Chapter 5 – Civil Rights (Vocabulary Flashcards)

These flashcards summarize key vocabulary terms and landmark cases from Chapter 5 on Civil Rights, aiding review for exams or class discussion.

Civil Liberties

Constitutional limits on government power that protect individual freedoms (e.g., speech, religion).

Civil Rights

Guarantees that government will treat people equally and prohibit discrimination against protected classes.

Equal Protection Clause

Fourteenth Amendment clause stating no state may deny any person the equal protection of the laws.

Equal Protection (Principle)

Judicial doctrine that similarly situated individuals must be treated alike under the law.

Discrimination

Unjust or prejudicial treatment of people based on race, sex, age, or other characteristics.

Discriminatory Effect

When a law’s application results in different treatment of otherwise similar individuals.

Discriminatory Purpose

When a law is enacted with intent to treat certain people unfairly.

Rational Basis Test

Lowest judicial scrutiny; law must be rationally related to a legitimate government interest—burden on challenger.

Intermediate Scrutiny

Middle level; government must show the law is substantially related to an important objective—often used for gender cases.

Strict Scrutiny

Highest level; government must prove a compelling interest, narrowly tailored and least restrictive means—used for race, religion, national origin.

Affirmative Action

Policies or programs that provide advantages to historically discriminated groups in education or employment.

Reconstruction Amendments

Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments ratified after the Civil War to secure rights for formerly enslaved people.

Thirteenth Amendment

Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States (1865).

Fourteenth Amendment

Granted national and state citizenship to all born/naturalized in the U.S., imposed due process and equal protection limits on states.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local statutes enforcing racial segregation and undermining Black voting rights after Reconstruction.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court case that upheld “separate but equal” segregation under the Equal Protection Clause.

Disenfranchisement

Revocation or impediment of the right to vote, commonly used against minorities during Jim Crow.

Literacy Test

Reading exam once required to vote; often used to disenfranchise African Americans.

Understanding Test

Voter test requiring explanation of passages or civics questions; discriminatorily applied to suppress minority votes.

Poll Tax

Fee required to vote, used to prevent low-income and minority citizens from voting.

White Primary

Primary elections in which only white voters could participate, excluding minorities from candidate selection.

Segregation

System of separating groups in daily life; could be de facto or de jure.

De Facto Segregation

Separation resulting from private choices or social factors, not law.

De Jure Segregation

Separation mandated by government law or policy.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court decision overruling Plessy and declaring school segregation unconstitutional.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal law banning segregation in public accommodations and employment discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or national origin.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Federal agency created by the 1964 Act to investigate and enforce workplace anti-discrimination laws.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Landmark law prohibiting racial discrimination in voting and empowering federal oversight of elections.

Nineteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment (1920) granting women the right to vote nationwide.

Trail of Tears

Forced relocation (1831-1838) of several Southeastern tribes to present-day Oklahoma, causing thousands of deaths.

Indian Citizenship Act (1924)

Law granting U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States.

Indian Civil Rights Act (1968)

Extended many Bill of Rights protections to individuals on tribal reservations.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

Native activist group that occupied Wounded Knee in 1973 to demand enforcement of treaties and tribal rights.

LGBTQ+ Rights Movement

Campaign beginning in the 1960s to end legal discrimination and criminalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Supreme Court case striking down state laws criminalizing consensual same-sex intimacy.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Equal Employment LGBTQ+ Ruling (2020)

Supreme Court decision that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected under the Civil Rights Act’s employment provisions.