Unit 3 Civil Rights and Constitutional Equality

Civil Rights and Constitutional Equality

What are civil rights?

Protections ensuring equal treatment and freedom from discrimination.

How do civil rights differ from civil liberties?

Civil rights focus on equality; civil liberties protect individual freedoms.

What does the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause require?

States must provide equal protection of the laws.

What did the Thirteenth Amendment abolish?

Slavery.

What did the Fourteenth Amendment establish?

Citizenship

What did the Fifteenth Amendment prohibit?

Denying voting rights based on race

What were Jim Crow laws?

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation.

What was the purpose of the grandfather clause?

To exempt certain white voters from voting restrictions that blocked Black voters.

What was a literacy test used for historically?

To restrict voting access

What did Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) establish?

The “separate but equal” doctrine.

What did Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decide?

Racial segregation in public schools violates equal protection.

Which amendment was central to Brown v. Board of Education?

The Fourteenth Amendment.

How did Brown overturn Plessy in public education?

It ruled that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

What was the NAACP's role in the civil rights movement?

It challenged racial discrimination through lawsuits and advocacy.

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit?

Discrimination in major areas including public accommodations and employment.

What did Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 address?

Racial discrimination in public accommodations.

What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 target?

Voting discrimination

What did the Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibit?

Poll taxes in federal elections.

What did Title IX (1972) prohibit?

Sex discrimination in federally funded education programs.

What did the Nineteenth Amendment establish?

Women’s right to vote regardless of sex.

What is affirmative action?

Policies intended to address unequal opportunity and expand access for disadvantaged groups.

What did Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) decide?

Rigid racial quotas in admissions were impermissible

What is strict scrutiny?

The highest level of judicial review

What did Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) establish?

Same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

What did Lawrence v. Texas (2003) protect?

Consenting adults' liberty to engage in private

What did the Equal Pay Act of 1963 address?

Pay discrimination based on sex.

How can Congress promote civil rights?

By passing laws that prohibit discrimination and protect equal access.

How can social movements influence public policy?

Through protests

Why are minority rights important in a democracy?

They prevent majority rule from becoming oppression.

How has the Supreme Court's approach to civil rights changed over time?

It has sometimes upheld discrimination and at other times expanded equality.