Definitions
Activist: Someone who feels so strongly about an issue (like racial equality or ending bullying) that they are willing to take action to make a change. Activists spend time and energy learning more about a topic and sharing that knowledge with others. Activists speak up when they notice someone or something being treated unfairly.
Ally: A person willing to speak up or simply stand next to someone else (or a group of people) when they are being treated unfairly. An ally is also committed to learning and understanding more in order to help create changes.
Anti-Racism: Having beliefs (ideas) and acting in ways that show an appreciation for the importance of all races, ethnicities, and cultures. Anti-racism is something that people must continue to work on by learning about other races and making choices that make society fairer for everyone.
Anti-Racist: A person who’s beliefs, words, and actions show a commitment to being against racism. It includes believing that all racial groups are equals as well as thinking of and supporting changes in any rule that does not treat all groups fairly.
Assemble: Come together as a group.
Black Lives Matter: An international group, started within the Black-American community with campaigns against rules and actions that physically hurt Black people or treat them negatively.
Boycott: When people refuse to buy certain things, go to certain places, or do specific tasks in order to create changes in rules or actions that are hurting some people.
Cisgender: When your gender identity (how you feel in your body) matches the gender given to you at birth (typically boy or girl).
Civil Rights: A group of rights (things promised to you) that protect people’s ability to live life within a larger group (usually a country) without being treated unfairly because of things like skin color, gender, physical limitations, or religion. Civil rights include protecting people’s physical and emotional safety.
Courage: Doing something even when you know it will be hard.
Culture: The traditions, customs, arts, and achievements of a particular nation or group of people.
Demonstrate: Taking part in a public activity, such as a march, in order to show support for (or against) a specific cause (like Black Lives Matter or Improved Pay for Teachers).
Desegregation: Ending rules or actions that separate people of different races. In the United States this meant getting rid of things like separate bathrooms or water fountains for Black and White people. It also made it not okay to refuse to let a Black person do things like stay at a hotel or eat in restaurant.
Discrimination: When someone is treated unfairly or differently because they belong to a particular group. For example race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Diversity: This word simply means differences. It generally refers to differences in things like race, gender, religion, language, culture, or appearance.
Empathy: Feeling for what another person has experienced or is feeling themselves.
Endure: To continue on with something, even when it is hard.
Enslaved: The correct way to talk about slavery. It shows that slavery was something forced upon people. (No one ever chose to be enslaved. In fact, they were never given a choice.) It also reminds us to think about who all of these people were in their lives with family and friends.
Enslavers: The correct way to talk about someone who owned slaves. It was a choice to believe it was okay to own and poorly treat another human being.
Ethnicity: Things that a group of people share like having the same ancestors, speaking the same language, or sharing the same religion.
First Amendment: Part of the United States Bill of Rights (an important document in United State’s history) that says all people should be able to speak up if they are unhappy about something (freedom of speech); have their own beliefs about God (freedom of religion); come together in groups for things like protests (freedom of assembly); have things like newspapers that can print factual information and share peoples ideas and feelings (freedom of the press); and be able to ask the government to make changes to rules and laws (the right to petition).
Forced Assimilation: When one group of people are forced by another group to learn to act more like the second group. Some examples include learning a new language, living in similar homes, practicing a new religion, or following new traditions. The goal is to make people change their culture (what they believe, traditions, etc) to be more like those of the people who want to be in power (make all the rules).
Freedom Songs: Songs sung by participants in the Civil Rights Movement. These songs were often sung during protests and helped people feel part of a group. The songs also helped share what people were feeling, like sadness, joy, and courage. The music also helped to share the ideas and changes the Black community was fighting for.
Freedom Summer: Work done during the summer of 1964 to increase the number of Black men and women in Mississippi signed up to vote. Over 700 White people volunteered alongside Black volunteers to fight against rules and mean actions used to keep Black people from voting.
Gender Expression: The way someone shows their gender identity on the outside, for example hairstyles or clothing. However, you cannot actually know someones gender or pronouns by how they look. Every person is unique and has their own ideas about how to express themselves in their appearance.
Gender Identity: The gender (male or female) that shows how a person sees themselves instead of simply the gender given at birth.
Gospel Music: A form of religious music with roots in African American culture dating back to enslavement. The word gospel means good news.
Hijab: A head covering worn in public by some Muslim women as part of their tradition.
Immigrant: Someone who moves from their home country to a new country to live for a very long time (permanently).
Implicit Bias: Quick decisions we make about people without even knowing we have done it (these can be positive or negative). Some examples include deciding if someone is nice based upon the way they look, like the style of their hair, clothes, or the color of their skin.
Inclusivity: Welcoming and including every member of a group.
Internment camps: A place where the government forces a group of people to live; usually because that group is seen as unsafe in some way. People are forced to live in these camps without having actually done anything wrong. The United States used internment camps to house Japanese citizens during WWII.
Jim Crow: A set of laws in the South in the late 1800s-early 1900s that kept Black people separate from Whites in places like schools, transportation, restaurants, etc. The laws were also used to keep Black citizens from voting. They were named after an African American character in a song. The laws were made illegal with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Juneteenth: A holiday celebrated every June 19th to remember and honor the day in 1865 when word reached Galveston, TX that enslavement was illegal and African Americans could no longer be made the property of others.
Marginalize: Excluding or treating other people as though they don’t matter.
Movement: A group of people acting as one because of a shared belief.
Non-Binary Gender: People who don’t feel like the words “girl” or “boy” fit who they are. They may feel like they are some of each or perhaps not really boy or girl. They sometimes use pronouns such as they, them, or theirs instead of male or female.
Peaceful Protest: When a group of people come together, without doing any harm to other people or things, to show that they are for or against a specific idea, event, law, etc. For example: Black Lives Matter or Immigration Rights.
Prejudice: Creating ideas about someone we do not know based upon something like skin color or gender. Prejudices are generally negative.
Race: When people are grouped based upon certain physical characteristics, most commonly skin color.
Racism: The belief that a person’s personality, behavior, & values is based solely upon their race. It is also the belief that one group of people are better than another.
Reparations: The process of making things right for something wrong you have done. This often looks like paying money or finding other ways to help those you have hurt. This term is often talked about in thinking of how to make things right for ancestors of those who were enslaved.
Resist: To fight against or oppose.
Segregation: Separating one group of people from another; often based upon race. Segregation happens when a society views one group of people as better than another. The goal is to keep the “lesser” people away from the “superior” group. This is often done by treating the other group poorly and denying them basic civil rights.
Sexism: Treating someone differently, usually in a negative way, based upon their gender. It is most often used in talking about stereotypes and negative treatment of women.
Sexual Orientation: Who you are attracted to (find cute, have a crush on, etc) or love.
Slavery: See enslaved.
Systemic Racism: Rules and behaviors within a business or group that treat people of color negatively. This can impact things like where someone lives, how much money they make, access to clean water, and the kinds of interactions they have with police and the law.
Transgender: When someone feels that the gender (male or female) given to them at birth does not match who they really are. For example when someone is born and assigned the gender of being a girl but grows to understand and identify as male.
Unconscious (Implicit) Bias: Ideas in our minds about how people will act based only on their race. The ideas shape how we think without us even realizing it’s happening.
Underground Railroad: A set of secret routes, homes, and places to hide used to help the enslaved escape from the southern states to northern states and Canada.
Voter Suppression: Rules and actions used to lower the number of voters of a certain group (in the United States it has historically been Black voters) by discouraging or preventing them from voting.
White Privilege: The ways in which White people have an easier time in life simply because of the color of their skin.
Women’s Rights: Work done to make sure that women have the same freedoms and opportunities as men.
Zealous: Showing strong emotions and support towards a cause or activity.