AFSCME

AFSCME stands for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a labor union for state, county, and municipal employees. Sanitation workers are among those it represents. That's its relevance. Next.

Birmingham campaign

One of the major episodes in the Civil Rights Movement; a nonviolent protest against segregation and general racist nastiness. Went down in 1963. It was the SCLC and its Birmingham buddies against Bull (yes, "Bull") Connor, Commissioner of White Safety—uh, we mean Public Safety—for Birmingham, AL.

After lots of adults were arrested, the SCLC put together a march of kids and older students. As it turned out, the country didn't love seeing footage of children being sprayed with fire hoses and attacked by police dogs—maybe there is some decency left in the world—so President Kennedy soon backed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Black Power

Black Power is a rallying cry and assertion of strength. Influenced by Malcolm X, the notion of Black Power arose out of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee as a counterpoint to the SCLC's comparative hug-a-thon of nonviolence and interracial alliances, which some SNCC members regarded as ineffective at creating actual (as opposed to just legal and symbolic) change.

The basic tenet of Black Power was that Black people know what's best for Black people and they can neither wait for nor trust white people to hand it to them. Ergo, they need to get some power and make some things happen. The Black Power folks saw the SCLC types as a bunch of askers, and they thought it was high time to be takers. Warp over to our "Timeline" section for more.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Signed by President Lyndon Johnson with MLK looking on, it made various forms of segregation and discrimination illegal, including discrimination in hiring and terms of employment (responsibilities, salary, benefits, etc.). However, like that kid in your preschool class who always took two cookies at snack time, the racists didn't think the rules applied to them. Surprise, surprise. Check out the "Timeline" entry for more info.

Civil Rights Movement

We, uh, hope you know at least a little about this, because otherwise…it's gonna be a long slog. But here's a tweetish-sized refresher.

Civil rights activism has a long history (and includes stuff like women's suffrage and LGBTQ rights), but "Civil Rights Movement" usually refers to what happened between about 1955 and 1968, when large numbers of African Americans got big-time serious about demanding all the same rights and privileges as white folks, and the government finally started backing them up. Or…moving them forward. Or both.

Anyway, after lots of legwork, both legal and actual—lots of marching, lots of bus-riding, lots of suit-filing, lots of jail-sitting and sitting-in, and, unfortunately, lots of dying—racial segregation and many kinds of discrimination were overturned and voting rights were secured. Er…technically, anyway.

Colonialism

While discussing the global spread of human rights, MLK refers to the breakdown of colonial rule across the world, which is a topic big enough for its own guide (and of course Shmoop has your back). In the 18th and 19th centuries, European countries loved going over to Africa, Asia, and the Mideast and deciding that all those natural resources would be pretty cool to have. So they brought those countries under their governmental authority, stole all their stuff, and left themselves in charge. That's colonialism.

Injunction

An injunction is a court order that gives instructions, that is, it says either "you're doing a major no-no, so quit it" or "if this isn't done by the time we count to three, you'll be in big trouble, buster." Either way, it's not a suggestion.

Nonviolence

MLK's philosophy of resistance. Has a long history, particularly in Eastern thought, but one highly simplified modern lineage would go Thoreau → Tolstoy → Gandhi → MLK, with MLK's version derived in large part from the Christian doctrine of loving everyone, including enemies. Especially enemies.

Nonviolence obviously means being nonviolent (thanks, Shmoop), but in our case, it specifically refers to nonviolent political action: creating big spectacles or breaking unjust laws (e.g., by occupying segregated spaces). All this was done while refusing to hurt anyone or fight back if hurt. It led to scenes of police clubbing marchers who refused to fight back. It made the country sick to watch that.

Nuclear proliferation

King alludes to this issue in paragraph 11. "Proliferate" = increase in number, become widely distributed (to many different countries); "nuclear" = Very Large Bombs. If you're thinking those two things are about as good together as toothpaste and orange juice…congratulations, you're smarter than a lot of world leaders.

Promised Land

King's talking about the original Promised Land, which was a land God had promised to the descendants of Abraham.

Sure, he could have saddled them with some shoddy bog—"promised" doesn't necessarily mean "good," and God was a bit of a lawyer—but one of The Perks of Being a Chosen People is that the Promised Land is a magical kingdom of "milk and honey," freedom and spiritual fulfillment, somehow even better than The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. You don't even have to run through a wall to get there, though you do have to wander in the desert for forty years. So maybe not a deal?

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Civil rights organization founded in 1957 after the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Helped various local civil rights groups, which were often rooted in the Black church(es) (that would be the "Christian" part), with planning initiatives and training activists in nonviolent resistance (that would be the "leadership" part). King was a founder of the SCLC and its first president; apart from the North Ridgeborough Senior High School Martin Luther King, Jr. Gospel Choir, it's the group with which he's most closely associated.

War on Poverty

The War on Poverty was a suite of legislation passed in 1964–65 during LBJ's administration. It included the Economic Opportunity Act, which created several federal initiatives to alleviate poverty; the Food Stamp Act, which made the food stamps program permanent; the Social Security Act of 1965, which created Medicare and Medicaid; and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provided federal funding to impoverished schools.

Voilà: the Four Horsemen of the Apovertycalypse.