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Affirmative action
programs attempting to compensate for past discrimination by giving preference tominorities and women in areas like hiring and promotion. The supreme court has announced a complex setof standards governing this field. In general, quotas or preference systems instituted by governmentemployers must be supported by proof of past discrimination and have a "compelling" justification.
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Alien
any person who is not a u.s. citizen.
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Brown v. Board of Education
a supreme court decision in 1954 which overruled the doctrine of separatebut equal by forbidding segregation in public education. The court held that segregation produces adetrimental "feeling of inferiority" in african american children.
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Civil rights act of 1964
a federal law banning discrimination in public accommodations, voting, andemployment. It also authorized the attorney general to bring suit to force the integration of public schoolson behalf of citizens.
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Compensatory action
a position favored by a majority of americans that supports helping disadvantagedpeople catch up, usually by giving them extra education, training, or services.
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De facto segregation
a form of segregation which exists "in fact." Such segregation occurs throughhousing patterns and informal social pressures, not through law.
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De jure segregation
segregation produced by law. This form of segregation was outlawed by the browndecision in 1954.
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Equality of opportunity
a goal opposed to that of affirmative action, holding that people should competein the marketplace equally and be judged by their worth; the constitution and application of laws should becolor-blind and sex-neutral; and preferential treatment on the basis of either race or sex is reversediscrimination.
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Equality of results
the goal favored by most civil rights and feminist organizations, who advocateaffirmative action as a realistic necessity since the burdens of racism and sexism can be overcome only bytaking race and sex into account in designing remedies. People cannot compete on an equal footing unlessthe government intervenes to bring everyone to a comparable starting position.
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Fourteenth amendment
a constitutional amendment ratified in 1868 that forbids states from (1) denyingthe "privileges and immunities" of citizenship, (2) depriving any person of due process of law, or (3)denying any person equal protection of the law.
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Hyde amendment
a congressional restriction barring the use of medicaid funds to pay for abortions exceptwhen the life of the mother is at stake. The supreme court upheld this restriction in 1980.
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Jim crow
a phrase from a song by thomas rice that came to be a slang expression for african americans andwas later applied to laws and practices that segregated african americans from whites.
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National association for the advancement of colored people (naacp)
an organization formed in 1909 tofurther the civil rights of african americans. Its major emphasis has been the litigation of cases in courts.The organization has achieved notable successes, most significantly in overturning the doctrine of separatebut equal.
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Nonviolent civil disobedience
a tactic employed in the early demonstrations of the civil rights movementin the 1950s and 1960s that involved oeaceful violation of the law.
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Plessy v. Ferguson
a supreme court decision in 1896 that upheld the separate but equal doctrine, by whichdifferent races could be assigned to separate facilities so long as the facilities were of equal condition. Thedoctrine was overturned in 1954 in brown v. Board of education.
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Preferential treatment
a position, opposed by a majority of americans, that supports giving minoritiespreference in hiring, promotions, college admissions, and contracts.
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Reverse discrimination
a position, advocated by those favoring an equality of opportunity, that opposesgiving preferential treatment to african americans and women on the ground that the constitution should becolor-blind and sex-neutral. Preferential treatment, these advocates argue, obliges white males to endurereverse discrimination.
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Roe v. Wade
a supreme court decision in 1973 that holds that the due process clause of the fourteenthamendment protects a woman's right to privacy, allowing women to choose whether to have an abortionwithin certain guidelines. In the first three months of pregnancy, the decision belongs solely to the woman;in the fourth through the six months, states can enact laws protecting the woman's health but cannot forbidabortions; abortions can be forbidden beginning in the seventh month of pregnancy.
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Rostker v. Goldberg
a supreme court decision in 1981 allowing congress to require men but not women toregister for the military draft.
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Separate but equal doctrine
a doctrine approved by the supreme court in plessy v. Ferguson that allowed states under the fourteenth amendment to provide separate facilities for african americans and whites so long as the quality of the facilities were similar. The doctrine was overturned in brown v. Board of education in 1954.
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Strict scrutiny
the standard by which the supreme court judges classifications based on race. To be accepted, such a classification must be closely related to a "compelling" state purpose.
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Suspect classifications
a judicial policy that regards treating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity as presumptively unreasonable and subjects such classifications to strict scrutiny.
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Swann v. Charlotte-mecklenburg
a supreme court decision in 1971 dealing with the constitutionality of court-ordered busing to integrate public school systems. The court held that busing is a permissible option for integration if certain conditions are met, notably that the school system has engaged in racial discrimination in the past.
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White flight
whites moving out of cities to suburbs to avoid mandatory busing or other integration measures imoosed on school svstems
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