POS2041 National Government Q2L5 terms

affirmative action

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

American Indian Movement (AIM)

the Native American civil rights group responsible for the occupation

of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973

black codes

laws passed immediately after the Civil War that discriminated

against freed slaves and other blacks and deprived them of their

rights

Brown v. Board of Education

the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that struck down Plessy v. Ferguson

and declared segregation and “separate but equal” to be

unconstitutional in public education

Chicano

a term adopted by some Mexican American civil rights activists to

describe themselves and those like them

comparable worth

a doctrine calling for the same pay for workers whose jobs require

the same level of education, responsibility, training, or working

conditions

coverture

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

equal protection clause

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

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

the proposed amendment to the Constitution that would have

prohibited all discrimination based on sex

civil disobedience

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

de facto segregation

segregation that results from the private choices of individuals

de jure segregation

segregation that results from government discrimination

direct action

civil rights campaigns that directly confronted segregationist practices through public demonstrations

disenfranchisement

the revocation of someone’s right to vote

glass ceiling

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

grandfather clause

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

hate crime

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

intermediate scrutiny

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

Jim Crow laws

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

literacy tests

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

Plessy v. Ferguson

the 1896 Supreme Court ruling that allowed “separate but equal”

racial segregation under the equal protection clause of the

Fourteenth Amendment

poll tax

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

rational basis test

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

Reconstruction

the period from 1865 to 1877 during which the governments of

Confederate states were reorganized prior to being readmitted to

the Union

Stonewall Inn

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

strict scrutiny

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

Title IX

the section of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits

discrimination in education on the basis of sex

Trail of Tears

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

understanding tests

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

white primary

a primary election in which only whites are allowed to vote