KEY TERMS Key Terms and People to Know for the Regents Exam
Martin Luther King, Jr. / Civil Disobedience
MLK used a strategy of non-violent civil disobedience. MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” argued that it was moral to break unjust segregation laws. MLK was arrested 30 times for leading marches and protests against segregation.
Sit-Ins / Freedom Riders
Black and white college students challenged segregation laws by holding “sit-ins” at segregated lunch counters (restaurants) and by riding segregated busses together through the South. They often faced violent reactions.
Malcolm X
A member of the Nation of Islam who believed in Black Nationalism (separation from whites) before his pilgrimage to Mecca. Malcolm X criticized MLK’s non-violent approach, and claimed blacks should fight for rights “by any means necessary.”
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Movement led President Lyndon Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination and segregation in public accommodations and signaled the end of Jim Crow laws in the South.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act gave the federal government power to oversee elections in order to prevent voting discrimination (literacy tests, intimidation) that had kept African Americans from voting in the South.