pressure and the need for organizing infrastructure (carpools, fundraising, leadership, discipline).

Sit-in movement (beginning 1960)

Student-led challenge to segregated lunch counters that spread rapidly, expanded direct-action tactics, and used the moral contrast between peaceful protest and hostile response to shift opinion and practices.

Birmingham Campaign (1963)

Confrontational campaign in Birmingham where widely publicized brutality against protesters increased pressure for federal action.

March on Washington (1963)

Mass demonstration for jobs and freedom that underscored civil rights as including economic justice, not only desegregation.

Selma to Montgomery campaign (1965)

Voting-rights activism met by violent repression that helped catalyze federal intervention and contributed to passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Landmark federal law prohibiting discrimination and segregation in many public places and addressing employment discrimination, strengthening federal authority and legal grounds to challenge discriminatory practices.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Federal law protecting voting rights by targeting devices used to suppress Black voting and enabling federal intervention in jurisdictions with documented patterns of discrimination.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

Federal law aimed at reducing housing discrimination, recognizing housing’s role in school access, wealth-building, neighborhood resources, and the persistence of residential segregation.

24th Amendment (ratified 1964)

Constitutional amendment abolishing poll taxes in federal elections, removing a key barrier used to reduce Black political participation.

Black Power

Broad concept emphasizing building Black political, economic, and cultural power, often stressing independence from white-controlled institutions and expanding priorities beyond formal desegregation.

Black Nationalism

Belief in Black self-determination (social, political, cultural, sometimes territorial), including cultural/political/economic nationalism and Pan-Africanism, rather than relying primarily on integration.

Black Panther Party (for Self-Defense)

Organization associated with community programs and a confrontational stance toward police brutality, illustrating the movement’s expansion into policing, poverty, and urban inequality.