African American Studies in Credo: Civil Rights and Activism

U.S. African-American militant party, founded (1966) in Oakland, Calif., by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

Movement towards black separatism in the USA during the 1960s, embodied in the Black Panther Party founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

Case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954; Linda Brown was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka because she was black. US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Civil rights are guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law regardless of race, religion, sex, sexuality, or other personal characteristics. These personal rights are guaranteed by the country/state to its citizens. Civil rights incorporates the belief that governments should not arbitrarily act to infringe these rights, and that individuals and groups, through political action, have a legitimate role in determining and influencing what constitutes them.

US movement especially active during the 1950s and 60s that aimed to end segregation and discrimination against Blacks, as well as affirm their constitutional rights and improve their status in society. The civil rights movement was a struggle to fulfill the promise, made in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, of full citizenship and equal opportunity for African Americans

Discrimination is negative behavior directed at individuals or at groups of individuals because of their social group membership. Discrimination is based on social categories that individuals do not generally choose to belong to, including gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, stigma, age, and physical appearance. In law, discrimination is the action of distinguishing and categorizing individuals in a society based on perceived cultural, social, or physical characteristics and subsequently preventing certain categories or groups of people equitable access to social, economic, and political resources.

Addition to the U.S. Constitution, adopted 1868. The amendment comprises five sections.

In Encyclopedia of Race and Racism
As Christopher Lucas notes in his history of American higher education, “the original intent of most of the founders of black colleges was to provide for their clientele an education indistinguishable from that commonly pursued by whites”

In U.S. history, statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities, beginning in the 1880s, that legalized segregation and enforced racial separation between blacks and whites.

Designation mainly given to two distinct secret societies that played a part in American history, although other less important groups have also used the name. The first Ku Klux Klan was an organization that thrived in the South during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War.

Unlawfully hanging or otherwise killing a person by mob action. The term is derived from the older term lynch law, which is most likely named after either Capt. William Lynch (1742–1820), of Pittsylvania co., Va., or Col. Charles Lynch (1736–96), of neighboring Bedford (later Campbell) co.

Organization composed mainly of American blacks, but with many white members, whose goal is the end of racial discrimination and segregation.

One of the first African Americans to enter Harvard Medical School, Delany is better known for his writing, for which he is often called the “father of black nationalism.”

US educator and social critic; William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. A visionary, strategic organizer, and prolific writer who tirelessly advocated, and often agitated, for racial, economic, and gender equality as well as peace with social justice. Du Bois was one of the early leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the editor of its journal Crisis 1909-32.

Jamaican Black nationalist leader, active in the U.S. He founded (1914) the Universal Negro Improvement Association and led the Back-to-Africa movement: jailed for fraud (1925-27).

American civil rights leader and politician. A Baptist minister, he directed national antidiscrimination efforts (1966-1977) and sought the 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential nominations. Jesse Jackson has worked diligently on behalf of civil rights, but he may be most recognized for the dynamic way he has crafted a message of inclusion and reform. Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, USA.

US Baptist minister and civil rights leader. Throughout his life, King remained committed to nonviolent direct action as a means of effecting social change. The son and grandson of prominent African American ministers, each of whom bequeathed a legacy of activism in the cause of black civil rights, Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, was the most influential leader of the American civil rights movement.

US civil-rights activist.

Institute head and civil-rights activist, born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA.

From Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
An outspoken African-American Baptist minister and political activist, the Reverend Al Sharpton emerged as a national figure during the 1980s and 1990s for orchestrating militant street protests in New York City in response to hate crimes, police brutality, and other perceived social injustices.

American educator. Born into slavery, he acquired an education after emancipation and became the principal of Tuskegee Institute, which flourished under his tutelage (1881-1915) and became one of the leading African-American educational institutions in America.

Some say that West is the first leading African-American intellectual to rise to prominence since W. E. B. Du Bois in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Others assert that West says a lot without saying anything.

Original name Malcolm Little. 1925-65, U.S. Black civil-rights leader: assassinated.