AMSCO AP Government and Politics: Chapter 9 Civil Rights

affirmative action

Any of a wide range of programs, from special recruitment efforts to numerical quotas, aimed at expanding opportunities for women and minority groups.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

Civil Rights Act (1875)

Prohibited discrimination against blacks in public place, such as inns, amusement parks, and on public transportation. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Civil Rights Act (1957)

Primarily a voting rights bill, was the first civil rights legislation enacted by Republicans in the United States since Reconstruction.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Banned discrimination in public acomodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation; this and the voting rights act helped to give African-Americans equality on paper, and more federally-protected power so that social equality was a more realistic goal

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Name attached to five cases brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In 1883, the Supreme Court decided that discrimination in a variety of public accommodations, including theaters, hotels, and railroads, could not be prohibited by the act because such discrimination was private discrimination and not state discrimination.

Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

Passed Congress in 1996; defined marriage as between only a man and women; however many states and companies extended benefits to same sex partners and many states legalized same sex marriages

disenfranchise

To deprive of the right to vote

Equal Pay Act of 1963

Legislation that requires employers to pay men and women equal pay for equal work

Fifteenth Amendment

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Fourteenth Amendment

Adopted after the Civil War that states, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges 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."

heightened scrutiny test

This test has been applied when a law classifies based on sex; to be upheld, the law must meet an important government interest.

Jim Crow Laws

Limited rights of blacks. Literacy tests, grandfather clauses and poll taxes limited black voting rights

literacy test

A requirement that citizens show that they can read before registering to vote

majority-minority districts

In the context of determining representative districts, the process by which a majority of the population is from the minority.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Interracial organization founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Inspired by Betty Frieden, a reform organization that battled for equal rights with men by lobbying and testing laws in court and wanted equal employment opportunities, equal pay, ERA, divorce law changes, and legalized abortion.

Nineteenth Amendment

Guarantees women the right to vote.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Struck down state bans on same sex marriage. The 14th Amendment requires States to license a marriage between two people of the same sex. States must recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Legalized segregation in publicly owned facilities on the basis of "separate but equal."

poll taxes

Required citizens of a state to pay a special tax in order to vote

reasonableness standard

A test which asks whether the decisions made were legitimate and designed to remedy a certain issue under the circumstances at the time

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

Schools can't use admission quotas and admit students solely on the basis of their race.

"separate but equal"

Principle upheld in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public facilities was legal.

strict scrutiny

Supreme Court rule that classification by race and ethnic background is inherently suspect and must be justified by a "compelling public interest."

Thirteenth Amendment

Ratified after the Civil War that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude.

Title IX

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

It outlawed taxing voters, i.e. poll taxes, at presidential or congressional elections, as an effort to remove barriers to black voters.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage