Chapter 6 Civil Rights (gov1) Flashcards
Civil rights
The freedom to participate in the full life of the community to vote, use public facilities, and exercise equal economic opportunity
Strict scrutiny
The tendency to strike down as unconstitutional any legislation that singles out race or ethnicity, unless the government has a compelling interest in such legislation
Quasi-suspect category
A legal category that requires governments to have an important state purpose for any legislation that singles out sex or gender. This is not as strong as the suspect category, which requires strict scrutiny
Abolition
A nineteenth century movement demanding an immediate and unconditional end to slavery
Missouri compromise
An agreement to open southern territories west of the Mississippi to slavery while closing northern territories to slavery
Compromise of 1850
A complicated compromise over slavery that permitted territories to vote on whether they would be slave or free. It also included a fugitive slave law forcing Northerns to return black men and women into bondage and permitted California to enter the Union as a free state
Popular sovereignty
Nineteenth century term referring to the practice of putting the question of slavery in a territory to a popular vote by the white male residents of the territory. More generally, it means the right of people to self government.
Dred Scott v. Stanford
A landmark Supreme Court decision holding that black men could not be citizens under the Constitution of the United States. It created a national uproar.
Emancipation Proclamation
An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln that declared the slaves in all rebel states to be free
Equal protection of the laws
The landmark phrase in the Fourteenth Amendment that requires equal treatment for all citizens
Reconstruction
The failed effort, pursued by Northerners and Southerners, to rebuild the South and establish racial equality after the Civil War
Literacy test
A requirement that voters be literate; in reality, a way to restrict black suffrage
Jim Crow
The system of racial segregation in the U.S. South that lasted from 1890 to 1965
Plessy v. Ferguson
An 1896 Supreme Court case that permitted racial segregation
Great Migration
The vast movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North between 1920 to 1950
De jure discrimination
Discrimination established by laws
De facto discrimination
More subtle forms of discrimination that exists without a legal basis
Brown v. Board of Education
The landmark Supreme Court case that struck down segregated schools as unconstitutional
Freedom riders
Black and white activists who rode buses together to protest segregation on interstate bus lines
Free rider problem
A barrier to group or collective action arising because people who do not participate still reap the benefits
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Landmark legislation that forbade discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin
Black power
A slogan that emphasized pride in black heritage and the construction of black institutions to nurture black interests. It often implied racial separation in reaction to white racism
Affirmative action
Direct, positive steps to recruit members of previously underrepresented groups into schools, colleges, and jobs; sometimes involves setting aside positions for members of these groups (known as quotas)
Disproportionate impact
The effect some policies have of discriminating, even if discrimination is not consciously intended
School busing
An effort to integrate public schools by mixing students from different neighborhoods
New Jim Crow
The idea that penal policy (especially the war on drugs) unjustly targets black men and creates disadvantages for the black community by stripping members of full citizenship rights
Laws of coverture
An outmoded legal tradition holding that a women’s rights and duties all operate through her husband
Seneca Falls Convention
A convention dedicated to women’s rights held in July 1848
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Federal law enforcement agency charged with the compliance with the Civil Rights Act
National Organization for Women (NOW)
An organization formed to take action for women’s equality
Class action
A lawsuit filed on behalf of an entire category of individuals, such as all people in public housing in a state or all the female managers of a large company
Equal Rights Amendment
An amendment, originally drafted by Alice Paul in 1923, passed by Congress in 1972, and ratified by thirty-five states, that declared: “Equality of rights…shall not be denied or abridged…on account of sex.”
Reframe the issue
To redefine the popular perception of an issue, to show it in a new light with a new set of costs or benefits
Chicanismo
A defiant movement expressing pride in Latino origins and culture in the face of discrimination
Racial profiling
A law enforcement practice of singling out people on the basis of physical features such as race or ethnicity
Domestic dependent nation
Special status that grants local sovereignty to tribal nations but does not grant them full sovereignty equivalent to the enjoyed by independent nations
