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| Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government official or individuals |
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| The constitutional amendment adopted after the Civil War that states, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." |
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| Equal protection of the laws |
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Definition
| Part of the 14th Amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent "protection" to all people. As one member of congress said during debate on the amendment, it should provide "equal protection of life, liberty, and property" to all a state's citizens. |
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| The constitutional amendment passed after the Civil War that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude. |
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| The law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbade many forms of job discrimination. |
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| The legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the 15th Amendment, to women by the 19th Amendment, and to people over the age of 18 by the 26th Amendment. |
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| The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans |
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| Small taxes, levied on the right to vote, taht often fell due at a time of year when poor African American sharecroppers had the least cash on hand. This method was used by most Southern states to exclude African Americans from voting registers. Poll taxes were declared void by the 24th Amendment in 1964. |
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| One of the means used to discourage African American voting that permitted political parties in the heavily Democratic South to exclude African Americans from primary elections, thus depriving them of a voice in the real contests. The Supreme Court declared White primaries unconstitutional in 1944. |
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| The constitutional amendment passed in 1964 that declared poll taxes void. |
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| Voting Rights Act of 1965 |
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Definition
| A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, federal registrars were sent to Southern states and counties that had long histories of discrimination; as a result, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically. |
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| The constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote. |
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| Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) |
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| A constitutional amendment originally introduced in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the state legislatures for ratification, stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state or account of sex." Despite the substantial public support and an extended deadline, the amendment failed to acquire the necessary support from three-fourths of legislature. |
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| The issue raised when women are paid less than men for working at jobs requiring comparable skill. |
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| Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 |
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Definition
| A law passed in 1990 that requires employers and public facilities to make "reasonable accommodations" for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment |
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Term
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| A policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvantaged group |
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