Local Government Basics
The elected leader who often oversees city departments and represents the city publicly.
What is the mayor?
The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are known as this
What is the Bill of Rights?
What does the Fifth Amendment grant you?
What is the right to remain silent (protection against self-incrimination)?
This 15-year-old refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery in 1955—months before Rosa Parks.
Who is Claudette Colvin?
The 1964 law that banned segregation in public places and job discrimination is this.
What is the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
The local government unit that typically runs public schools in an area.
What is the School Board?
This amendment protects freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.
What is the First Amendment?
What does the fourth amendment protect you from?
What is unreasonable search and seizure?
This activist and powerful speaker became a national figure after leaving the Nation of Islam and is known for arguing for Black self-determination.
Who is Malcolm-X?
The 1965 law that targeted voting discrimination and protected access to the ballot is this.
What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
The local officials who usually set city laws/ordinances and vote on the city budget.
What is the City Council?
This amendment ended slavery in the United States (except as punishment for a crime).
What is the Thirteenth Amendment?
What does the sixth amendment guarantee?
What is the right to an attorney (and a speedy, public trial)?
This NAACP lawyer argued Brown v. Board and later became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
The Supreme Court case that declared school segregation unconstitutional is this.
What is Brown v. Board of Education?
Laws passed by a city or county government are commonly called these.
What are Ordinances?
This amendment guarantees equal protection under the law and due process.
What is the Fourteenth Amendment?
The Supreme Court case that required police to tell you your rights (“You have the right to remain silent…”) is this.
What is Miranda V. Arizona?
This “SNCC” organizer emphasized grassroots organizing and helped develop the idea of participatory democracy.
Who is Ella Baker?
The 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery helped lead to major voting rights protections; this event became known by this shorthand.
What is “Selma” (or the Selma to Montgomery marches / “Bloody Sunday”)?
The local process where residents speak to officials before decisions—often required for zoning or major projects.
What is a Public Hearing?
This amendment banned poll taxes in federal elections.
What is the Twenty-Fourth Amendment?
This Supreme Court case guaranteed a lawyer for defendants who can’t afford one in felony cases.
What is Gideon v. Wainwright?
Often called the “architect” of the 1963 March on Washington, he was also a key strategist for nonviolent protest.
Who is Bayard Rustin?
The Supreme Court case that struck down bans on interracial marriage is this.
What is Loving v. Virginia?