Chapter 5: Civil Rights

Question 1

affirmative action

Answer 1

the use of programs and policies designed to assist groups that have historically been subject to discrimination

Question 2

black codes

Answer 2

laws passed immediately after the Civil War that discriminated against freed slaves and other blacks and deprived them of their rights

Question 3

equal protection clause

Answer 3

a provision of the Fourteenth Amendment that requires the states to treat all residents equally under the law

Question 4

intermediate scrutiny

Answer 4

the standard used by the courts to decide cases of discrimination based on gender and sex; burden of proof is on the government to demonstrate an important governmental interest is at stake in treating men differently from women

Question 5

rational basis test

Answer 5

the standard used by the courts to decide most forms of discrimination; the burden of proof is on those challenging the law or action to demonstrate there is no good reason for treating them differently from other citizens

Question 6

strict scrutiny

Answer 6

the standard used by the courts to decide cases of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion; burden of proof is on the government to demonstrate a compelling governmental interest is at stake and no alternative means are available to accomplish its goals

Question 7

Brown v. Board of Education

Answer 7

the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that struck down Plessy v. Ferguson and declared segregation and “separate but equal” to be unconstitutional in public education

Question 8

civil disobedience

Answer 8

an action taken in violation of the letter of the law to demonstrate that the law is unjust

Question 9

de facto segregation

Answer 9

segregation that results from the private choices of individuals

Question 10

de jure segregation

Answer 10

segregation that results from government discrimination

Question 11

direct action

Answer 11

civil rights campaigns that directly confronted segregationist practices through public demonstrations

Question 12

disenfranchisement

Answer 12

the revocation of someone’s right to vote

Question 13

grandfather clause

Answer 13

the provision in some southern states that allowed illiterate whites to vote because their ancestors had been able to vote before the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified

Question 14

Jim Crow laws

Answer 14

state and local laws that promoted racial segregation and undermined black voting rights in the south after Reconstruction

Question 15

literacy tests

Answer 15

tests that required the prospective voter in some states to be able to read a passage of text and answer questions about it; often used as a way to disenfranchise racial or ethnic minorities

Question 16

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 16

the 1896 Supreme Court ruling that allowed “separate but equal” racial segregation under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Question 17

poll tax

Answer 17

annual tax imposed by some states before a person was allowed to vote

Question 18

Reconstruction

Answer 18

the period from 1865 to 1877 during which the governments of Confederate states were reorganized prior to being readmitted to the Union

Question 19

understanding tests

Answer 19

tests requiring prospective voters in some states to be able to explain the meaning of a passage of text or to answer questions related to citizenship; often used as a way to disenfranchise black voters

Question 20

white primary

Answer 20

a primary election in which only whites are allowed to vote

Question 21

comparable worth

Answer 21

a doctrine calling for the same pay for workers whose jobs require the same level of education, responsibility, training, or working conditions

Question 22

coverture

Answer 22

a legal status of married women in which their separate legal identities were erased

Question 23

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Answer 23

the proposed amendment to the Constitution that would have prohibited all discrimination based on sex

Question 24

glass ceiling

Answer 24

an invisible barrier caused by discrimination that prevents women from rising to the highest levels of an organization—including corporations, governments, academic institutions, and religious organizations

Question 25

Title IX

Answer 25

the section of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits discrimination in education on the basis of sex

Question 26

American Indian Movement (AIM)

Answer 26

the Native American civil rights group responsible for the occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973

Question 27

Trail of Tears

Answer 27

the name given to the forced migration of the Cherokees from Georgia to Oklahoma in 1838–1839

Question 28

Chicano

Answer 28

a term adopted by some Mexican American civil rights activists to describe themselves and those like them

Question 29

hate crime

Answer 29

harassment, bullying, or other criminal acts directed against someone because of bias against that person’s sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race, ethnicity, or disability

Question 30

Stonewall Inn

Answer 30

a bar in Greenwich Village, New York, where the modern Gay Pride movement began after rioters protested the police treatment of the LGBT community there