Important Historical Terms and Organizations

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court case that ruled that "separate but equal".

Young Men's Christian Association

Organization that promoted muscular Christianity, combining evangelism with athletic facilities.

Negro Leagues

All-African American professional baseball teams.

Sierra Club

Organization that preserved and enjoyed America's great mountains and wilderness environments.

National Park Service

Agency that provided oversight of the growing system of national parks.

Comstock Act

Law that prohibited circulation of "obscene literature" defined as including most information about sex and birth control.

Liberal Arts

Form of education where students chose from a range of electives, shaping their own curriculum.

Atlanta Compromise

Urged whites and African Americans to work together for the progress of all.

Maternalism

Belief that women should contribute to civic and political life through their special talents as mothers.

Women's Christian Temperance Union

An organization advocating the prohibition of liquor.

National Association of Colored Women

Arranged for the care of orphans, found homes for the elderly, and public health campaigns.

National American Woman Suffrage Association

Organization formed by the joining of the National Woman Suffrage Association.

Feminism

Ideology that women should work on behalf of others, but also for their own equal rights.

Natural Selection

Theory that the features of an organism that help it survive are likely to be passed on to other generations.

Realism

Artistic movement in which writers and painters sought to show life as it is rather than life as it should be.