ch. 5

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court ruling creating the separate but equal doctrine

grandfather clause

A clause exempting individuals from voting conditions such as poll taxes or literacy tests if they or their ancestors had voted before 1870 (before the civil war), thus sparing most white voters

hate crime

A crime committed against a person, property, or society, in which the offender is motivated, in part or in whole, by his or her bias against the victim because of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity

poll tax

A fee for voting; levied to prevent poor African Americans in the South from voting

literacy test

A test to determine eligibility to vote; designed so that few African Americans would pass

civil disobedience

Active, but nonviolent, refusal to comply with laws or governmental policies that are morally objectionable Ex. American Anti-Slavery Society members actively supported the Underground Railroad

suspect classifications

Distinctions based on race, religion, and national origin, which are assumed to be illegitimate; judges will assume that the laws treating individuals differently because of these inherent characteristics are unconstitutional and violate the equal protection clauses

separate but equal doctrine

Established by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, it said that separate but equal facilities for whites and nonwhites do not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause

strict scrutiny test

Guidelines the courts use to determine the legality of suspect classification based discrimination; on the basis of this test, discrimination is legal if it is a necessary means by which the government can achieve a compelling public interest; Loving v. Virginia (1967)

black codes

Laws passed immediately after the Civil War by the confederate states that limited the rights of "freemen" (people formerly enslaved); These codes prevented freemen from voting, owning property, or bringing suit

jim crow laws

Laws requiring the strict separation of racial groups, with whites and "nonwhites" required to attend separate schools, work in different jobs, and use segregated public accommodations, such as transportation and restaurants

ordinary scrutiny test

On the basis of this test, discrimination is legal if it is a reasonable means by which the government can achieve a legitimate public interest (also called rational basis test); the weakest test the courts use

de jure segregation

Segregation mandated by law

equal protection clause

The Fourteenth Amendment clause stating that no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

intersectionality

The experience of multiple forms of oppression (based on race, gender, class, and/or sexuality) simultaneously.

heightened scrutiny test

The guidelines used most frequently by the courts to determine the legality of sex-based discrimination; on the basis of this test, sex-based discrimination is legal if the government can prove that it is substantially related to the achievement of an important public interest (also called intermediate scrutiny test)

standing to sue

The legal right to bring lawsuits in court; in Dred Scott v. Sandford case supreme court ruled Scott was not a U.S. citizen, asserting that because of their race, African Americans were not citizens with standing to sue

civil rights

The rights and privileges guaranteed to all citizens under the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments; the idea that individuals are protected from discrimination based on characteristics such as race, national origin, religion, and sex

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

This 1954 Supreme Court decision ruled that segregated schools violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; "separate but equal" schools were inherently unequal, because they stamped African American children with a "badge of racial inferiority" that stayed with them throughout their lives

white primary

a primary election in which only white people were allowed to vote

reconstruction era

he time after the Civil War between 1866 and 1877 when the institutions and infrastructure of the South were rebuilt

affirmative action

in the 1960s the federal government also began implementing policies aimed at reinforcing equal access to employment by mandating recruitment procedures that actively sought to identify qualified minority men for government positions; this policy was was extended to women in employment and then to educational opportunities

inherent characteristics

individual characteristics that are part of a person's nature, such as race, religion, national origin, and sex