Chapter 4 – The Civil Rights

Civil Rights: An Introduction

• Civil rights: rights of all citizens to equal treatment under the law
  • What government must do to ensure equal protection and freedom from discrimination
  • Fourteenth Amendment guarantees
• Civil liberties are limitations on government
  • What government cannot do

African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

• Pre-1863, Constitution protected slavery
  • Dred Scott decision (slaves were property)
  • Missouri compromise ruled unconstitutional
• Non-citizens (slaves) not entitled to rights and privileges of citizenship
• Ending servitude
  • Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
  • Reconstruction Amendments
    • 13th Amendment (1865, prohibits slavery)
    • 14th Amendment (1868, citizenship to blacks)
    • 15th Amendment (1870, voting rights for black men)
• Civil Rights Acts of 1865 to 1875
  • Passed to enforce 13th,14th,15th Amendments
  • But South still resists
    • Accepts preserving Union, abolishing slavery
    • Blocks granting legal and political rights to blacks

Limitations of Civil Rights Laws

• Limitations of civil rights laws
  • Little practical effect for African Americans
  • Hayes presidency ends progression of rights, allows creation of Jim Crow laws
• Civil Rights Cases
  • Invalidates much of civil rights legislation
  • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
    • Separate-but-equal doctrine
    • Jim Crow laws support segregation
• Voting barriers
  • White primary, grandfather clause, poll taxes, literacy tests
  • White Southerners regain control of state governments
• Extralegal methods of enforcing white supremacy
• These segregated drinking foundations were common in Southern states in the late 1800s and during the first half of the 20th century
• End of separate-but-equal doctrine
  • NAACP established, begins legal challenges
  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
  • “With All Deliberate Speed”
  • Reactions to school integration
    • Segregationist backlash; violence
    • Many Southern schools remained segregated

Integration

• An integrationist attempt at a cure: busing
  • De facto segregation—occurs because of past social/economic conditions; residential patterns
  • De jure segregation—occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies
  • Court-ordered busing fails to improve educational outcomes
  • Resurgence of minority schools
    • De facto segregation
    • Search for socioeconomic integration

The Civil Rights Movement

• King’s philosophy of nonviolence
  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference forms
  • Advocates civil disobedience
  • Nonviolent demonstrations
    • Sit-ins, freedom rides, freedom marches
    • “I have a dream” speech
• Another approach–Black Power
  • Malcolm X advocates power, pride and separatism
  • Some says leads to white support of King
•  The Black Power salute was a human rights protest and one of the most overtly political statements in the 110 year history of the civil rights movement.

Escalation of the Civil Rights Movement

• Modern civil rights legislation
  • Civil Rights Act of 1957: Civil Rights Commission
  • Civil Rights Act of 1960: voting rights
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964
    • Forbids discrimination on basis of race, color, religion, gender and national origin
    • Title VII
    • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Modern civil rights legislation (continued)
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965
    • Outlaws discriminatory voter registration tests
    • Authorizes federal voter registration/administration
      • Dramatic increases in African American registration
  • Urban riots in late 1960s, early 1970s
  • Civil Rights Act of 1968
    • Housing reforms
    • Protections to civil rights workers

Consequences of Civil Rights Legislation

• Consequences of civil rights legislation
  • Political participation by African Americans increases
  • U.S. Census and civil rights
  • Lingering social/economic disparities
  • Renewed focus on preventing voter fraud
  • Race conscious or postracial society?

Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights

• Early women’s political movements
  • Abolition
  • Seneca Falls convention (suffrage)
• Women’s suffrage associations
  • NWSA and AWSA, later WCTU
  • Work to pass constitutional amendment
  • Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
• Second wave women’s movement (1960s)
  • Growing awareness of rights for all
  • Women entering workforce and politics
  • The Feminine Mystique and NOW
  • Rise of feminism
• Equal Rights Amendment
  • First introduced in Congress in 1923
  • “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
  • Only ratified by 35 out of necessary 38 states
  • Staunchest opponents conservative women
• Challenging gender discrimination in the courts and legislatures
  • Pregnancy Discrimination Act
  • Title IX of Education Amendments (1972)
  • Military combat role
• Women in politics today
  • 17% of Congress, but increasing
  • Cabinet and federal judicial roles

Women of the 112th Congress

• The 112th Congress includes 17 women in the U.S. Senate and 90 women in the House of Representatives

Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace

• Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Sexual harassment
• Wage discrimination
  • Equal Pay Act of 1963
  • Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
• True equality still a challenge
• Voting rights and the young
  • Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971)
  • “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.”
  • Vietnam War played significant role

Immigration, Latinos and Civil Rights

• Mexican American civil rights
  • Texas and California challenges
  • “Mexican schools”
  • Hernandez v. Texas: equal protection
  • Limited political participation
  • La Raza Unida Party
  • Chicano movement
• Continued influx of immigrants
  • Now over 12% of population; 80% from Latin America or Asia
  • Minority groups will collectively become majority by 2042
• Illegal immigration
  • Controversial Arizona law
  • Citizenship issues
  • Accommodating diversity with bilingual education

Affirmative Action

• Although discrimination prohibited by law, education and skills often lag
  • Affirmative action policies attempt to “level the playing field”
• The Bakke case
  • Reverse discrimination
  • Fourteenth Amendment challenges
• Further limits on affirmative action
  • Diversity is legitimate goal
  • Still controversial
• State ballot initiatives

Making Amends for Past Discrimination Through Reparations

• Intended to apologize/provide compensation
  • Crime victims
  • Descendants of slaves
  • Descendants of interned Japanese Americans
  • Native Americans
• Special protections for older Americans
  • Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967)

Securing Rights for Persons with Disabilities

• Rehabilitation Act
• Education for All Handicapped Children Act
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
  • Public accessibility
  • Public accommodation
  • Employers must “reasonably accommodate”
  • Supreme Court limited scope of ADA

The Rights and Status of Gays and Lesbians

• Stonewall events are catalyst
• Growth in gay and lesbian rights movement
  • Continuing struggle for status and rights
  • Matthew Shepard Act
• State and local laws targeting gays and lesbians
  • Many repealed in 1970s and 1980s
  • Lawrence v. Texas
• Gays and lesbians in the military
  • Traditionally viewed as incompatible
  • “Don’t ask, don’t tell” (1993)
  • “Don’t ask, don’t tell” repealed (2011)
• Same-sex marriages
  • Defense of Marriage Act (1996)
  • Some states turning to civil unions
  • State recognition of gay marriages
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