Bakke v. California
Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action at colleges as long as there are no quotas.
Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court decision striking down segregated schools.
Civil Rights Cases
Limited congressional authority to prohibit private discrimination under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Supreme Court decision declaring that blacks could not be citizens and Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.
Korematsu v. United States
Supreme Court decision upholding the detention of Japanese Americas during World War II.
Loving v. Virginia
Supreme Court case striking down laws that prohibit racial intermarriage.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court case that upheld the validity of segregation.
The Feminine Mystique
Book by Betty Friedan considered by many to have launched the modern feminist movement.
affirmative action
Policies that grant racial or gender preferences in hiring, education, or contracting.
American Civil Liberties Union
Interest group devoted to freedom of expression, criminal due process, civil rights, and reproductive rights.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Requires businesses and government to make reasonable accommodations for employees with known physical or mental limitations.
black codes
Southern laws that prohibited freedmen from voting, owning land or leaving their plantations.
Chinese Exclusion Act
Barred Immigration of Chinese to America.
citizenship
Full-fledged membership in a nation.
civil disobedience
Peaceful protests in violation of a law believed to be unjust or immoral.
civil liberties
Those rights such as freedom of speech or religion, that are so fundamental that they are outside the authority of government to regulate.
civil rights
Set of tights, centered around the concept of equal treatment, that government is obliged to protect.
Civil Rights Act
Prohibits discrimination in employment, education, and places of public accommodation.
civil rights movement
Movement following World War II to gain equal rights for African Americans, later expanded to end discrimination on account of race, gender, sexual preference, and disability status.
civil unions
State laws that provide the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples without using the term marriage.
compelling interest test
Standard frequently used by the Supreme Court in civil liberties cases to determine if a state has a sufficient justification for making distinctions on account of race, ethnicity, religion, or citizenship status.
coverture
Legal doctrine that grants married women no rights independent of their husbands.
Defense of Marriage Act
Federal law exempting states from any requirement to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
discrimination
Favoring one person over another, usually on irrelevant grounds such as race or gender.
disparate impact
Job tests that differentially affect minority groups, even if there is no intent to discriminate.
don't ask, don't tell
Policy allowing gays to serve in the military of they do not discuss their sexual preferences.
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln's order ending slavery in states in rebellion.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Independent federal agency charged with protecting equal employment rights.
Equal Pay Act
Prohibits different pay for males and females for the same work.
equal protection clause
Prevents states from denying any person the equal protection of the laws.
Equal Rights Amendment
Proposed amendment that would have banned federal and state governments from discriminating on account of sex.
equality of opportunity
Expectation that citizens may not be discriminated against on account of race, gender, or national background, and that every citizen should have an equal chance to succeed in life.
equality of outcome
Expectation that equality is achieved if results are comparable for all citizens regardless of race, gender, or national background, or that such groups are proportionally represented in measures of success in life.
grandfather clauses
Election rules that exempted people from difficult literacy and interpretation tests for voting if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote.
heightened scrutiny
Standard of review used when laws discriminate on account of sex.
Jim Crow laws
Southern laws that established strict segregation of the races.
Ku Klux Klan
White supremacist terrorist organization.
literacy tests
Tests requiring reading and interpretation skills in order to vote.
miscegenation
Interracial marriage and/or sexual intercourse, often forbidden by state law until Loving v. Virginia.
Missouri Compromise
Prohibited slavery in territories north of the southern border of Missouri.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Civil rights organization dedicated to helping African Americans.
National Organization of Women
Organized interest group devoted to securing equal rights for women.
natural-born citizens
People who are citizens in a nation from birth, usually by being born there.
naturalization
Acquired citizenship through formal application procedures.
poll taxes
Tax on voting prohibited by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964)
private discrimination
Discrimination by private individuals or businesses.
privileges and immunities clause
Prohibits states from abridging certain fundamental rights.
profiling
Practice of using racial or ethnic characteristics to determine whether to investigate.
public discrimination
Discrimination by national, state, or local governments.
rational basis
Lowest standard of review, used when laws discriminate against groups that do not receive strict or heightened scrutiny.
Reconstruction
Period in which the former Confederate states gained readmission to the Union and the federal government passed laws to help the emancipated slaves.
separate-but-equal doctrine
Supreme Court doctrine that upheld segregation as long as there were equivalent facilities for blacks.
state action
Action by a state, as opposed to a private person, that constitutes discrimination and therefore is an equal protection violation.
Stonewall riots
Street protest by gay patrons against police raid at a gay bar in New York, considered to have launched the gay rights movement.
strict scrutiny
Toughest standard of review, used when laws discriminate on account of race, ethnicity, religion, or alienage.
tests
Standards used by the courts to determine whether a law or right has been violated across a range of cases.
Voting Rights Act
Gives the federal government the right to prevent discrimination in voting rights.
white primary
Election rules that prohibited blacks from voting in Democratic primaries.
Women's Rights Project
Litigation group for women's rights formed by the ACLU.
women's suffrage
Movement to grant women the right to vote.