| A | B |
|---|
| Thurgood Marshall | Supreme Court Justice who spoke in favor of Brown vs. Board of Education, by saying, “Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time, in the same place.” |
| Medgar Evers | African-American veteran who tried to vote and was driven away at gunpoint; he was later on assassinated |
| Plessy vs. Ferguson | ruled that segregation laws were constitutional; “separate but equal” |
| Brown vs. Board of Education | overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling; laws based on race are unconstitutional |
| Earl Warren | Supreme Court chief justice who stated that segregated schools were unequal and therefore unconstitutional |
| SNCC | Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee |
| Freedom Riders | sit-in on wheels; black and white people rode buses on the interstate throughout the south; resulted in violence but JFK ordered integration of all buses and trains thereafter |
| Civil Rights Act of 1964 | banned discrimination in public places and hiring on basis of race, religion and gender |
| Bloody Sunday | non-violent march that took place from Selma to Birmingham, Alabama; there was police brutality which was caught on TV coverage. This shocked the public and changed the minds of many about segregation being effective plan |
| literacy tests | the Voting Rights Act banned the use of these written tess to qualify African Americans as registered voters |
| The Great Boom | time of great prosperity caused by people using war-time wages and GI benefits to purchase much |
| GI Bill | gave veterans money to spend on businesses, home and schooling (GI stands for government issue, but became nickname for a soldier) |
| closed shop | workplace in which only union members can be hired |
| blacklisted | when asked about political beliefs, if writers, actors and directors refused to answer, they were accused of being communists, which meant many studios would not hire them |
| Joseph McCarthy | senator from Wisconsin who accused many of being communist, causing many to lose jobs; he seemed to be motivated by a search for fame and power. His downfall came once he accused the U.S. army of being communist in front of 20 million TV viewers. |
| baby boom | steep rise in birth-rate (1946-1960) |
| civil rights | rights guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution |
| integration | the process of ending segregation |
| McCarthyism | spreading false charges under the pretense of protecting the country from communism |
| Peace Corps | begun by JFK; people volunteer for 2 year stints in Asia, Africa and Latin America, helping people to help themselves |
| 11/22/63 | the day JFK was assassinated |
| New Frontier | President JFK’s program, which included the Peace Corps, tax cuts to help businesses, etc. |
| Economic Opportunity Act | $1 billion for anti-poverty programs, including Head Start and job-training for inner-city folks |
| Great Society | Johnson’s administration, which was pro-civil rights and made “war on poverty”; Johnson said his society rests on abundance and liberty for all |
| Watergate | political scandal which forced Nixon to resign |
| Fair Deal | Truman’s administration and plan to give all Americans a share in the nation’s economic opportunities |
