Transcript Civil Rights - Gonzaga College High School

Civil Rights--Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Civil Rights
• Lecture Outline
• “Civil Rights” refers to the positive acts
governments take to protect individuals
against arbitrary or discriminatory
treatment by government or individuals.
• The notion of “civil rights” has changed a
lot since the writing of the Constitution.
Civil Rights
• Lecture Outline
• The 14th Amendment made equality a
constitutional right by specifying that the
states could not “deny any person within
its jurisdiction equal protection of the
laws.”
– Generated more litigation than any other
constitutional provision.
– Methods other than litigation used to attain
civil rights have been protest, lobbying, civil
disobedience, and appeals to public opinion.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Slavery and Congress
• Despite Congress’s ban of
the slave trade in 1808
(expiration of the
constitutional prohibition),
slavery remained a
divisive issue.
– Agricultural south was
heavily dependent on
cheap slave labor while
the north was
industrializing.
– Cultural and political
differences intensified.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Slavery and Congress
(cont’d.)
• The most controversial
issue was the admission
of new states: slave or
free?
– 1820, MO applied for
admission as a slave
state. Admission=
Senate majority for
slave states.
– MO Compromise: admit
MO and ME to preserve
the balance of power.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Abolitionism: The
First Civil Rights
Movement
• Early abolitionist
movement purchased
slaves and transported
them to Africa in the
1800s.
– 1820s, 88 former slaves
formed the
independent state of
Liberia.
– Process was
expensive, dangerous,
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Abolitionism: The
First Civil Rights
Movement (cont’d.)
– The movement was
in decline until
William Lloyd
Garrison founded
the American AntiSlavery Society.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Abolitionism: The
First Civil Rights
Movement (cont’d.)
• People also began to
question the 2nd class
status of women.
– 1848, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Lucretia
Mott called the 1st
women’s rights
convention in Seneca
Falls, NY.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Abolitionism: The First Civil Rights
Movement (cont’d.)
• 1st women’s rights convention in Seneca
Falls, NY.
– Called for equal rights of citizenship, changes
in divorce and property rules, criminal laws,
and educational opportunities.
– Call for the extension of voting rights to
women failed to win unanimous approval.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Abolitionism: The
First Civil Rights
Movement (cont’d.)
• 1850, Harriet Beecher
Stowe published
Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
– Rallied public opinion
to the side of the
abolitionists.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Abolitionism: The First Civil Rights
Movement (cont’d.)
• Dred Scott v. Sandford came before the
Supreme Court at about the same time.
– Ruled the MO Compromise unconstitutional
and found that slaves were not citizens.
– Further inflamed public opinion.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• The Civil War & its Aftermath: Civil Rights
Laws and Constitutional Amendments
• The Civil War had many causes, including:
– Political conflict between North and South over
“nullification” (states declaring fedl law null & void).
– Political conflict between North and South over the right
to secession.
– The Northern states increasing political strength in the
House of Representatives.
– Southern agriculture v. Northern industry
– Southern conservative culture v. Northern progressive
ideas.
– Slavery.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Abolitionists pressured Lincoln to abolish slavery.
– 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
• Freed only slaves living in the Confederacy.
• Slavery was not truly abolished until the ratification of the
13th Amendment in 1865.
• The Civil War Amendments were passed following the war
– 13th banned all forms of slavery and involuntary
servitude.
– 14th guaranteed equal protection of the laws and due
process to all citizens.
– 15th specifically gave blacks the right to vote.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Southern states were required to ratify the
amendments as a condition for readmission to
the Union.
• They then defied the spirit and intent of the
amendments by passing Black Codes restricting
opportunities for African Americans.
– Forbade blacks from jury duty, appearing in public
places, etc.
• So in 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act,
but President Andrew Johnson vetoed it.
Congress overrode the veto (first override in
history).
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• The 14th Amendment was opposed by many
women’s groups because it specifically added the
word “male” to the Constitution.
• Women’s groups were also not pleased with the
15th Amendment, which guaranteed the right of
citizens to vote regardless of race, color, etc., but
made no mention of gender.
• Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, breaking from the
abolitionist movement, formed the National
Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1870.
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the
Right to Vote, 1800-1890
• Civil Rights and the Supreme Court
• Differences arose between Congress and the
Court over the rights of African Americans.
– In the Civil Rights Cases the Taney Court upheld Jim
Crow Laws that required segregation in public schools
and facilities and barred interracial marriages.
– Southern states also used poll taxes, property owning
qualifications, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and
other voting restrictions to undermine the 15th
Amendment.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• The Progressive
Era (1890-1920)
was a concerted
effort to reform
political,
economic, and
social affairs such
as child labor,
monopolies, and
prejudice.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• Concerns over the treatment of African
Americans heightened after Plessy v.
Ferguson.
– 1892, a group of African Americans tested a LA
law mandating racial segregation on all trains.
– Homer Plessy, 7/8 white and 1/8 black, was
arrested after boarding a train in New Orleans
and sitting in the whites only car.
– Suit argued racial segregation was illegal
under the 14th Amendment.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• The Court ruling
established the
“separate but
equal” doctrine.
• LA law
constitutional:
separate facilities
for blacks and
whites did not
violate the Equal
Protection Clause.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
– The Jim Crow system flourished.
• In 1898, the Court upheld the constitutionality of
literacy tests, continuing to sanction racial
segregation.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• The Founding of the
NAACP
• 1909, a number of
progressives met to
discuss the idea of
forming a group devoted
to the problems of “the
Negro.”
– Evolved into the
National Association
for the Advancement of
Colored People led by
Jane Addams and
W.E.B. DuBois.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• Key Women’s Groups
• 1890, the National American Woman
Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was
formed.
– Devoted to securing women’s voting rights.
• By 1920, women’s groups secured
ratification of the 19th Amendment
guaranteeing all women the right to vote.
• Organized activity on behalf of women did
not reemerge until the 60s.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• Litigating for Equality
• During the 30s, the NAACP embarked on a
long-range litigation strategy targeting
segregation in graduate and professional
schools as a challenge to Plessy.
– Gaines case against the U of MO Law School
(1936).
• The Court ruled MO had failed to meet the “separate
but equal” requirements of Plessy.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
– NAACP established
the Legal Defense
Fund (LDF) headed
by Thurgood
Marshall.
• LDF brought a
series of carefully
orchestrated test
cases before the
Court.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• 1946, H.M. Sweatt applied for admission to the U
of TX Law School, was rejected, and sued.
• George McLaurin was denied admission to a
doctoral program at the U of OK, and sued.
– The Court bundled these cases together.
• Amicus curiae briefs were filed by Southern states urging
the upholding of Plessy while the Truman Administration
urged its overturn.
• The Court ruled again that the states failed to live up to
“separate but equal” but did not overturn Plessy.
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka, KS
(actually 4 cases bundled
together), involved public
elementary or high
schools that mandated
racial segregation.
– The Court, under CJ
Earl Warren, overruled
Plessy saying separate
was inherently unequal.
The Civil Rights Movement
• School Desegregation After Brown
• One year later, in Brown II, the Court ruled that
segregated systems must be dismantled “with all
deliberate speed,” but desegregation would prove
to be a long and costly battle.
– Implementation was given over to federal court
judges (immunity from local political
pressure).
The Civil Rights Movement
• School Desegregation
After Brown (cont’d.)
– Gov. Orval Faubus of
AR moved to prevent
desegregation of Little
Rock Central HS using
the National Guard.
• Pres. Eisenhower
sent federal troops
to protect black
students who tried
to attend Central
HS.
The Civil Rights Movement
• A New Move for
African American
Rights
• Shortly after Brown II, the
civil rights movement
challenged segregation in
public transportation.
– Rosa Parks, a NAACP
employee, refused to
leave her seat and
move to the back of a
Montgomery, AL bus to
make room for a white
male passenger.
The Civil Rights Movement
• A New Move for
African American
Rights (cont’d.)
– Her arrest sparked a
clergy-initiated bus
boycott led by Martin
Luther King, Jr.
• A federal court ruled
that buses should
integrate.
• Nonviolent protest
would become a
staple of the civil
rights movement.
The Civil Rights Movement
• Formation of New Groups
• King went on to found the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
in 1957.
– Southern, Christian base. Clergy-run.
Nonviolent protest.
– College students joined sit-ins, boycotts, and
other nonviolent protests against Jim Crow
laws in the South.
– Demonstrations in Birmingham, AL turned
public opinion.
The Civil Rights Movement
• Formation of New
Groups (cont’d.)
• 1960, black and white
students formed the
Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee
(SNCC).
– First leaders included
Marion Barry and
Marion Wright
Edelman.
– More radical that SCLC.
– The “freedom riders”.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Civil Rights
Act of 1964
• 1963, JFK requested
Congress pass a law
banning discrimination in
public accommodation.
• MLK’s March on
Washington demanded a
ban on discrimination in all
aspects of life.
– The “I Have a Dream”
speech.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (cont’d.)
• Before Congress could act, JFK was
assassinated.
• LBJ succeeded JFK and put civil rights at
the top of his agenda.
– Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
over an 8 week filibuster led by Sen. Strom
Thurmond of SC.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (cont’d.)
• Provisions:
– Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration
and expedited voting rights lawsuits.
– Barred discrimination in public accommodations
engaged in interstate commerce.
– Authorized the Justice Dept to initiate lawsuits to
desegregate schools and public facilities.
– Allowed the fedl govt to withhold funds from
discriminatory state and local programs.
– Prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color,
religion, national origin, or sex.
– Created the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC).
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Civil Rights
Act of 1964
(cont’d.)
• Meanwhile, ghetto
riots rocked the
Northeast.
– No Jim Crow, but
pervasive poverty
and discrimination.
• The black power
separatist
movement led by
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Impact of the Civil Rights Act of
1964
• In spite of the Court’s rulings and the actions of
Congress, a full decade after Brown, less than 1%
of African American children in the South
attended integrated schools.
• The anti-discriminatory employment practices
aspect of the Act eventually opened up numerous
occupations to minorities but especially to
women.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Impact of the
Civil Rights Act of
1964 (cont’d.)
• In 1966, the National
Organization for
Women (NOW) was
formed to address the
many remaining
problems faced by
women.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Impact of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 (cont’d.)
• The Court’s denial of protection of the
14th Amendment to women led to the
push for an Equal Rights Amendment.
– Roe v. Wade (1973) served to gut ERA
momentum.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Equal Protection Clause and
Constitutional Standards of Review
• The 14th Amendment protects all citizens from
state action that violates equal protection of the
laws.
• However, in practice, the Supreme Court regards
certain rights as so fundamental that they
deserve a higher standard of scrutiny.
– When free speech or race are involved, the Court uses a
heightened standard of review called “strict scrutiny” to
determine constitutional validity.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Equal Protection Clause and
Constitutional Standards of Review
(cont’d.)
• Under “strict scrutiny”, a statute is
presumed to be unconstitutional unless
the state can provide “compelling
affirmative justifications”.
– Must be necessary to attain a permissible goal
and be the least restrictive means to that goal.
– Used in Brown.
The Civil Rights Movement
• The Equal Protection Clause and Constitutional
Standards of Review (cont’d.)
• In Reed v. Reed (1971), the Court finally extended 14th
Amendment protections to gender as well as race.
– Since, many practices have been found in violation:
• Single sex public nursing schools
• Laws that consider men adults at 21, but women at
18
• Laws that allow women, but not men, to receive
alimony
• Preemptory challenges in jury selection based on
gender
• VA’s all-male, publicly funded VMI.
Other Groups Mobilize for Rights
• Native
Americans
• Native Americans
have a unique status
under American law.
– 1924, Indians were
made US citizens and
given the right to vote.
– Not until the 60s that
they began to mobilize
against discrimination.
Other Groups Mobilize for Rights
• Native Americans
• Successful law suits were filed about
fishing rights, hunting rights, tribal land
claims, and taxation of tribal profits.
– Not so successful in religious rights.
Other Groups Mobilize for Rights
• Latino/a
Americans
• Latino/a
Americans can
date their push for
equal rights to
1965-75.
– Litigation
strategies, sit-ins,
boycotts, marches.
Other Groups Mobilize for Rights
• Latino/a Americans (cont’d.)
• With the dramatic increase in Latino/a
population, more political action is
anticipated.
– However, national origin divisions work
against coordinated efforts.
– Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, El
Salvadorans, Mexicans can each have different
salient issues.
Other Groups Mobilize for Rights
• Gays and Lesbians
• Have a much harder time than many other
groups in achieving fuller rights.
– But because of their higher than average
educational and income levels, they’re
becoming a force at the ballot box.
– In general, the Court has been unwilling to
expand privacy rights or special constitutional
protections to homosexuals (Bowers v.
Hardwick, 1986).
Other Groups Mobilize for Rights
• Disabled
Americans
• 1990, veterans and
other disabled were
able to convince
Congress to pass the
Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA).
– Wheelchair accessibility,
telecommunications devices
for deaf employees, modified
equipment and schedules to
accommodate the disabled.
Affirmative Action
• Affirmative action
generates a lot of
controversy.
• 1978, the Court first
fully addressed the
issue of affirmative
action in Bakke v.
Regents of the U of
CA.
– UC-Davis med school used
2 admissions committees-one for white students and
one for minority students.
Affirmative Action
•
•
Bakke’s grades and test
scores were higher than all
the African Americans
admitted to the medical
program.
– Court ruled his rejection
unconstitutional due to
the use of strict numerical
quotas in the admissions
process.
In 1986, when William
Rehnquist was elevated to
Chief Justice, the Court
began to rule against
affirmative action.
Continuity and Change
• Today, there is no consensus in this
society about race and gender relations.
– Many people argue that racism and sexism are
alive and well in America.
• Pres. Bush, and his much-heralded Spanish
language skills, pleased many in the Latino/a
communities, but African Americans were not as
pleased with Bush, especially due to allegations of
racial profiling.
• Pres. Obama and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,
that reversed a 2007 US Supreme Court decision that
made it harder to sue for pay discrimination.
Continuity and Change
• Most white Americans believe affirmative
action is no longer necessary.
• However, many black Americans have an
intense distrust of the American legal
system and feel affirmative action is still a
necessity.