Vocabulary

Unit 10: Civil Rights Movement

Terms

Montgomery Bus Boycott: protest in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama.

March on Washington: massive protest march in August 1963, culminating with King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Greensboro Sit-In: famous act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter.

Civil Rights Act of 1964: outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

Freedom Summer: volunteer campaign to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi.

People & Places

Martin Luther King, Jr.: famous Civil Rights leader who became a visible, nonviolent spokesman. 

Malcolm X: famous Civil Rights leader who advocated for black empowerment.

Rosa Parks: refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Thurgood Marshall: first African American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Concepts

Protest: a statement or action expressing objection or disapproval of something.

Atrocity: a cruel act, typically involving physical violence or injury.

Discrimination: to treat a person or group differently based on race, gender, or another distinction.

Segregation: to separate one group from another.

Integration: to incorporate one group into another.

Nonviolence: peaceful resistance to a government.

Unit 11: Cold War

Terms

Cold War: period of tension between the United States and Soviet Union, beginning with the end of World War II and ending with the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Korean War: conflict between North and South Korean military forces in the early 1950s.

Vietnam War: conflict between North and South Vietnamese military forces in the 1960s and 1970s.

Tet Offensive: massive invasion of South Vietnam by North Vietnamese forces in 1968.

Hippie: counterculturalist of the 1960s and 1970s who protested the Vietnam War.

17th Parallel: dividing line between North and South Vietnam.

38th Parallel: dividing line between North and South Korea.

Watergate: the political scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

People & Places

John F. Kennedy (JFK): 35th President of the United States; served one term.

Lyndon Johnson: 36th President of the United States; served one term.

Richard Nixon: 37th President of the United States; served one term.

William Westmoreland: commander of U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

Saigon: capital city of South Vietnam.

Concepts

Allegiance: loyalty or commitment of a subordinate to a superior.

Geopolitical: relating to politics, especially international relations, influenced by geographical factors.

Unit 12: Modern America

Terms

Reaganomics: economic program based on the trickle down theory.

Strategic Defense Initiative: President Reagan’s high-tech, anti-nuclear defense system.

Reagan Revolution: attempt to return American to traditional values of church, family, and free enterprise.

Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981: federal law passed to boost the economy, reduce inflation, and increase employment.

Operation Urgent Fury: codename for the invasion of Grenada in October 1983.

Gulf War: conflict between Iraq and coalition forces, including the United States, occuring in 1990-1991.

Patriot Act: aimed at deterring and punishing terrorists in the United States and throughout the world.

Operation Iraqi Freedom: the 2003 invasion of Iraq with a goal of removing Saddam Hussein from power.

Nostalgia Era: nickname given to the decade of the 1990s.

Internet: global wide area network that connects computer systems throughout the world.

People & Places

Ronald Reagan: 40th President of the United States; served two terms.

George H.W. Bush: 41st President of the United States; served one term.

Moral Majority: political action group formed to further traditional agenda, such as prayer in schools.

Mikhail Gorbachev: leader of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991.

Bill Clinton: 42nd President of the United States; served two terms.

George W. Bush: 43rd President of the United States; served two terms.

Barack Obama: 44th President of the United States; served two terms.

Saddam Hussein: leader of Iraq from 1979-2003.

Taliban: ruling group in Afghanistan during 9/11.

World Trade Center: complex of seven buildings located in the Financial District of New York City.

Pentagon: headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, located in Washington, D.C.

Concepts

Conservatism: belief that the government should have a limited role in helping individuals and support traditional values and lifestyles.

Consumerism: belief that a person’s happiness is dependent on obtaining goods and material possession.

Coalition: a combination of diverse things into a collective group.

Bombardment: an attack in which explosive devices are dropped on a large scale.