Chapter 5: Civil Rights Flashcards
The use of any unreasonable and unjust criterion or exclusion
Discrimination
Obligation imposed on government to take positive action to protect citizens from any illegal action of government agencies and of other private citizens
Civil rights
Provision of the 14th amendment guaranteeing citizens “the equal protection of the laws.”
This clause has been the basis of civil rights of African Americans, women, and other groups
Equal protection clause
One of three Civil War amendments; it abolished slavery
13th amendment
One of the three Civil War amendments;
that guaranteed equal protection and due process
14th amendment
One of the three Civil War amendments;
It guaranteed voting rights for African American men
15th amendment
Laws enacted by Southern states following Reconstruction that discriminated against African Americans
Jim Crow laws
Doctrine that public accommodations could be segregated by race but still be considered equal
“Separate but equal” rule
The 1954 Supreme Court decision that struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine as fundamentally unequal;
this case eliminated state power to use race as a criterion of discrimination in law and provided the national government with power to intervene by exercising strict regulatory policies against discriminatory actions
Brown v. board of education
A test used by the Supreme Court in racial discrimination cases and other cases involving civil liberties and civil rights that places the burden of proof on the government rather than on the challengers to show that the law in question is constitutional
Strict scrutiny
Literally, “by law” refers to legally enforced practices, such as school segregation in the south before the 1960s
De Jure
Literally “by fact”; refers to practices that occur even when there is no legal enforcement, such as school segregation in much of the United States today
De facto
refers to legally enforced practices, such as school segregation in the south before the 1960s
De jure
refers to practices that occur even when there is no legal enforcement, such as school segregation in much of the United States today
De facto
The appointment of voters in districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to one racial or ethnic group or political party
Gerrymandering
