Test 2 Flashcards
Ralph David Abernathy
Montgomery Preacher who came up with the name Montgomery Improvement Society. He helped write up the demands for the Bus Boycott, and was a close friend and adviser to King even attempting to bail him out and telling him his house had been bombed. He was a founding member of the SCLC and had his own house bombed.
Ross Barnett
Governor of Mississippi who was a staunch segregationist and blamed the news media for over-publicizing racial strife. He defied a federal order to desegregate Ole Miss which led to the Ole Miss crisis.
Dr. William “W.G.” Anderson
Doctor who became a leader in the Albany movement after being prevented from treating patients.
James Armstrong
The man who carried the flag on bloody Sunday and would not let it touch the ground despite being beaten
Ella Baker
Was a leader in the SCLC and the sit in movement. She believed that students should lead the charge and organized the Youth Leadership Meeting to galvanize youth activism.
James Bevel
Prolific civil rights activist who was active first in the Nashville sit ins and freedom rides and then with the SCLC as director of Direct Action and nonviolent education where he planned and executed some of their most successful activities.
Addie Mae Collins
One of the Birmingham 4
Denise McNair
One of the Birmingham 4
Carole Robertson
One of the Birmingham 4
Cynthia Wesley
One of the Birmingham 4
Asa Carter
A speechwriter for George Wallace. He was one of the most violent and extreme white supremacists in the South and was a leader in the KKK. He was involved in the kidnapping and torture of Edward Aaron and wrote Wallace’s famous Segregation inaugural address.
Robert “Dynamite Bob” Chambliss
Radical segregationist and terrorist who was responsible for the bombing of 16th street baptist church and the death of the 4 little girls. He set off dozens of other bombs and was closely tied to Asa Carter
Eugene “Bull” Connor
Birmingham Commissioner of public safety famous for his violent response to civil rights. He first became a foil for Civil rights when he arrested members of the freedom rides and Shuttlsworth.
Rev. John Cross
Pastor at 16th street baptist church during the bombing.
John Doar
Lawyer who worked for Robert Kennedy and witnessed the violence against the Freedom Riders in Montgomery
Ralph Brown Draughon
President of Auburn University during the desegregation of the school
Medgar Evers
Civil rights activist and NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi who was shot and killed on the evening of Kennedy’s civil rights address.
James Farmer
The National Director of CORE. He put out the public call for the start of the Freedom Rides and was a passionate and articulate activist. He gave the SNCC students permission to start the Freedom Rides and sit-ins.
James Forman
SNCC executive secretary. Seen as more militant than John Lewis. He successfully brokered a compromise between the direct action and voter registration factions of SNCC.
Harold Alonza Franklin
The first black student at Auburn University. He was given his own isolated wing in magnolia hall and people did their best to disturb him. He did not complete his degree at Auburn.
Robert Graetz
White preacher and friend of Rosa Parks who accompanied her to Highlander Folk School and drove cars for blacks during the boycott. He was nearly killed in the Montgomery bombing attack on his home.
James Hood
One of two black student to desegregate Bama. He did not graduate from Bama.
Bernice Johnson
Founder of the SNCC Freedom signers and leader in the Albany Movement
Judge Frank Johnson
US District Judge who brought in a panel of judges and ruled on the Montgomery Boycott Case in favor of the blacks. He was a law school classmate of Wallace. He forced Wallace to had over voting records and threatened to throw him in jail if he didn’t.
President John F. Kennedy
Attorney General during the 1960s
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
President during the Early 1960s
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and leading Icon of the Civil Rights movement.
James Lawson
Methodist Minister and Pacifist leader from Ohio who studied non-violence in India. He moved to Nashville at the urging of King and did non-violence workshops for student groups.
John Lewis
Chairman of the Student non-violent coordinating committee. He was the youngest of the big time civil rights leaders and one of the most militant.
Vivian Malone
One of two black students to ingrate bama and the first black graduate.
Floyd Mann
Alabama director of Public Safety. He agreed to provide an escort for the Freedom Rides through Alabama along with Governor Patterson. He saved the freedom riders from a man in Montgomery.
Thurgood Marshall
Legendary NAACP attorney who was educated at Howard and the attorney for Brown V Board as well as many other cases that challenged segregation. He also represented Law School student Bruce Boynton after he was arrested for seeking service in a white restaurant.
James Meredith
First African American to attend the University of Mississippi. It caused the Old Miss Crisis
William L. Moore
White man from Baltimore and a CORE member started a march across the south promoting racial equality but was murdered in Gadsden Alabama. Diane Nash Bevel and others tried to complete his march but were repeatedly jailed and threatened.
Bob Moses
Harvard trained mathematician from Harlem who was inspired by the sit ins and later led the voter registration drives in rural Mississippi.
Diane Nash
Student from Fisk University who went through Lawson’s non-violence training. She confronted the Mayor of Nashville and got him to support desegregation and she led the later stages of the Freedom Rides despite pressure from the Kennedy Administration to stop.
Alabama Governor John Patterson
Governor who staunchly opposed desegregation in Alabama.
Jim Peck
Activist who was mercilessly beaten by a mob in Birmingham during the freedom rides.
Laurie Pritchett
Crafty police chief in Albany Georgia who outfoxed King and the SCLC by not responding to protests with violence and making it impossible for them to fill the jails by farming them out to other communities. He out non-violenced them.
A. Philip Randolph
Founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a leader in the Double V campaign and threatened a March on Washington which successfully pressured President Roosevelt to Desegregate federal contracting.
Frank Rose
President of Bama during desegregation
Bayard Rustin
Activist who encourage King to use Gandhian language and techniques. He was a leader in CORE and helped organize youth marches and the freedom rides. He is most notable for organizing the march on Washington but he has largely been written out of history due to his homosexuality.
John Seigenthaler
Assistant to John Doar. He was knocked unconscious while protecting Susan Wilbur from a mob in Montgomery. He later went on to be the editor of the Nashville Tennessean
Charles Sherrod
SNCC activist who led voter registration drives in south Georgia and helped lead the Albany Movement.
Fred Shuttlesworth
Founding member of the SCLC and activist in Birmingham. He survived multiple bombing attempts and was a fearless warrior for the movement. He was instrumental in both the freedom rides and the sit-ins
C.T. Vivian
Older minister and activist who was involved in both the Nashville sit-ins and the freedom rides
Wyatt Tee Walker
King’s right hand man. He was intelligent but could often be condescending and dismissive. He looked down on SNCC and used some choice profanity when King started in on his I have a dream speech.
Virgil Ware
Boy who was shot and killed by two teenage whites in Birmingham in the days following the 16th street bombings
Roy Wilkins
President of the NAACP from 1955-77. He was criticized for being too cautious and anti-communist by many grassroots activists
Bob Zellner
White civil rights activist from Mobile who debated George Wallace at Harvard University
Jim Zwerg
White student at Fisk who was one of the first freedom riders. He had his back broken by a Klansman in Montgomery.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The oldest of the organizations it was seen as weak and out of step by many. It focused more on litigation than direct action.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Founded by King and other religious leader out of the Montgomery Improvement Association it was a male driven christian organization
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Founded by students with the help of Ella Baker. It was led by John Lewis and was the most aggressive of the mainline Civil Rights Organizations.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Led by J. Edgar Hoover they actively worked to undermine Civil Rights, particularly King.
Ku Klux Klan
Working class white supremacist group that utilized violence to terrorize Civil Rights leaders. Earlier manifestations of the Klan were more concerned with Jews and Catholics than they were Blacks.
White Citizens’ Councils
Upper Class white supremacist group that was referred to as the Country Club Klan. It tended to utilize more passive resistance and was referred to as the Iron Fist in the velvet glove.
