CIVIL RIGHTS

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CIVIL RIGHTS
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Civil Rights and Slavery

• Slavery issue was very divisive
• Abolitionist movement first civil rights
  movement
  
• Tie-in with womens rights
• Dred Scott Case
• Court ruled that slaves were not US citizens and
  could not bring suit.
  
• Civil War

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Civil War Amendments

• Adopted to provide freedom and equality to black
  Americans
  
• 13th Amendment abolished slavery
• 14th Amendment provided that freed slaves are
  citizens of the US ensures due process of law
  and provides for equal protection of the laws
  
• 15th Amendment ensured the right to vote to black
  Americans

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Law Interpretation

• Discrimination continued regardless of
  Amendments
  
• Courts interpreted national and state citizenship
  as separate and distinct
  
• Civil Rights cases
• Courts allowed states to prevent voting other
  than racial (poll tax, literacy test, etc.)
  
• Led to a situation of racial segregation

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Pushing for Equality

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• doctrine of separate-but-equal
• Formation of NAACP and womens groups
• Passage of 19th Amendment (vote to women)
• NAACP and litigation--test cases
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• Overturned Plessy decision ...Separate
  educational facilities are inherently unequal.
  
• Use of equal protection clause of 14th amendment

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Civil Rights Movement

• Movement to advance racial equality
• Civil Disobedience
• nonviolent violation of law, led by Martin Luther
  King, Jr.
  
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Voting Rights Act of 1965

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Effects of Civil Rights Act

• Education
• Employment
• found liable of discrimination if effects of
  practices excludes people
  
• Womens Rights Movement
• Equal Rights Amendment
• equality of rights under the law shall not be
  denied or abridged by the US or any State on
  account of sex.

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Other Groups Mobilize

• Native Americans
• Hispanic Americans
• Homosexuals
• Disabled Americans
• Americans with Disabilities Act

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Affirmative Action

• Policy or program designed to redress prior
  discrimination.
  
• Debate often centers around the question of
  equality of opportunity v. equality of results
  
• Movement from equality of opportunity toward
  equality of results