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| Abraham Lincoln |
the 16th President of the United States (1861-1865), who was Commander-in-Chief of the Union troops during the American Civil War and who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, thus bringing an end to slavery in the United States (b.1809--d.1865). |
| ACLU |
abbreviation of "American Civil Liberties Union," an organization that works to defend and preserve the civil rights of citizens in the United States. |
| American Civil Liberties Union |
an organization that works to defend and preserve the civil rights of citizens in the United States. |
| antebellum |
in or of the period prior to a war, esp. the American Civil War. (Cf. postbellum.) |
| attainder |
in law, the loss of civil rights following conviction for a major crime, esp. treason. |
| attaint |
to inflict the loss of civil rights on (someone) following conviction for a major crime. [2 definitions] |
| Bloody Sunday |
March 7, 1965, the day on which American civil rights activists, led by John Lewis and others, marched onto the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama and were beaten and tear-gassed by waiting police officers and deputies on the other side. |
| bluecoat |
one who wears a blue coat or uniform, esp. a police officer or a Union soldier in the U.S. Civil War. |
| carpetbagger |
a Northerner who went to the South to seek private gain in the aftermath of the American Civil War, usu. depicted as carrying his belongings in a carpetbag. [1/2 definitions] |
| civilian |
of or pertaining to civil life or to civilians; not of the military or police. [1/2 definitions] |
| civilized |
educated or refined; not impulsive or destructive; socialized or civil. |
| Civil Rights Act |
in the U.S., any of several laws intended to protect civil rights, esp. the landmark law passed by Congress in 1964 that aimed to protect the constitutional right of all citizens to vote and to prevent racial discrimination in places of employment, public facilities, public accommodations, and the like. |
| Civil Rights Movement |
a movement in the United States particularly prominent during the 1950s and 1960s that sought to end racial discrimination, legal segregation of blacks and whites, and racial barriers to voting. The movement was led by black leaders such as Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, and James Farmer. It mobilized tens of thousands of African Americans in protest against existing laws and practices. Activists, both black and white, endured harassment and violence from the police and others as the movement progressed. Eventually, the American civil rights movement brought about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and other measures. [2 definitions] |
| civil servant |
one who works for a civil service; that is, one who works within a branch of government administration other than legislative, judicial, or military. Civil servants are not elected or appointed; they are hired based on merit, often as judged by an exam. |
| civil service |
collectively, the people employed in these civil branches of government. [1/3 definitions] |
| common-law marriage |
a marriage not contracted through a religious or civil ceremony but recognized as legal after the partners have lived together for a legally specified period of time. |
| confederate |
(cap.) a person or state allied with the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. [1/6 definitions] |
| contraband |
during the American Civil War, a slave under the Confederacy who fled to or was taken into territory occupied by Union forces. Such fugitive slaves were, in a sense, free, in that they were not returned by the Union to Confederate slave owners. Instead, however, they were declared captured enemy war materials, or "contraband of war." Thousands of contrabands worked as paid, though exploited, laborers for the Union. [1/5 definitions] |
| copperhead |
(cap.) during the U.S. Civil War, a Northerner who sympathized with the South. [1/2 definitions] |
| court of common pleas |
in some U.S. states, a court having general jurisdiction over civil suits. |
| criminal |
of, pertaining to, or having the nature of crime, esp. as opposed to civil violations. [1/4 definitions] |
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