Civil Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core civil rights concepts, key Supreme Court rulings, constitutional amendments, and landmark legislation from the lecture.

Fourteenth Amendment

The constitutional amendment that guarantees equal protection to each citizen, serving as the basis for civil rights for African Americans, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other groups.

Equal Protection Clause

A constitutional clause within the Fourteenth Amendment used as the legal foundation to demand equal rights and protection under the law for various groups.

Language of Person

The specific phrasing in the Fourteenth Amendment ('nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property') used when addressing fundamental rights, extending protections beyond citizens to any person within state jurisdiction.

Due Process of Law

The legal requirement that state authorities must respect all legal rights owed to a person before depriving them of life, liberty, or property.

Long Civil Rights Movement

The centuries of struggle to achieve the full rights of citizenship for Black Americans, originating from the founding of the republic and decisions made during the Constitutional Convention.

Abolitionist Argument

The moral and religious claim that holding human beings as property is a severe sin and a direct violation of basic human rights.

Dred Scott Decision

A court ruling establishing that Black people were not citizens and that Scott was his owner's permanent property regardless of being taken to a free state.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local statutes approved by the Supreme Court following a Louisiana public transit case, enforcing racial segregation in public facilities.

Separate But Equal Rule

A legal doctrine established by the Supreme Court based on the false pretense that separate accommodations provided for Black people were equal to those for white people.

NAACP

An organization that used personal stories to sway public opinion, organized mass demonstrations, and lobbied Congress to pass a federal anti-lynching bill.

Lynchings (1877–1950)

The racial terror murders of 4,000 Black Americans post-Reconstruction, for which fewer than 1% of perpetrators were prosecuted.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal legislation that outlawed public accommodation segregation, prohibited employment discrimination by private entities, and authorized withholding federal funds from segregated schools.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Legislation that significantly strengthened voting rights protections by prohibiting literacy tests and other discriminatory practices used to disenfranchise voters.