APUSH Civil Rights Notes
Important Civil Rights, Concepts, Events, and People
African American Rights:
1. Executive Order 9981 (Truman) – July 1948 – established the equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces
2. Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka – 1954 – series of cases involving racial segregation in public schools; Supreme Court decision: unconstitutional
3. Southern Christian Leadership Conference – 1957-present – originally led by Martin Luther King, Jr., this organization was responsible for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and famous I Have a Dream speech
4. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee – 1960-1970s – founded by Ella Baker and other college students, the SNCC was most famous for sit-ins, freedom rides, and the March on Washington (alongside the SCLC)
5. Malcolm X – 1925-1965 – civil rights leader who, in contrast to Dr. King, Jr., wished to continue the separation between blacks and whites, but to strengthen the black community and achieve this “by any means necessary,” allowing violence
Black Muslims – followers of Wallace Fard, who founded the Nation of Islam in the 1930s; Malcolm X was a supporter and spokesperson for around a decade
6. Stokely Carmichael – 1941-1998 – chairman of SCLC, working with Dr. King, Jr., but shifted his beliefs from nonviolence to those of the Black Panthers and promoted “Black Power”
7. Eldridge Cleaver – 1935-1998 – author, leader, and supporter of Black Panthers; “You're either part of the problem or part of the solution” Black Panthers – 1967-present – socialist civil rights party founded and led by Huey Newton; focused on police brutality of black people
8. Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Congressional law that deals with occupation, where discrimination against gender or race is disallowed in hiring, promoting, and firing
9. 24th Amendment – 1964 – “The right of citizens...to vote...shall not be denied...by reason of failure to pay...tax;”
African American Rights:
1. Executive Order 9981 (Truman) – July 1948 – established the equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces
2. Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka – 1954 – series of cases involving racial segregation in public schools; Supreme Court decision: unconstitutional
3. Southern Christian Leadership Conference – 1957-present – originally led by Martin Luther King, Jr., this organization was responsible for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and famous I Have a Dream speech
4. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee – 1960-1970s – founded by Ella Baker and other college students, the SNCC was most famous for sit-ins, freedom rides, and the March on Washington (alongside the SCLC)
5. Malcolm X – 1925-1965 – civil rights leader who, in contrast to Dr. King, Jr., wished to continue the separation between blacks and whites, but to strengthen the black community and achieve this “by any means necessary,” allowing violence
Black Muslims – followers of Wallace Fard, who founded the Nation of Islam in the 1930s; Malcolm X was a supporter and spokesperson for around a decade
6. Stokely Carmichael – 1941-1998 – chairman of SCLC, working with Dr. King, Jr., but shifted his beliefs from nonviolence to those of the Black Panthers and promoted “Black Power”
7. Eldridge Cleaver – 1935-1998 – author, leader, and supporter of Black Panthers; “You're either part of the problem or part of the solution” Black Panthers – 1967-present – socialist civil rights party founded and led by Huey Newton; focused on police brutality of black people
8. Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Congressional law that deals with occupation, where discrimination against gender or race is disallowed in hiring, promoting, and firing
9. 24th Amendment – 1964 – “The right of citizens...to vote...shall not be denied...by reason of failure to pay...tax;”