Chapter 5- Civil Rights Flashcards
Equality of Opportunity
The idea that people should get an equal chance to succeed in life.
Discrimination
The conscious or unconscious denial of equal treatment to a person based on their membership in some recognizable group.
Dred Scott decision
Asserted that persons of African descent “were not intended to be included under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution.”
Jim Crow laws
Laws instituted by southern states that were created to keep African-Americans subordinate.
Plessy v Ferguson
Elevated the term separate by equal to the status of supreme law. Separate but equal was a term describing how institutions should be separated for White Americans and African-Americans.
Grandfather clause
Granted permanent and automatic voter registration to any person directly descended from someone who had voted before 1865. Slavery was abolished in 1865.
Literacy test
Literacy tests were actually high-level constitutional exams rather than simple tests of reading ability. Were created to prevent the poor as well as the recently emancipated African-American population from voting.
White primary
Tactic used by parties popular in the south which prevented anyone who was not white from voting in the primary, and thus not being allowed to vote in the general election.
Brown vs Board of Education
Struck down racial segregation in public schools. Argued for by future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Helped along by NAACP. “In the field of public education ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”
Civil rights movement
Movement most relevant in 50s, 60s, and 70s. Was started to combat institutional racism in USA.
Civil rights act of 1968.
Also known as Fair Housing Act. Imposed criminal penalties on anyone selling or renting a house or apartment through a licensed agent who refuses to sell or rent on the basis of race or religion. Landmark civil rights decision.
Segregation
De jure segregation: segregation by law. Became a thing of the past because of civil rights movement. De facto segregation: segregation in fact. Persisted mainly In the south until very recently.
Busing
Measure taken to stop segregation in schools. Involved transporting children by bus across school attendance zones to achieve a degree of racial integration.
Affirmative action
Policies by federal agencies to increase diversity. Often involves quotas for the number of minority members of a certain institution. Has face criticism as “reverse racism.”
Bakke vs University of California.
Decided that race can not be the main factor in academic admittance.
Vote dilution
Political jurisdictions drawn in such a way as to prevent minority votes from making much of an impact.
Cracking and packing
Cracking: spreading minority voters across many districts to dilute power of vote. Packing: putting minority voters all in one district to minimize impact of vote.
At-large voting
Election where representatives to a voting body are chosen in a vote from the entire community rather than from districts.
Proportional representation
Idea of recognizing a group’s rights to a certain proportion of seats in a legislative body.
Gerrymandering
The process of drawing district borders to reach a desired political end.
Equal pay act and Title VII amendments.
Legislation aimed at ending sexual discrimination in the workplace.
Title XI
Authorized the withholding of federal funds from educational institutions which engaged in sex discrimination.
Equality of result
Often seen as socialist as opposed to the traditional American concept of equality of opportunity
Judicial federalism.
Makes state courts free to interpret their state laws in a way that provides additional rights beyond those secured by federal law.
Racial profiling
Circumstances where authorities make a detainment based mainly on the race of their mark.
