CIVIL RIGHTS

1
CIVIL RIGHTS

• Chapter 6
• OConnor and Sabato
• American Government
• Continuity and Change

2

• In this chapter we will cover
• Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the Right to
  Vote, 1800-90
• The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Other Groups Mobilize for Rights

3
What are Civil Rights?

• Civil Rights refers to the positive acts
  governments take to protect against arbitrary or
  discriminatory treatment by government or
  individuals.

4
Slavery, Abolition, and Winning the Right to
Vote (1800-1890)

• Slavery and Congress
• In 1808 Congress banned slave trade.
• The South was heavily dependent on cheap slave
  labor.
• The North was becoming industrial.
• In 1820 Missouri applied for admission as a slave
  state.
• Admission of Missouri as a slave state would have
  given the slave states a majority in the Senate
  and was strongly opposed in the North.

5
Missouri Compromise (1820)

• Allowed the admission of Missouri as a slave
  state along with the admission of Maine as a free
  state.
• Balance of power was preserved but the conflict
  raged on.

6
The Abolitionist Movement

• Founded by William Lloyd Garrison, the American
  Anti-Slavery Society (1833) reinvigorated the
  abolitionist movement.
• Northern interest in emancipation, pushed by
  abolitionists, eroded relations between the North
  and South.
• William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator was the voice
  of abolitionism, calling for immediate
  emancipation of the slaves.

7
The Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

• Slavery was not the only practice that people
  began to question in the early years of America.
  Custom dictated that women not speak out in
  public and laws were constructed to make women
  second-class citizens.
• The Seneca Convention gathered people from New
  York State who believed that all men and women
  should be given the same rights of citizenship.

8
Heightened Tensions (1850s)

• In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle
  Toms Cabin.
• In Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) the Supreme Court
  ruled that slaves were not citizens of the United
  States.
• Could not bring suits in federal court
• Missouri Compromise ruled unconstitutional

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The Civil War and Its AftermathSome Direct
Causes for Conflict

• Conflict over slavery (the Taney Court left
  little choice)
• Conflict over nullification
• Norths increasing strength in Congress
• Southern agriculture v. Northern industry
• Southern conservative culture v. Northern
  progressive ideas

10
Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

• Abraham Lincoln, on January 1, 1863, during the
  American Civil War, declared all "slaves within
  any State, or designated part of a State ... then
  ... in rebellion, ... shall be then,
  thenceforward, and forever free."

11
The Civil War Amendments

• Thirteenth Amendment banned all forms of
  slavery and involuntary servitude
• Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal
  protection of the laws and due process to all
  citizens
• Fifteenth Amendment specifically gives black
  men the right to vote

Shortly after ratification the Southern states
devised ways around these amendments by passing
laws (Black Codes) that restricted opportunities
for black Americans.
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Black Codes

• Southern states passed laws (Black Codes) that
  prohibited black Americans from
• Voting
• Sitting on juries
• Or even appearing in public places
• In direct response to the Civil Rights Laws and
  Thirteenth Amendment requiring ratification as a
  pre-condition for southern states to be
  readmitted to the union

13
Jim Crow Laws

• During the years of Jim Crow, state laws mandated
  racial separation of many places, including
• schools
• restaurants
• hotels
• public transportation
• theatres
• restrooms
• Many Jim Crow Laws banned interracial marriages.
• These laws remained in effect throughout the
  Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

14
Intent of the Fifteenth Amendment

• To avoid the intent of the Fifteenth Amendment,
  Southerners moved to exclude African American
  voters with
• Poll taxes
• Literacy tests
• Whites-only primaries
• Grandfather clauses

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Sample Questions from a Literacy Test

• State of Louisiana
• One wrong answer denotes failure of the test. (10
  min)
• Draw a line around the number or letter of this
  sentence.
• Draw a line under the last word in this line.
• Cross out the longest word in this line.
• Draw a line around the shortest word in this
  line.
• Circle the first, first letter of the alphabet in
  this line.
• In the space below draw three circles, one inside
  the other.
• Above the letter X make a small cross.
• Draw a line through the letter below that comes
  earliest in the alphabet. ZVSEDGMKYTPHC
• Draw a line through the letter below that comes
  last in the alphabet. ZVSEDGMKYTPHC
• In the space below write the word noise backwards
  and place a dot over what would be its second
  letter should it have been written forward.
• Give your age in days.

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Thirteenth Amendment

• Banned Slavery
• Black Codes immediately implemented to restrict
  opportunities
• Civil Rights Act 1866 along with the Fourteenth
  Amendment to ensure full rights of citizenship
  specifically to males.
• Provided avenue for blacks to file discrimination
  suits in the Federal Courts.

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Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments

• Women opposed due to language extending voting
  rights only to males.
• Fifteenth Amendment excludes mention of
  sex.
• Led to the formation of the NWSA started by
  Anthony and Stanton

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• Bradwell v Illinois Myra Bradwell passes
  Illinois bar exam but is denied admission to the
  Illinois Bar
• The natural and proper timidity and delicacy
  which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits
  it for many of the occupations of civil life
• Minor v. Happersett NWSA inspired
• One of a series of test cases by womens rights
  activists
• Attempts to register to vote in St. Louis, MO
• Court rules voting is not a privilege of
  citizenship

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After Fourteenth Amendment

• Civil Rights Act of 1875 equal access to public
  accommodations such as theatres, restaurants,
  transportation, etc.
• Jim Crow Laws implemented requires segregation
  in public schools and facilities like railroads,
  restaurants and theatres
• The Civil Rights Cases (1883) convictions of
  those violating the Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Many were overturned by SC
• Supreme Court upholds Jim Crow Laws
• Argued that private acts of discrimination are
  not unlawful

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Progressive Era Womens Movement is Strengthened

• Muller v. Oregon State Law limiting women to 10
  hour work days. (National Consumers League)
• Employer convicted under new law
• Law is upheld in Supreme Court
• Fragile condition of women and their important
  role in child rearing is of public interest
• Brandeis Brief used sociological data to win
  this case
• NWSA departs from earlier notions of equality to
  argue for voting rights based on Muller
• Nineteenth Amendment - women given right to vote
  under notion of public interest decided in
  Muller (National Consumers League)

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2. The Push for Equality,1890-1954

• The Progressive Era (1889-1920) saw many reforms
  in
• Child labor laws
• Monopolies
• Prejudice
• However, in what many call the Supreme Courts
  darkest hour, the Court legitimized the principle
  of separate but equal in its ruling Plessy v.
  Ferguson (1896).

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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• Homer Adolph Plessy (7/8ths white, 1/8th black)
  boarded a train in New Orleans and sat in the
  whites only car.
• Plessy was arrested when he refused to sit in the
  colored car.
• Plessy sued arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment
  made racial segregation illegal.

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Separate But Equal Doctrine

• The Supreme Court ruled in Plessy that the
  Louisiana law was constitutional and that
  separate but equal facilities for blacks did not
  violate the Equal Protection Clause.
• The high-court Plessy ruling led to a profusion
  of Jim Crow laws.
• By 1914 every Southern state had passed laws that
  created two separate societies--one black, the
  other white.

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The Lone Dissenter in Plessy

• Justice John Harlan showed foresight when he
  wrote
• Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither
  knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In
  respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal
  before the law. In my opinion, the judgment this
  day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as
  pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal
  in the Dred Scott case.

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Organizations Form to Push for Equality

• Key Womens Groups
• NAWSA(National American Womens Suffrage
  Association AWSA and NWSA merged
• Temperance League ban alcohol
• National Consumers League fought for 10 hour
  work days

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Women are Allowed to Vote

• Coalition of womens groups secured the
  ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
  guaranteeing all women the right to vote.
• Membership in NAWSA growing from 10,000 to 2
  million members

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NAACP

• Formed in 1909
• Oswald Garrison Villard founder
• Jane Addams
• Moorfield Storey Pres.Bar Assoc.
• W.E.B. Dubois Niagra Movement
• Group of educated black African Americans

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Legal Defense Fund (LDF) of the NAACP

• Formed in 1939 to pursue equality in the nations
  courts.
• Led by Thurgood Marshall
• First African American Supreme Court Justice
  (1967-1991)

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Litigating For Equality

• Brandeis type briefs using sociological data to
  support legal arguments
• Targeted law schools judges would be
  sympathetic and less threatening.
• Supreme Court shifts focus from economic
  liberties to individual rights
• Lloyd Gaines seeks admission to University of
  Missouri Law School(1936)
• Court orders Missouri to admit or build

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Litigating for Equality

• NAACP targets Law Schools judges would be
  sympathetic
• Lloyd Gains Graduate of Missouri all black
  college
• Applies for admission to UofM Law School and
  denied
• Court orders Missouri to admit or set up a law
  school just for him

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Litigating for Equality

• The NAACP set up a legal defense fund (LDF) in
  1939 to pursue equality in the nations courts.
• The Court ruled in Sweatt v. Painter that it
  would be impossible for the State of Texas to
  provide an equal legal education in a separate
  setting.

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Litigating for Equality

• In 1950, the Court ruled in favor of Mr. Sweatt
  and forced the University of Texas Law School to
  admit him.
• In Sweatt v. Painter the Supreme Court struck
  down the system of "separate but equal" in
  graduate school education and paved the way for
  the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of
  Education in 1954.

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Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Linda Carol Brown was not allowed to attend a
  school several blocks from her house because it
  was for white students. Instead, she had to walk
  several miles to the nearest all-black school.
• LDF led by Marshall argued the unconstitutionality
  of Plessey

34
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• The NAACP argued that the intellectual,
  psychological, and financial damage that befell
  black Americans precluded any finding of equality
  under the separate but equal policy.
• Doll Study (Brandeis type approach)

35
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Sixty-four years after the Plessy decision the
  Court struck down the "separate but equal"
  doctrine in the landmark Brown v. Board of
  Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) decision.

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3. The Civil Rights Movement

• The Brown v. Board decision sparked the
  development of the modern civil rights movement.

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With All Deliberate SpeedSchool Desegregation
After Brown

• The Court struggled over a remedy.
• A year later, in Brown II (1955), the Court ruled
  that segregated systems must be dismantled with
  all deliberate speed.
• Federal district judges enforce

38
Cooper v. Aaron and Little Rock Central High
School

• School asks for two and half year delay in
  implementing Brown
• Seen as an evasive scheme
• Courts rules that
• no state legislator or executive or judicial
  officer can war against the Constitution without
  violating his undertaking to support it.

39
The Triumph of Non-Violent Protest

• In 1955, Rosa Parks challenged segregation in
  public transportation.
• A new young preacher in Montgomery, Martin Luther
  King, Jr., was selected to lead the challenge
  against the segregated bus system.
• After a year the boycott succeeded.

40
Non-Violent Protests

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated a
  nonviolent approach to forcing social change.
  King modeled his philosophy on that of Gandhi,
  who successfully employed the nonviolent approach
  in an Indian revolt against the British shortly
  after World War II.

41
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

• Dr. King founded the SCLC in 1957. This group
  used non-violent means such as
• Freedom rides, sit-ins, and boycotts were used to
  open segregated lunch counters, waiting rooms,
  public swimming pools, and other public places.
• Often local police attacked the peaceful
  protestors or chose not to defend them from
  attacking segregationists.

42
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College
(1960)

• Sit ins at local lunch counters at Woolworths
• Led to more challenges of Jim Crow Laws
• Brought attention of national news media

43
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

• Freedom Rides to force desegregation of bus
  stations
• Increasing numbers of white college students from
  the North play a role
• Marion Barry, John Lewis, Marian Wright Edelman
  (first leaders)

44
Birmingham, Alabama1963

• Stronghold of segregation
• King launched massive nonviolent demonstrations
• Police violence against protestors
• Media images influence President John F. Kennedy
  to propose civil rights legislation
• States legislatures in South would never repeal
  Jim Crow Laws

45
The March on Washington

• In August 1963, more than 250,000 people marched
  peacefully in Washington, D.C. to show support
  for President Kennedys congressional motion
  banning discrimination in public places and
  accommodations.
• Kennedy assassinated Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas, TX

46
The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Led by President Lyndon B. Johnson
• Civil Rights top priority
• Expanded to include housing, jobs, and equal
  opportunity issues
• Filibuster led by Senator Strom Thurmond
• Cloture invoked after eight weeks of filibuster

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter
  registration.
• Barred discrimination in public accommodation.
• Authorized the U.S. Justice Department to
  initiate lawsuits to desegregate schools and
  public facilities.
• Allowed the federal government 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) to monitor and enforce bans on
  employment discrimination.

48
The Impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Southerners argued Civil Rights Act violated the
  Constitution giving unwarranted use of federal
  power to Congress
• 1965 Supreme Court upholds act stating that
  Congresss commerce power gives its actions
  legitimacy
• A full decade after Brown, less than 1 of
  African American children in the South attended
  integrated schools.
• Over time, these rulings and laws opened up
  numerous occupations to minorities and women.

49
Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg School District

• In 1971, 29 of black students still in all black
  schools
• Made de jure discrimination illegal
• Required increased busing, racial quotas, pairing
  of schools
• de facto discrimination due to housing patterns
  not effected
• Dismantling of federal desegregation plans since
  1992

50
Employment and Duke Power Company (1971)

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act violation
• Employer held liable for discriminatory
  employment practice
• High school education and test requirement for
  promotion eligibility
• Duke has burden of proof in showing that tests
  were a business necessity
• business necessity notion important in future
  cases involving suits of discrimination against
  women in employment

51
The Womens Rights Movement

• Hoyt v. Florida (1961) (abused wife murders
  husband)
• Argued trial by all-male jury violated 14th
  Amendment
• Harlan rejects contention (overruled in 1975)
• 1961, President Kennedy created a Commission on
  the Status of Women. The Commissions report,
  titled American Women, detailed pervasive
  discrimination against women.

52
The Womens Rights Movement

• The Feminine Mystique (1963) added to the dawning
  recognition that something was wrong.
• Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 included a
  prohibition against gender discrimination, the
  EEOC failed to enforce the law.
• 1966 - Women activists form National Organization
  of Women (NOW)

53
Equal Rights AmendmentRenamed Womens Equality
Amendment

• Propaganda campaign to create fear
• ERA would force women out of the home
• Men would not longer be responsible for wives
  support
• Linked, erroneously, ERA to Roe v Wade
• States failed to ratify (died June 30, 1982)
• Courts expansive view of 14th Amendment
  diminished the need for ERA amendment
• Unconstitutional practices struck down using
  strict scrutiny for suspect classifications

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Statutory Remedies

• Equal Pay Act of 1963.
• Large gap still exists between pay for men and
  pay for women
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 key
  victories
• Sexual harassment as sex discrimination
• Law firms included
• Allowable voluntary affirmative action programs
  for women
• Title IX of Education Amendments of 1972.
• Sexual harassment of students by teachers
• Home economics, industrial arts and technology
  education
• Team sports for females
• Bush administration actively opposed Title IX and
  allowed for reduced spending for womens sports
  teams
• 2005 Supreme Court allows for retaliatory
  lawsuits

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Sexual Harassment Filings, Fiscal Years 1990-2001
56

• The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is
  a United States federal law. It was passed as
  Title IV, sec. 40001-40703 of the Violent Crime
  Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 HR 3355
  and signed as Public Law 103-322 by President
  Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. It provided
  1.6 billion to enhance investigation and
  prosecution of the violent crime perpetrated
  against women, increased pre-trial detention of
  the accused, imposed automatic and mandatory
  restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil
  redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave
  unprosecuted.
• VAWA was drafted by Senator Joe Biden's office
  with support from a number of advocacy
  organizations including Legal Momentum and The
  National Organization for Women, which described
  the bill as "the greatest breakthrough in civil
  rights for women in nearly two decades."
• VAWA was reauthorized by Congress in 2000, and
  again in December 2005. The bill was signed into
  law by President George W. Bush on January 5,
  2006. 1
• VAWA will be up for reauthorization in 2010.
• edit Proposed Bill International Violence
  Against Women Act of 2007
• In 2007 Senator Biden proposed the International
  Violence Against Women Act. The bill did not pass
  either the Senate or the House. The bill is
  far-reaching in its scope and controversial in
  many of its provisions
• Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to
  establish in the Department of State the Office
  of Women's Global Initiatives (which shall
  replace the Office of International Women's
  Issues) to coordinate U.S. government efforts
  respecting international women's issues.
  Establishes within the Department an Advisory
  Commission on International Violence Against
  Women.
• Directs the President to develop a comprehensive
  strategy to prevent violence against women and
  girls. Directs the Coordinator of the Women's
  Global Initiatives to ensure that foreign
  assistance programs incorporate measures to
  prevent and respond to violence against women and
  girls. Provides that U.S. training of foreign
  military and police forces incorporates training
  on prevention of violence against women and
  girls.
• Directs the Department and the United States
  Agency for International Development (USAID) to
  assist programs that prevent and respond to
  violence against women and girls in all
  humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict
  operations. Directs the Secretary of State to
  (1) encourage U.N. member states to expand the
  number of female members of U.N. peacekeeping
  missions and (2) take emergency measures to
  respond to violence against women and girls
  during conflict or post-conflict operations.
• Expresses the sense of Congress that the United
  Nations should strengthen its ability to prevent
  violence against women and girls by U.N. military
  and civilian personnel. Provides that Foreign
  Service training include instruction on
  prevention of violence against women and girls.
  Authorizes appropriations to support the United
  Nations Development Fund for Women Trust Fund in
  Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against
  Women

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4. Other Groups Mobilize for Rights

• Denial of civil rights has led many other
  disadvantaged groups to mobilize to achieve
  greater civil rights.
• Their efforts to achieve those rights have many
  parallels to the efforts made by African
  Americans and women.

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Hispanic Americans

• Hispanic Americans borrowed tactics from the
  African American civil rights movement including
  sit-ins, boycotts, marches, and activities that
  drew publicity.
• The Hispanic community also relied heavily on
  litigation strategies.
• MALDEF and others have been successful in
  expanding rights and opportunities for Hispanics.

"One of the heroic figures of our time."Senator
Robert F. Kennedy Cesar Estrada Chavez founded
and led the first successful farm workers' union
in U.S. history.
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Hispanic Americans

• Hernandez v. Texas Mexican Americans entitled
  to jury that includes Mexicans
• Largest and fastest growing group in the U.S.
• High levels of activism and rallies begin in
  1960s.
• United Farm Workers Union, National Council of
  La Raza.
• Use of litigation by LULAC and MALDEF.
• Test cases involving funding schools with large
  minority populations
• Bilingual education, election rules/apportionment,
  fair hiring practices
• Voting, education, and immigration are major
  issues.

60
Native Americans

• Native American are the first true Americans,
  and their status under U.S. law is unique.
• Indian tribes under the Constitution are
  considered distinct governments.

61
American Indians

• Unique status under U.S. law.
• History of isolation and then assimilation.
• Native American Rights Fund handles litigation.
• Major issues are hunting, fishing, and land
  rights.
• Also have had struggles about religious freedom.
• Growth of Indian casinos.

62
Americans with Disabilities

• 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Requires employers to accommodate the disabled.
• Tennessee v. Lane (2004) binds states to law.
• American Association of People with
  Disabilities.
• Often work with right to life groups.

63
Affirmative Action

• Gives special advantages to disadvantaged
  groups.
• Bakke decision lays groundwork for 1980s battle.
• Supreme Court plays major role.
• 2003 Grutter and Gratz decisions.
• Quotas not acceptable, some preference is okay.

64
Workplace Discrimination

• Equal pay suits at Wal-Mart.
• Ledbetter decision sets time limit for pay
  equity suits.
• Concern about hiring illegal immigrants.
• Violations of immigrants rights after 9/11.

65
Gays and Lesbians

• Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
• Dont ask, dont tell
• Romer v. Evans (1996)
• Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale (2000)

66
Essay Questions for Test

• Discuss the history and outcome of the Civil
  Rights struggle for African Americans in the
  United States from the Abolitionist movement
  through 1965.
• Discuss the progress of gender equality in the
  United States from the Civil War through 1982.