AP Gov Ch 5 Civil Rights & Public Policy

Civil Rights

policies designed to protect "groups" of people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment from the government

Equal Protection of the Laws

part of the 14th amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent protection to all people

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.

Equal Rights Amendment

constitutional amendment passed by Congress but never ratified that would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender

Thirteenth Amendment

constitutional amendment that abolished slavery

Fourteenth Amendment

A constitutional amendment giving full rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, except for American Indians.

Poll taxes

required citizens of a state to pay money in order to vote

Suffrage

The legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the Fifteenth Amendment, to women by the Nineteenth Amendment, and to people over the age of 18 by the Twenty-sixth Amendment.

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.

Nineteenth Amendment

granted women the right to vote in 1920

White Primary

the practice of keeping blacks from voting in the southern states' primaries through arbitrary use of registration requirements and intimidation

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

Passed by Congress in 1991, this act banned discrimination against the disabled in employment and mandated easy access to all public and commercial buildings.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A federal law that authorized federal action against segregation in public accommodations, public facilities, and employment.

Affirmative Action

A policy designed to give preferential treatment for members of a previously disadvantaged group