Reconstruction Vocabulary
Vocabulary Term
NAACP
Discrimination
Racial
Segregation
Poll Tax
Definition
* the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
* Challenged segregation laws
* Fought for equal rights for blacks
treating someone unfairly because of their race, gender, religion, or place of birth
having to do with someone's race (i.e. color of their skin)
separation of groups of people, especially by race
money that a person must pay before they could vote (used to discriminate
against Blacks)
Literacy Test
a test requiring a person to prove they could read and write in order to vote (used
to discriminate against Blacks)
Grandfather
Clauses
allowed a person to vote if their grandfather had voted before Reconstruction
began (used if the person failed the literacy test)
Jim Crow
laws
Lynching
Prejudice
Exodusters
Amendment
laws enforcing segregation in the South after the Civil War
killing a person by a mob without a trial
an unfair opinion not based on facts (to judge someone before you know the truth
about them)
freed slaves who moved to Kansas to escape the racism of the South
a change to the constitution
Moving West Vocabulary
Vocabulary Word
Definition
Ore
A mineral mined for the valuable substance it contains, such as silver
Subsidy
Money from the government given to a person or a company for an action intended to
benefit the public
Transcontinental
Extending across a continent
Open range
Land not fenced or divided into lots
Vaquero
Hispanic ranch hand
Homestead
To acquire a piece of U.S. public land by living on and farming it for 5 years
Sodbuster
A name given to a plains farmer
Dry farming
A way of farming dry land in which seeds are planted deep in the ground where there is
some moisture
Nomadic
Moving from place to place with no permanent home
Reservation
An area of public lands set aside for Native Americans
Industrialization Vocabulary Words
1. Industrial Revolution – the era in which a change took place from household industries to factory
production using powered machinery
2. agrarian society – a society based on farming (agriculture) for its economic basis (the way it makes money)
3. industrial society – a society based on industry (big business) for its economic basis
4. specialized industries – industries that deal with specific products such as meat-packing or steel
5. “captains of industry” – leaders of big business/ industries such as John D. Rockefeller & Andrew Carnegie
6. urbanization – having to do with cities or towns
7. mechanization – replace people or animals by machinery
8. organized labor – groups of workers from the same line of work, such as printers, joined together to
promote their business
9. merit system – a system that rewards jobs to people according to worth or value
Immigration Vocabulary Words
Term
Definition
assimilate
to absorb a small group of people into the culture of a larger population
emigrate
to leave one’s homeland to live elsewhere
ethnic group
a minority that speaks a different language or follows different customs than the majority
of people in a country
ghetto
a part of a city in which a minority group lives because of social or economic pressure
passport
a document issued by a citizen’s home government that identifies a person and allows
them to travel to other countries
pogroms
organized and often violent persecutions of minority groups
quota
a limit based on numbers or percentage
refugees
people who flee their homes or countries because of war, persecution, or other causes
settlement house
institution located in a poor neighborhood that provided many community services such
as medical care, child care, libraries, and classes in English
slum
poor, crowded, and run-down urban neighborhoods
steerage
cramped quarters on a ship’s lower decks for passengers paying the lowest fares
suburb
residential areas that sprang up close to cities as a result of improvements in
transportation
sweatshop
a shop or factory where workers work long hours at low wages under unhealthy
conditions
tenement
a building in which several families rent rooms or apartments, often with little sanitation
or safety
Progressive Era Vocabulary
1.
18TH
TERMS
Amendment
2. 19th Amendment
3. American Federation of
Labor
4. Child labor
5. Homestead Strike
6. Organized labor
7. Progressives
8. Prohibition
9. Reform
10. Restriction
11. Strike
12. Suffrage
13. Temperance
14. Unions
15. Wages
DEFINITIONS IN YOUR OWN WORDS
Change in the U.S. Constitution that outlawed making, buying and
selling alcoholic beverages
Change in the U.S. Constitution that gave women the right to vote in all
states
An organization of workers (labor union) that focused on helping
workers gain higher wages and better working conditions
Situation in which children worked like adults in factories
Labor dispute in 1892 when steelworkers lost union help
(representation) until the 1930’s
Groups of workers who bargain together (united) for better work
situations
Followers of the movement that called for reform of social problems
such as slums
Forbidding by law of the making or selling of alcoholic beverages
To make something better by change
To limit or not allow something (ex: rules or boundaries)
To make or achieve a balance or bargain by refusing to work
The right to vote
Totally avoiding alcoholic beverages; moderate use of a controlled
substance
Organizations of wage-earners formed for the purpose of helping
members with gaining better wages and working conditions
Money earned/ Pay for a job
Imperialism/World War I Vocab
Terms
Anarchy
Annexation
“Big Stick Diplomacy”
Dollar Diplomacy
Expansionism
Guam
Imperialism
Internationalism
Isolationism
Isthmus
Open-Door Policy
Possession (territory)
Protectorate
Rough Riders
Definitions in your own words
Disorder and lawlessness
Bringing an area under the control of a larger country
International policy of Theodore Roosevelt when he stated that the United
States should, “Walk softly but carry a big stick”: included military
intervention for our neighbors and allies.
The policy of joining the business interests of a country with its diplomatic
interests abroad.
A policy that calls for expanding a nation’s boundaries (EXPANDING)
Island in the Western Pacific, east of the Philippines and owned by the United
States
The actions used by one nation to exercise political or economic control over
smaller or weaker nations
Principle of international cooperation for the good of all nations
A national policy of avoiding involvement in world affairs
A narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas (such as continents)
A policy that allowed each foreign nation in China to trade freely in the other
nations’ spheres of influence
Territory under the rule of a country
A country that is technically independent but is actually under the control of
another country
Members of a volunteer cavalry regiment commanded by Theodore Roosevelt
and Leonard Wood during the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
Spheres of Influence
World Power
Yellow Journalism
War between Spain and the United States in 1898, fought chiefly in Cuba and
the Philippines
Sections of a country where one foreign nation enjoys special rights and
powers
Nation having such military or other power as to be able to exert a decisive
influence on the course of world affairs
Writing which exaggerates sensational, dramatic, and gruesome events to
attract readers, named for stories that were popular during the late 1800’s; A
type of sensational, biased, and often false reporting
Twenties Vocabulary
Term
Definition
Assembly line
An arrangement of workers, machines, and equipment in which the product
being assembled passes from operation to operation until completed
Bootleggers
People who transported or sold illegal liquor during the Prohibition era of the
1920s
Flapper
A young woman in the 1920s who rebelled against how society thought she
should behave and dress
Great Migration north
Movement of African Americans from the South to the North in search of
better jobs and less discrimination in the early 20th century
Harlem Renaissance
A flowering of African American art, poetry, and writing during the 1920s,
centered in the New York City neighborhood known as Harlem
“Jazz Age”
Mass Media
Prohibition
“Roaring 20s”
The period in American history when African and European musical
traditions blended, creating the unique American music known as jazz;
famous jazz musicians were Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis
Armstrong
Types of communication that reach lots of people (radio, newspaper,
magazines)
Law against the making or selling alcohol or alcoholic beverages. The term
also applies to the period of history between 1920 and 1933 when the
making and selling of alcoholic beverages was forbidden by the 18th
Amendment
Phrase used to describe the drastic changes in the United States during the
1920s; major changes included social (fashion), economic (big business),
and civic (laws)
Speakeasies
Illegal saloons that sprang up across the United States following the passage
of the 18th Amendment in 1919, beginning a 14-year period of Prohibition
Temperance Movement
The campaign to outlaw the making and consumption of alcoholic beverages
Great Depression Vocabulary
Vocabulary Word
Definition
Default
to not do something you were supposed to do (like pay a bill)
Relief
help for the needy (like jobs or money)
Public Works
projects like highways, parks, and libraries that are built using tax money
Great Depression
(p. 725)
the severe economic crisis that happened during the 1930s
Hoovervilles
(p. 727)
shanty towns (built out of boxes, tents, etc) during the Great Depression named for
President Hoover because he didn't help to fix the Great Depression
Subsidy
money the government gives to a person or company so that they will eventually help
others
Work Relief
programs that gave unemployed people jobs
New Deal
the ideas that FDR came up with and that Congress approved to help solve the
problems of the Great Depression
Dust Bowl
the name given to the area of the southern Great Plain that suffered from a lack of rain
(drought) and dust storms
Migrant Worker
a person who moves from place to place to find work picking fruits and vegetables
Federal Reserve
a federal agency that regulates banking
Pension
money paid to a person on a regular basis, usually after they retire
Stock
shares of ownership in a company which can be bought and sold for money
Credit/Margin
a form of a loan; borrowing money that will be paid back later with interest
World War II Vocabulary
Vocabulary Word
Blitzkrieg
Invasion
Poland
Battle of Britain
Definition
Term for Germany's fast, violent attacks during World War II (means: "lightning war")
Entering by force as an enemy in order to conquer
The first nation invaded by Germany; the event that started World War II
Germany’s attempt to conquer Great Britain. It started when Germany began bombing London in
1941
Pearl Harbor
Battle of
Stalingrad
D-Day
Battle of Midway
Kamikaze
Hiroshima &
Nagasaki
Democracy
The Japanese attack on the United States naval fleet in Hawaii that brought the United States into
World War II in December of 1941.
The war in Europe reached a turning point when Russia defeated Germany near Stalingrad in 1943
June 6, 1944; Allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France to liberate (free) western Europe
The war in the Pacific reached a turning point with the Allied victory near Midway
A Japanese suicide pilot during World War II whose mission was to crash into his target
The two Japanese cities on which the United States dropped atomic bombs to end World War II in
1945
A type of government controlled by citizens either directly or through elected
representatives
Totalitarian
A type of government that controls most parts of people’s lives, & the people can’t
complain
Fascism
A type of government, run by one person (dictator), that requires the people of the
country to be extremely loyal and is often racist
Communism
An economic and social system in which most or all property is owned by the state or
community as a whole and is shared by all
Nazism
A policy of racist nationalist, national expansion, and state control of the economy
practiced by the Nazis in Germany
A leader who completely rules a country; they are usually cruel
Dictator
Accepting a person’s or a country’s demands in order to avoid a fight or a war
Appeasement
Lend-Lease
Law passed during World War II that allowed the US to sell, lend, or lease war
supplies to nations that would defend the US
To limit the distribution of scarce items
Ration
Belief that Caucasian, non-Jewish people are superior to all other people
Aryan
Supremacy
Cold War Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Word
Definition
Cold War
the global struggle for power and influence between the United States and
the Soviet Union that followed World War II
bipolar
containment
organized around two opposite extremes
(EX: U.S. capitalism as opposed to Soviet communism)
the U.S. policy of fighting the spread of communism by limiting it to
countries where it already existed
arms race
a competition to develop more and more powerful weapons
proxy wars
wars in which the superpowers backed different sides that acted as
substitutes (proxies) for the superpowers themselves
iron curtain
airlift
demilitarized
zone
the political and military barrier that isolated Soviet-controlled countries
of Eastern Europe after World War II
a system of transporting food and supplies by aircraft into an area
otherwise impossible to reach
a region where no military forces or weapons are permitted
blacklist
list of persons who are disapproved of and are punished, such as by being
refused jobs
Domino
theory
the belief that if one nation in Asia fell to the Communists, neighboring
countries would follow
subversion
An attempt to overthrow the government by people working secretly from
within
CIVIL RIGHTS
1.
Montgomery bus boycott started the civil rights movement and led to integrated buses
2.
Plessy v Ferguson 1896 Supreme Court case that legalized segregation
3.
Brown v Board of Education 1954 Supreme Court case that overturned the Plessy case and it stated
that “separate but equal” facilities are unequal therefore unconstitutional.
4.
Civil Rights Act of 1964 legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion,
gender, or national origin.
5.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 legislation that outlawed discrimination at state and local levels that
prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. It specifically outlawed poll taxes and
literacy tests.
6.
Freedom Riders 1961 civil rights activists who rode buses into the segregated southern States to
challenge the non-enforcement of the federal government to uphold integration of interstate buses
7.
Little Rock, Arkansas- The Little Rock Nine Central High School in Little Rock became the focus of
the country in 1957 when the school did not allow nine Af. Americans to integrate the school.
President Eisenhower had to intervene and send in the 101st Airborne Division to insure the safety of
these students.
8.
March on Washington A political rally led by Dr. King in 1963, site of famous, “I have a dream”
speech, where Dr. King spoke out for jobs, freedom, racial justice and equality.
9.
Non-violent protest Dr. King advocated for this type of passive protest as opposed to violent
protest. Examples are: freedom riders, sit-ins and boycotts
10.
Jim Crow laws state and local laws that were put in place after Reconstruction that segregated
whites from blacks. Ex. restrooms, restaurants, water fountains, etc.
11.
Civil disobedience a form of non-violent protest it is the refusal to comply with laws that are
deemed racially unjust. Ex. boytcotts, picketing, nonpayment of poll taxes. etc.
12.
NAACP Founded in 1909 this civil rights organization is still around today and it works for the
elimination of racial discrimination by lobbying, taking legal action, and education.
13.
Sit-in an example of non-violent protest where participants occupy a place as a form of protest
14.
Boycott an example of non-violent protest where participants refuse to buy or use certain goods
or services
15.
Thurgood Marshall the grandson of a slave, Thurgood Marshall was an attorney on the Brown v.
Board of Education case in 1954 and later became the first African American on the Supreme Court.
16.
Rosa Parks civil rights activist who began the Montgomery, Alabama successful bus boycott in
1955
Modern America Vocab
1. Segregation: The separation or isolation of a race, class or group
2. Integration: The end of the policy or custom of segregation; Inclusion of people of all races, on an equal
basis in schools, parks, neighborhoods, employment, etc.
3. Domestic policy: relating to a nation's internal affairs: having to do with the internal affairs (issues of
the nation at home) of a nation or country
4. Foreign policy: decisions a government makes that deal with or become involved with a country or
countries other than its own
5. Communications: Any system by which we send information or materials from one place or person to
another, including by telephone, telegraph, television, radio, internet, etc.
6. Manhattan Project: The project organized by the U.S. government in 1942 to produce the first atomic
bomb. This project led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan to end WWII.
7. Transistor: A small electronic device containing semiconductors such as germanium or silicon, used
instead of a vacuum tube to amplify or control the flow of electrons in an electric circuit
8. Franchising: Selling or buying the privilege or right to sell the products of a manufacturer in a given area
9. Passive: Being acted on without acting in return; not resisting
10. Non-violent: Not violent; peaceful; the belief in the use of peaceful methods to achieve any goal
11. Freedom Rider: a civil rights activist who, during the early 1960s, joined one of the interracial groups
riding buses through parts of the southern United States to protest against racial segregation
12. Sit-in: The act of occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment as a form of organized
protest
13. Title IX: Law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1972 that states: No person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination
under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance
14. Legislation: the making of laws; the laws made by a legislature or legislator
15. Boycott: To refuse to buy items from a particular country (or company); to refuse to use in order to show
disapproval or force acceptance of one’s terms