Civil Rights

Chapter 6

Pearson Education, Inc. © 2008

American Government: Continuity and Change9th Editionto accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, Texas, and Essentials Editions

O’Connor and Sabato

Civil Rights

Refers to government-protected rights of individuals against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by governments or individuals based on categories such as: race, sex, national origin, age, religion or sexual orientation

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

Slavery and Congress Congress banned the slave trade in 1808. 1820: Blacks made up 25% of the population.

Were the majority in some southern states Westward expansion: free v. slave states 1820: Missouri Compromise

Prohibited slavery about 36th degree latitude Missouri entered as a slave state. Maine carved out of Massachusetts to become a

free state and maintain balance.

First Civil Rights Movement: Abolition and Women’s Rights William Lloyd Garrison

1830s: founded the American Anti-Slavery Society Had more than 250,000 members Women were not allowed to participate equally in its

activities. Garrison, its founder, and Frederick Douglas left the

Society. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

Not allowed to participate in World Anti-Slavery Society Meeting in London

Made them focus on how women’s status similar to that of slaves (few rights)

First women’s rights meeting 1848 Seneca Falls, NY

The 1850s: The Calm Before the Storm

Gold Rush Cities grew Railroads and telegraph increased mobility

and communication Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold more than 300,000

copies (equal to 4 million today) Dred Scott decision

Found that Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional

Slaves were not U.S. citizens and could not bring suits in federal court

The Civil War and Its Aftermath: Civil Rights Laws and Constitutional Amendments

Civil War Amendments Thirteenth: Specifically bans slavery in the

United States Ratified by Southern states as a condition of

their readmission to the Union after the war Used black codes to restrict opportunities for

newly-freed slaves Fourteenth: Guarantees equal protection and

due process of the laws to all U.S. citizens Fifteenth: Specifically enfranchised newly-freed

male slaves

Civil Rights, Congress, and the Supreme Court Jim Crow laws

Enacted by southern states, these laws discriminated against blacks by creating “whites only” schools, theaters, hotels and other public accommodations

Civil Rights Cases (1883) Name attached to 5 cases brought under the Civil

Rights Act of 1875 The Supreme Court decided that discrimination in a

variety of public accommodations (theaters, hotels, and railroads) could not be prohibited by the act because it was private, not state, discrimination.

Moral reinforcement for the Jim Crow system

Civil Rights, Congress, and the Supreme Court

Southerners had to avoid the intent of the 15th Amendment. Amendment did not guarantee suffrage; it

simply said that states could not deny anyone the right to vote on account of race or color. So…use some other criteria. Poll taxes Property requirement Literacy or understanding tests Grandfather clause

The Push for Equality, 1890-1954

Progressive Era (1890-1920) Concerted effort to reform political,

economic, and social affairs Child labor, monopolies of economic power,

limited suffrage, political corruption, prejudice were targets.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Court found that separate but equal

accommodations did not violate the equal protection of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Founding of the NAACP

Oswald Garrison Villard, publisher of the New York Evening Post 1909: conference to discuss problem of

emerging race riots W.E.B. Dubois, founder of the Niagara Movement

Group of educated African Americans focused on the injustices suffered by African Americans

Together formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Key Women’s Groups 1890: National and American Women Suffrage

Associations merged New organization: National American Women Suffrage

Association Headed by Susan B. Anthony Focused on securing suffrage primarily Helped by mushrooming of women’s groups

Temperance, workforce rules, sanitation, public morals, education, and so forth

National Consumer’s League: 8-hour work day Muller v. Oregon (1908)

19th Amendment (1920) guaranteed women the right to vote

Litigating for Equality

1930s: NAACP launched full-scale challenge in federal courts Focus on Plessy decision Test cases

Jim Crow in schools Supreme Court: More emphasis on individual

freedoms and personal liberties Gaines case: Court ordered Missouri to either

admit Gaines to the school or set up a law school for him

NAACP created separate legal defense fund.

Litigating for Equality

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Decision holding that school segregation is

inherently unconstitutional because it violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection

Marked the end of legal segregation in the United States

Plessy’s separate but equal doctrine was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

How would Brown be interpreted and implemented?

The Civil Rights Movement

School Desegregation after Brown “All deliberate speed” Little Rock Central High School

Confrontation between state and federal government

Cooper v. Aaron (1958) Unanimous decision “No state legislator or executive or judicial

officer can war against the Constitution without violating his undertaking to support it.”

A New Move for African American Rights Rosa Parks challenged segregated bus system

Was arrested for violating Alabama law banning integration of public facilities, including buses

Initiated boycott of buses Martin Luther King, Jr. a new, 26-year old minister,

selected to lead the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association

Montgomery officials and businesses began to harass African Americans

Court ordered that city buses must integrate Emergence of nonviolent protest in civil rights

movement

Formation of New Groups Martin Luther King Jr. launched the Southern Christian

Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. Had a southern base Rooted closely in black religious culture Importance of nonviolent protest and civil

disobedience Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Offshoot of SCLC, but more of a grassroots organization

Perceived as more radical Freedom rides

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Leading to the legislation

Kennedy request on banning discrimination in public accommodations

March on Washington led by King “I Have a Dream” speech

Kennedy assassinated Johnson, southern-born VP, put civil rights on top of

his agenda as new president. Opposition from Strom Thurmond—longest filibuster

in history of Senate (8 weeks) Public opinion changes (southern attitudes)

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The legislation, once passed…

Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and expedited voting rights lawsuits.

Barred discrimination in public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.

Authorized the Department of Justice to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and schools.

Provided for the withholding of federal funds from discriminatory state and local programs.

Prohibited discrimination in employment on grounds of race, color, religion, and national origin, or sex.

Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to monitor and enforce the bans on employment discrimination.

Impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Lawsuits quickly emerged to challenge the act.

Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality. Education

Supreme Court ruled that all state-imposed segregation (de jure discrimination) must be eliminated at once.

De fact discrimination Racial discrimination that results from practice rather than

the law (housing patterns, for example) Employment

Title VII prohibits discrimination in workplace Notion of “business necessity”

The Women’s Rights Movement Litigation for Equal Rights

Hoyt v. Florida (1961) Trial by all-male jury acceptable Decision reversed in 1975

Kennedy creates President’s Commission on the Status of Women Report, American Women (1963) documented

pervasive discrimination against women EEOC failed to enforce Title VII as it applied to sex

discrimination National Organization for Women (NOW)

Equal Rights Amendment Strong movement on ratification; originally presented as

simple correction to the Constitution; became politicized; halted by Roe v. Wade decision

The Equal Protection Clause and Constitutional Standards of Review 14th Amendment protects all U.S. citizens from state action

that violates equal protection of the laws. Rational basis or minimum rationality test Heightened standard required when

First Amendment rights or suspect classifications such as race are involved Suspect classification: category or class, such as race, that triggers

the highest standard of scrutiny from the Supreme Court Strict scrutiny

Heightened standard of review used by the Supreme Court to determine the constitutional validity of a challenged practice

Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Reed v. Reed (1971) Craig v. Boren (1976)

Violations of the Fourteenth Amendment

Single-sex public nursing schools Laws that consider males adults at 21 but

females at 18 Laws that allow women but not men to receive

alimony Virginia’s maintenance of an all-male military

college Contrast: Court has upheld the following:

Draft registration provisions for males only State statutory rape laws that apply only to

female victims

Statutory Remedies for Sex Discrimination Title VII: prohibits discrimination by private

and(after 1972) public employers Key victories under Title VII:

Consideration of sexual harassment as sex discrimination

Inclusion of law firms, which many argued were private partnerships, in the coverage of the act

A broad definition of what can be considered sexual harassment, which includes same-sex harassment

Allowance of voluntary affirmative action programs to redress historical discrimination against women

Statutory Remedies for Sex Discrimination

Title IX Provision of the Educational Amendments of

1972 that bars educational institutions receiving federal funds from discriminating against female students

Key victories under Title IX Holding school boards or districts responsible for

sexual harassment of students by teachers

Other Groups Mobilize for Rights Hispanic Americans

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund/LULAC Expand voting rights and political opportunities

Native Americans “genocide by law”; isolation Dawes Act in 1887 Litigation: hunting, fishing, land rights and access to sacred places,

religious freedom NARF and the INDN

Gays and Lesbians Advantaged in terms of education and income status Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Lesbian Rights Project Romer v. Evans (1996) Lawrence v. Texas (2003) Same-sex marriage

Disabled Americans Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

Continuing Controversies in Civil Rights Affirmative Action

Policies designed to give special attention or compensatory treatment to members of a previously disadvantaged group

Bakke case Other decisions found that a factory and union could

voluntarily adopt a quota system in selecting black workers over more senior white workers for a training program Union workers were outraged. Left Democratic Party to vote for

Reagan in 1980 Reagan took political stand against affirmative action Court generally stood by the process, but has moved to limit

such programs and make it harder to prove employment discrimination

1996 the 5th U.S. Circuit also ruled that the University of Texas Law School’s affirmative action admissions program was unconstitutional. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal letting their decision stand.

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

Pay Equity and Other Issues of Workplace Discrimination Wal-Mart

Gender discrimination: Claim that women were paid lower wages and offered fewer opportunities for advancement than males

June 2004, a federal judge broadened the suit to include 1.6 million women in a class action law suit

Ethnic origin discrimination: Claim by 9 illegal immigrants who worked as janitors that Wal-Mart paid them lower wages and gave them fewer benefits based on their ethnic origin

Another group claimed that Wal-Mart knowingly hired illegal immigrants and in doing so violated the workers’ civil rights by refusing to pay Social Security and other wage compensation benefits