| A | B |
|---|
| abridge | Take away; reduce; diminish. |
| alien | A foreign-born resident of this country. |
| Brown v. Board of Education (1954) | A Supreme Court case which held that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional because they denied black children the equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment. |
| censor | To examine in order to delete anything considered objectionable. |
| citizen | A member of a state who owes allegiance to the government and is entitled to its protection. |
| due process clause | As interpreted by the courts, this clause in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments requires that a person be treated fairly by the government. |
| equal protection clause | The clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that prohibits states from discriminating against people by denying them the "equal protection of the laws." |
| establishment clause | The clause in the First Amendment that says the government may not set up, or establish, an official religion. |
| free exercise clause | The part of the First Amendment that says the government shall make no law denying an individual the right to practice his religious beliefs freedom of expression. The freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition that are protected by the First Amendment. |
| grandfather clause | The law, in many southern states, that allowed whites who could not pass a literacy test to vote if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote. |
| Jim Crow laws | Those laws common in the South after the 1880s which required blacks to use separate schools and other public facilities. |
| jurisdiction | The power to interpret and apply the law; the territory within which that authority may be exercised. |
| literacy test | A test given to people to prove they were able to read and write as a qualification for voting. In the South, these tests were used to keep blacks from voting. |
| naturalization | The process by which an alien becomes a citizen. |
| parochial school | A private school run by a religious organization. |
| petition | A document making a formal written request, usually accompanied by the signatures of a number of citizens. |
| poll tax | A tax that voters in many southern states were required to pay before they could vote. It was used to prevent blacks from voting. |
| register | To enroll one's name officially as a requirement for voting. |
| segregation | The separation or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group from the rest of society. |
| separate but equal | The argument, once upheld by the Supreme Court, that separate public facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional if the facilities were of equal quality. |
| suffrage | The right to vote. |
