African American Movements and Debates Glossary

The artistic and literary wing of the Black Power movement (1960s-1970s), emphasizing Black aesthetics, cultural pride, and self-definition. Key figures: Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Larry Neal.

Intellectual and political tradition asserting that Black women experience interconnected oppressions of race, gender, and class that cannot be addressed by either mainstream feminism or Black liberation movements alone. Key texts: Combahee River Collective Statement, works by bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins.

Political philosophy advocating racial solidarity, self-determination, and the creation of separate Black political, economic, and cultural institutions. Ranges from cultural nationalism to territorial separatism.

FBI Counter Intelligence Program (1956-1971) that covertly surveilled, infiltrated, and disrupted domestic political organizations, disproportionately targeting Black civil rights and Black Power groups.

De jure segregation is enforced by law (Jim Crow). De facto segregation exists through practice, custom, and institutional arrangements (redlining, housing discrimination) without explicit legal mandate. The civil rights movement initially targeted de jure segregation; de facto segregation proved harder to dismantle.

Integrated bus rides through the South organized by CORE and SNCC to test the enforcement of Supreme Court rulings desegregating interstate bus travel. Riders faced severe violence, which generated national attention and federal enforcement.

Framework coined by Kimberle Crenshaw (1989) describing how overlapping social identities (race, gender, class, sexuality) create interconnected systems of discrimination. Rooted in Black feminist thought, particularly the Combahee River Collective.

The system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement enforced by law in the Southern United States from the 1870s through the 1960s. Named after a minstrel character, Jim Crow encompassed segregated facilities, voter suppression, and racially discriminatory laws.

The dramatic expansion of the U.S. prison population since the 1970s, disproportionately affecting Black communities. Michelle Alexander's 'The New Jim Crow' (2010) argues it functions as a new racial caste system perpetuated through the War on Drugs.

A strategy of opposing injustice through peaceful means -- sit-ins, boycotts, marches, civil disobedience -- while refusing to respond to violence with violence. Central to the civil rights movement as theorized by King, drawing on Gandhi and Thoreau.

The intellectual and political movement advocating solidarity among people of African descent worldwide. Key proponents: W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah. Influenced both African independence movements and African American cultural identity.

The requirement under the Voting Rights Act that jurisdictions with histories of voting discrimination obtain federal approval before changing their voting laws. Effectively gutted by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder (2013).

The strategy of marginalized groups policing their own members' behavior to conform to mainstream standards in order to gain acceptance. Criticized for placing the burden of racism on its victims rather than on racist structures.