POLS 1101 Ch. 16 Equality and Civil Rights Vocab

invidious discrimination

Discrimination against persons or groups that harms them and is based on animosity.

benign discrimination

Discrimination that causes no harm because it is grounded in reason.

systemic racism

Laws, policies, processes, and structures in society that create racially disparate outcomes.

Civil War amendments

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Black codes

Legislation enacted by former slave states to restrict the freedom of Black people.

poll tax

A tax of $1 or $2 on every citizen who wished to vote, first instituted in Georgia in 1877. Although it was no burden on most white citizens, it effectively disenfranchised Black citizens.

separate-but-equal doctrine

The concept that providing separate but equivalent facilities for people of different races satisfies the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

desegregation

The ending of segregation, or separation by race.

de jure segregation

Government-imposed segregation.

de facto segregation

Segregation that is not the result of direct government policy.

redlining

Invidious discrimination by governments or private organizations that systematically denies access to services, programs, or other opportunities from people living in certain areas.

Civil Rights Acts of 1964

-Entitled all persons to "the full and equal enjoyment" of goods, services, and privileges in places of public accommodation, without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin (the inclusion of "national origin" or place of birth would set in motion plans for immigration reform the following year).

-Established the right to equality in employment opportunities.

-Strengthened voting rights legislation.

-Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and charged it with hearing and investigating complaints of job discrimination.

-Provided that the federal government could withhold funds from federally assisted programs that practiced discrimination.

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

ratified in 1964, banned poll taxes in primary and general elections for national office.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

empowered the attorney general to send voter registration supervisors to areas in which fewer than half the eligible minority voters had been registered.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

banned discrimination in the rental and sale of most housing.

protectionism

The notion that women must be protected from life's cruelties; until the 1970s, the basis for laws affecting women's civil rights.

Nineteenth Amendment

The amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1920, that gives women the right to vote.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

A failed constitutional amendment introduced by the National Women's Party in 1923 declaring that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex."

affirmative action

Any of a wide range of programs—from special recruitment efforts, trainings, mentoring, and support—that expand opportunities in employment, education, and other domains for groups who previously had been excluded.