primary source
Evidence created at the time: a letter, photograph, law, speech, map, or newspaper. It gets us close to the moment, but it still has a point of view.
glossary.
the terms that keep showing up in class, all in one place.
50 terms showing
US History
class materials →reconstruction
The post–Civil War project to rebuild the South and define freedom. Its amendments changed the Constitution; its retreat shaped the next century.
sharecropping
Farming someone else’s land for a share of the crop, usually while debt kept growing. Freedom with fine print in the postwar South.
jim crow
The legal system of racial segregation built after Reconstruction. It was law and policy, not simply custom.
gilded age
Mark Twain’s name for the late 1800s: gold on the surface, cheaper metal underneath. Railroads, fortunes, political machines, and the people who built all of it.
muckraker
An investigative journalist of the Progressive Era. The word began as an insult and became a job description.
great migration
The movement of roughly six million Black Americans from the South to northern and western cities during the twentieth century. Detroit is one chapter of that story.
new deal
FDR’s response to the Great Depression: relief, recovery, and reform. Historians still argue over how well it worked and whom it left out.
containment
The Cold War strategy of stopping Soviet influence from expanding without starting a direct war between nuclear powers.
civil disobedience
Publicly and nonviolently breaking an unjust law, then accepting the consequences in order to expose the injustice.
credibility gap
The distance between what officials said and what the public learned was true. The phrase became famous during the Vietnam War.
redlining
Government-backed maps and lending rules that denied mortgages and investment to neighborhoods based largely on race.
Hidden History
class materials →primary source
Evidence from the time itself: a memo, photograph, recording, front page, report, or court record.
corroboration
Independent evidence that supports the same claim. One source begins a case; unrelated sources agreeing make it stronger.
declassified
Officially released from government secrecy. It proves the document is authentic, not that every sentence in it is accurate.
redaction
Information hidden from a released document, usually with black bars. A redaction is missing information, not proof of what was removed.
foia
The Freedom of Information Act, which allows people to request records from the federal government.
misinformation
False information shared by someone who believes it is true.
disinformation
False information spread deliberately by someone who knows it is false.
confirmation bias
The pull toward evidence that agrees with what you already believe and away from evidence that does not.
burden of proof
The person making a claim is responsible for supporting it. Other people do not have to disprove an unsupported claim.
whistleblower
An insider who exposes wrongdoing, often using records or firsthand testimony.
cover-up
A documented effort to hide wrongdoing or information. Real cover-ups leave records, witnesses, contradictions, or other evidence behind.
unproven
A verdict used when reliable evidence is not strong enough to confirm or debunk a claim.
falsifiability
The ability of a claim to be tested and possibly proven wrong. If no discovery could ever count against it, the claim cannot be meaningfully tested.
occam’s razor
When several explanations fit the evidence, begin with the one that requires the fewest unsupported assumptions.
apophenia
The human tendency to see meaningful patterns in unrelated or random information.
motivated reasoning
Starting with the conclusion you want and working backward to find reasons to support it.
two-source rule
The practice of requiring two independent sources before treating an important claim as established.
lateral reading
Checking a source by leaving it and seeing what independent sources say about the author, organization, and claim.
hindsight bias
The feeling that an event was obvious or inevitable after you already know how it ended.
cover story
A false public explanation created to hide a real operation, event, or purpose.
Beyond the Scoreboard
class materials →the color line
The written and unwritten rules that excluded Black athletes from white leagues for decades.
reserve clause
The contract rule that tied a player to one team, preventing the player from freely negotiating with another club.
free agency
A player’s right to negotiate a contract with other teams after meeting the league’s eligibility rules.
amateurism
The idea that athletes, especially college athletes, should compete without being directly paid for their play.
title ix
The 1972 federal law barring sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
nil
Name, image, and likeness: a college athlete’s ability to earn money from endorsements, appearances, and other uses of their identity.
barnstorming
Touring from town to town to play exhibition games, often outside an established league schedule.
boycott
Refusing to participate in order to pressure an institution, government, league, or business to change.
broadcast rights
Permission purchased by a network or platform to show games. These deals are one of the largest sources of league revenue.
sanctioning body
An organization that sets and enforces rules for a sport, such as a league, the NCAA, or the IOC.
mirror or engine
The course question: does sport mainly reflect changes already happening in America, or does it help cause those changes?
unwritten rule
A rule enforced by a group even though it does not appear in the official rulebook.
parallel institution
An organization built by excluded people when established institutions shut them out, such as the Negro Leagues.
rights fees
The money a network or platform pays a league for permission to broadcast its games.
conscientious objector
A person who refuses military service on moral or religious grounds. Muhammad Ali claimed this status in 1967.
ped
Performance-enhancing drug: a substance used to improve strength, endurance, recovery, or another part of athletic performance.
commissioner power
The authority of a league commissioner to make decisions in what the office considers the best interests of the sport.
gatekeeper
A person or institution that controls who gets access, attention, or coverage: leagues, owners, sportswriters, networks, and platforms.
no match yet. try a shorter word or switch back to all classes.