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Civil Rights and Public Policy
Chapter 5 of Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry
25
Civics
12th Grade
09/08/2012

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Term
civil rights
Definition
policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals
Term
Fourteenth Amendment
Definition
the constitutional amendment adopted after the Civil War that states, "no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge theprivileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"
Term
equal protection of laws
Definition
part of the Fourteenth Amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent "protection" to all people
Term
Scott v. Sandford
Definition
the 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories
Term
Thirteenth Amendment
Definition
the constitutional amendment ratified after the Civil War that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude
Term
Plessy v. Ferguson
Definition
an 1896 Supreme Court decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring "equal but separate accommodations for the White and colored races" was constitutional
Term
Brown v. Board of Education
Definition
  • the 1954 Supreme Court decision holding that school segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection
  • marked the end of legal segregation in the United States
Term
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Definition
the law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbade many forms of job discrimination
Term
suffrage
Definition
  • the legal right to vote
  • extended to African Americans by the Fifteenth Amendment
  • given to women by the Nineteenth Amendment
  • awarded to people over the age of 18 by the Twenty-sixth Amendment
Term
Fifteenth Amendment
Definition
the consitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans
Term
poll taxes
Definition
  • small taxes levied on the right to vote that often fell due at a time of year when poor African American sharecroppers had the least cash on hand
  • used by most Southern states to exclude African Americans from voting
  • declared void by the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964
Term
White primary
Definition
  • one of the means used to discourage African American voting that permitted political parties in the heavily Democratic South to exclude African Americans from primary elections, thus depriving them of a voice in the real contests
  • declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1944
Term
Twenty-fourth Amendment
Definition
the constitutional amendment passed in 1964 that declared poll taxes void in federal elections
Term
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Definition
  • a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage
  • resulted in hundreds of thousands of newly registered African Americans and a dramatic increase in the number of African American elected officials
Term
Hernandez v. Texas
Definition
a 1954 Supreme Court decision that extended protection against discrimination to Hispanics
Term
Korematsu v. United States
Definition
a 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments during World War II
Term
Nineteenth Amendment
Definition
the constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote
Term
Equal Rights Amendment
Definition
  • a constitutional amendment originally introduced in Congress in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972, stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex"
  • failed to acquire the necessary suport from three-fourths of the state legislatures despite public support
Term
Reed v. Reed
Definition
the landmark case in 1971 in which the Supreme Court for the first time upheld a claim of gender discrimination
Term
Craig v. Boren
Definition
Supreme Court established in 1976 the "medium scrutiny"  standard for determining gender discrimination
Term
comparable worth
Definition
the issue raised when women who hold traditionally female jobs are paid less than men for working at jobs requiring comparable skill
Term
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Definition
a law passed in 1990 that requires employers and public facilities to make "reasonable accomodations" for people with disabilites and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment
Term
affirmative action
Definition
a policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvantaged groups
Term
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Definition
a 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals soley because of their race
Term
Adarand Constructors v. Pena
Definition
a 1995 Supreme Court decision holding that federal programs that classify people by race, even for an ostensibly benign purpose such as expanding opportunities for minorities, should be presumed unconstitutional
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