Use the excerpt to answer the question.
. . . On Sunday April 18, my father and I left in an automobile about 5:30 A.M. enroute to a place about ten miles from Uvalde (Texas). We reached Uvalde about 8:30 A.M. and stopped at the Dinette Café on West Main Street. My father stayed in the car and he told me to go into the restaurant and see if they had good coffee to drink. I was wearing the uniform of a soldier in the Army of the United States. When I entered the waitress told me that she did not serve Mexicans. I reported this to my father and he asked the girl if they were not selling coffee to a soldier in the armed forces of the United States merely because he was of Mexican descent. The waitress said that she was sorry but they were not selling anything to Mexicans.
–excerpt from a deposition given by Army Private Manuel Sandoval, Jr., in 1943 during his service in World War II
The waitress’s behavior toward Private Sandoval would be illegal under which law?
Responses
the Fourteenth Amendment
the Fourteenth Amendment
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
the Fifteenth Amendment
the Fifteenth Amendment
the Voting Rights Act of 1965
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
The waitress's behavior toward Private Sandoval would be illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To determine which law would make the waitress's behavior illegal, we need to understand the context and significance of each law mentioned in the responses.
1. The Fourteenth Amendment: The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1868, grants equal protection under the law to all citizens and prohibits states from denying any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
2. The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits discrimination in several areas, including public accommodations like restaurants.
3. The Fifteenth Amendment: Ratified in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits governments from denying a citizen's right to vote based on their race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
4. The Voting Rights Act of 1965: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a federal law that aims to overcome barriers to voting, particularly those that had been used to deny the African-American community access to the voting booth. It prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
Based on the provided excerpt, the waitress's refusal to serve Private Sandoval solely because he was of Mexican descent pertains to racial discrimination. Therefore, the law that would make her behavior illegal is the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which specifically prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations like restaurants. Consequently, the correct answer is: the Civil Rights Act of 1964.