Civil Rights

ObjectivesObjectives• Identify how the U.S. Constitution and the U.S.

Supreme Court addressed slavery prior to the Civil War.• Examine the history of discrimination against African

Americans and their struggle for equal treatment after the Civil War.• Evaluate the role of the courts in expanding African

American civil rights in the twentieth century.

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ObjectivesObjectives• Review the history of gender inequality in the United

States.• Analyze the roots and ramifications of ethnic

discrimination in the United States.• Investigate how the fight for civil rights has moved

beyond race, gender, and ethnic origins.• Explain the actions the federal government has taken

toward redressing past discrimination, and evaluate the effectiveness of these actions.

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Slavery in America

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• Civil Rights: Freedom from governmental discrimination (unequal treatment) based on age, gender, race, or other personal characteristics.• How did the Supreme Court address slavery

prior to the Civil War?• Article 1, Section 9 prohibited Congress from abolishing the

importation of slaves until 1808.• Article IV, Section 2, fugitive slave clause• Legality of slavery left to individual states after importation

ended• Others argued slaves were property protected by the Fifth

Amendment• Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery banned north of 36

degrees 30 latitude line.• Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) territories allowed to decide• 1857 Court found that Congress had acted unconstitutionally

by banning slavery in the Missouri Compromise.

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Slavery and the Supreme Court

• 1842 Supreme Court invalidates a Pennsylvania law that protected the due process rights of African Americans.• Stated that only the federal

government had exclusive power to regulate the return of fugitive slaves

• Amistad case • Victory for abolitionists

• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)• Supreme Court – abandoned

“once free, always free” precedent

• Chief Justice Taney: African Americans “subordinate and inferior class of beings” who were disqualified from U.S. citizenship and unable to sue in federal court.

• Fierce reaction to this decision• Political debate crystallized

• Emancipation proclamation (1863)• Union victory in Civil War

abolished slavery: 13th Amendment

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Civil Rights for African Americans after the Civil War• Thirteenth Amendment (1865)• Abolished slavery and other forms of involuntary servitude

• Fourteenth Amendment (1868)• No state shall “deny to any person within it jurisdiction the equal

protection of the laws.”• Fifteenth Amendment (1870)• Guaranteed that the right to vote would not be “denied or abridged by the

United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

• It took over a century before these amendments would fully take effect.

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Black Codes & the Civil Rights Acts of the 1860s and 1870sBlack Codes & the Civil Rights Acts of the 1860s and 1870s• Black codes: laws passed in the Southern states that were

used to continue the legal discrimination that existed for African Americans.• South Carolina law required African Americans who

contracted to work for white employers to be known as “servants” and to reference employers as “masters.”• All the codes allowed unemployed blacks to be arrested for

vagrancy and hired out to pay off their fine. Could be arrested and hired out for as long as a year.• Black codes denied African Americans certain occupations,

segregated them, banned marrying whites, and owning firearms. 8

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Black Codes & the Civil Rights Acts of the 1860s and 1870sBlack Codes & the Civil Rights Acts of the 1860s and 1870s• Congress passed the Civil

Rights Act of 1866 to invalidate these codes over the veto of President Andrew Johnson.• Civil Rights Act of 1875:

Congress outlawed discrimination in businesses (restaurants, theatres)• Use of the “enabling

clause”

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Supreme Court Intervenes:Civil Rights Cases and Plessy v. FergusonSupreme Court Intervenes:Civil Rights Cases and Plessy v. Ferguson• Protections that came with the Civil Rights Acts were short-

lived.• Civil Rights Cases (1883) 8 to 1 decision that Congress did not

have the authority to outlaw private discrimination.• Enabling clause only empowered Congress to pass laws

preventing state-sanctioned discrimination.• Lone dissent from John Marshall Harlan, justice from

Kentucky. He had been a slave owner, but later became a champion of civil rights.

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Supreme Court Intervenes:Civil Rights Cases and Plessy v. FergusonSupreme Court Intervenes:Civil Rights Cases and Plessy v. Ferguson

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) separate but equal doctrine; 7 to 1 ruling in which Court upheld the Louisiana Law that required separate accommodations for blacks and whites on railroad cars.• Harlan again the lone dissenter: “thin disguise of ‘equal’

accommodations.”• Majority of Court embraced the view that the equal

protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment allowed segregation of races.

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The Rise of Jim Crow Laws and Barriers to Voting• Jim Crow laws• State and local laws requiring the segregation of the races, including

prohibition of interracial marriage and mandating racially segregated schools.

• Included: poll taxes, literacy tests with grandfather clauses• Poll taxes upheld by Supreme Court unanimously in Breedlove v.

Suttles (1937) • Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) banned use of poll taxes in federal

elections, and shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court declared the use of poll taxes in state elections to be unconstitutional in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966) overturning Breedlove.

• Guinn v. United States (1915) Court struck down the use of grandfather clauses.

• Literacy tests suspended through the passage of the Voting Rights Act (1965)

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African American Civil Rights in the 20th CenturyAfrican American Civil Rights in the 20th Century• Courts played a key role in expanding the civil rights of

African Americans in the 20th century.• NAACP – turned to courts to accomplish civil rights goals in the

1920s.• Legal Defense and Education Fund

• Sweatt v. Painter (1950) creation of separate law school in Houston for black applicants. Court said, no! This law school was not equal. Had to admit Sweatt to the Austin campus.• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned Plessy v.

Ferguson• Desegregate “with all deliberate speed.”• Governor Faubus of Arkansas called the Arkansas National Guard to

block entry of African American students at Little Rock High School.• Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard; enforced

desegregation.

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Civil Rights MovementCivil Rights Movement• Martin Luther King – civil

disobedience• Formed Southern Christian

Leadership Conference (SCLC)• Congress of Racial Equality• Freedom Rides• Violence, savage attacks, arrests

brought national attention to civil rights abuses

• Boycotts, sit-ins in “white only” establishments• Birmingham, Alabama and

Police Commissioner “Bull” Connor• Higher pressure hoses, electric

cattle prods, police dogs• Shocked the nation

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Congress Takes ActionCongress Takes Action• Civil Rights Act of 1964: sweeping legislation • Honored the memory of JFK who had been assassinated in 1963

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Congress Takes ActionCongress Takes Action• Voting Rights Act 1965• Responded to ongoing efforts to keep blacks from voting in the South.• Selma March – MLK; effort to bring attention to the low voter registration

levels (2% in Selma).• Governor Wallace ordered state troopers to stop the march.• Televised images of the brutal attack moved the public.• President Johnson called joint session of Congress.• Two major provisions: outlawed literacy tests and provided federal

oversight of state and local elections.• Concerns over discrimination and voting practices still exist.

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Women and Equal RightsWomen and Equal Rights• Women’s path to social activism: churches and charitable work,

temperance societies, abolitionism• Seneca Falls Convention: Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton• July 1848: 300 participants and Frederick Douglas• Abolition and advancement of women’s rights

• Emergence of women’s suffrage movement• Wyoming 1890 allowed women to vote: followed by Colorado, Idaho, and

Utah.

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Women and Equal RightsWomen and Equal Rights• Women’s Christian Temperance Union

(WCTU)• Powerful; mass organization of women

fighting for social and moral reform• Momentum in early 1900s• Parades, marches; constitutional

amendment drafted in 1878 but failed to pass in Congress.

• President Woodrow Wilson became a champion and called on Congress to consider proposing the amendment.

• Finally ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919

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Women’s Rights in WorkplaceWomen’s Rights in Workplace

• Restrictions on women in terms of work opportunities: low wage jobs• Princeton and Yale did not admit women until 1969; Harvard

1972.• 1970: Only 8% of women were physicians; 4% were lawyers• Civil Rights Act of 1964 created Equal Opportunity Commission

but it failed to enforce the law against sex discrimination in hiring.

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Social and economic rights of women have lagged behind those of men.

Women’s Rights in WorkplaceWomen’s Rights in Workplace

• Emergence of the National Organization for Women• Began to lobby for constitutional amendment to guarantee

equal rights for women• ERA: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or

abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.”• Congress proposed the amendment in 1972; stipulated 7 year

window for ratification.• Never ratified• 1973 Roe v. Wade• 1979 – 39 states had ratified, but no others.• Equal rights had been linked to support for abortion. 20

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Sexual Harassment in the WorkplaceSexual Harassment in the Workplace• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964• Unlawful to discriminate in the workplace

• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972• Eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex in any

educational program that receives federal funding.• Area that was unclear: sexual harassment• 1976 “quid pro quo” sexual harassment recognized by Court• Implicit or explicit requests for sexual favors in return for employment

or advancement in the workplace.• 1986 “hostile work environment”• 1998 extension to same-sex harassment

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Equal Pay for Equal WorkEqual Pay for Equal Work• Women have typically earned less than men, EVEN

when performing exactly the same job.• 1963 Equal Pay Act• At that time, women averaged 59 cents to every dollar earned

by men.• Allowed women to sue employers who did not comply with

provisions of Equal Pay Act.• Pay still lagged.• 2010 figures estimate women earn 81.2 cents for every dollar

men earn.

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Equal Pay for Equal WorkEqual Pay for Equal Work• Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (2007)• Made it more difficult for women to sue over discriminatory

wages• 5-4 ruling – 180 day limit for contesting salary issues• Congress overturned the decision with Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay

Act (2009)• Clarified the statute of limitations and said that the 180-day statute of

limitations resets with each discriminatory paycheck.• 2011 Walmart case: Court ruled 5-4 that those bringing class

action suit (on behalf of 1.6 million women who worked at Wal-mart) of sex discrimination did not have enough in common to constitute a class; and not enough proof of company wide discrimination against women.

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Discrimination Based on EthnicityDiscrimination Based on Ethnicity

Native Americans• Indian Removal Act in 1830• Relocation of tribes in the

southeastern US• Trail of tears; trail of death• Seminole War in Florida 1835-1842.

• Manifest Destiny • Devastating effect on Native

Americans• Indian Appropriations Act 1851• Dawes Act 1887

• American Indian Movement (1968) • Radical group drawing attention to

their plight• Native American Rights Fund

(1970)• Litigation strategy

• Congress 2009 formal apology on behalf of the U.S.

Immigrants

• Nativism: opposition to immigration• Know-Nothing Movement – anti-

immigrant organization; focused against German and Irish Catholics• Formed American Party

• Knights of Labor opposed to cheap labor of Chinese immigrants; called for their expulsion• Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 banned

Chinese immigrants for ten years

• Pearl Harbor- anti-Japanese racism• Forced relocation• Reagan formally apologized 24

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Current Controversy Over Illegal ImmigrantsCurrent Controversy Over Illegal Immigrants• Estimates of 12 million illegal immigrants in the United

States.• Some states had tough immigration laws: Alabama, Arizona,

Georgia, Indiana and Utah.• Role of the Justice Department• Arizona law (detain and verify status of those suspected of being illegal

immigrants): federal government charged that it interfered with the authority of the federal government to patrol the borders and could lead to police harassment.

• Ongoing litigation

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Current Controversy Over Illegal ImmigrantsCurrent Controversy Over Illegal Immigrants• Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority in U.S.• Past and continuing discrimination: segregation, use of poll taxes and other

devices to discourage voting participation, exclusion from service on juries.• League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

• Mendez v. Westminster (1945) separate schools for children of Mexican ancestry; struck down segregation

• Other success in litigation to fight discrimination.

• Now a significant voting bloc nationwide• But still have limited representation in government.

• Controversial area: 31 states designated English as official language• Scope of laws vary, but some states limit or prohibit government from

offering non-English language assistance or services.• Is this wrong? Does English-only violate the rights of Hispanic-American

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New Frontiers in Civil RightsNew Frontiers in Civil Rights• LGBT Rights• 1964 Civil Rights Act did not include sexual orientation• 1982 Wisconsin first to ban employment discrimination based on sexual

orientation; since then 21 other states, as well as D.C., have done the same.

• Service in military banned• 1992 Clinton – “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”• 2010 Repeal Act passed with the help of 8 moderate Republicans in the

Senate; signed into law 2012

• Courts played a strong role in extending gay rights.• Struck down Colorado law that allowed discriminatory practices against gay

individuals in housing, employment, education, public accommodations, health and welfare services, and other transactions and activities.

• They have also maintained the right of some organizations, such as the Boy Scouts, to ban homosexuals from some activities, such as being a scoutmaster.

• Recent controversies in the area of same-sex marriage.

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Disability Rights• Disabilities were not a protected category in

the Civil Rights Act of 1964.• 1973 Rehabilitation Act first direct protection• Prohibited disability discrimination by the

federal government in the hiring of federal employees and in programs that received federal aid.

• 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act• Defines disability• Requires both public and private employers to

make “reasonable accommodations”• Opposed by many members of the business

community

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Redressing Past Discrimination

Affirmative Action

• Policy intended to promote equal opportunities for members of a previously disadvantaged group in education and employment.

• Lyndon Johnson: Executive order 11246 directed at federal contractors

• University of California v. Bakke (1978)• Complex 5-4 decision that

struck down race-based quotas• Court has limited but not

abolished affirmative action

Apologies and Reparations

• U.S. House and Senate have formally apologized for slavery.

• Obama: law to apologize to Native Americans

• Reagan: apology to Japanese Americans for internment

• Apologies enough?• Reparations?

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