Civil Rights Review
Mr. Ognibene
Civil Rights can be defined as policies that protect individuals against discrimination in areas
such as voting, accessibility to housing, and job opportunities, to name a few. Mainly civil rights
issues in America have dealt with the plight of African Americans. Women began to demand
equal treatment in the 19 century and more recently groups that have been discriminated against
based on their age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, and religion have begun to
speak up.
Black Americans
*The US Constitution mentions slaves in the three fifths compromise. They counted as
3/5 of a person in both representation and for taxation. It also outlawed the international
slave trade after 1808 and recognized a fugitive slave law.
*The Northwest Ordinance (1787) prohibited slavery in the new territory.
*An 1852 book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, exposed the truth of
slavery to most Northerners for the first time.
*The 1857 case of Dred Scott v. Sanford denied citizenship to blacks
*Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed slaves in rebelling states.
*13th amendment (1865) Abolished slavery.
*14th amendment (1868) Granted citizenship to blacks, prohibited states from denying
individual “equal protection under the law.” Selectively incorporated most of the
individual rights in the Bill of Rights to states.
*15th amendment (1870) Gave black men the right to vote.
*1875 Civil Rights Act made discrimination illegal.
*1883 Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional.
*1877 Reconstruction ends and Jim Crow laws begin in the south.
*Segregation, poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and good character tests all
stopped blacks from voting.
*1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling said “separate but equal is ok.”
*Guinn v. US (1915) ruled the grandfather clause unconstitutional.
*1948 Executive order 9981 (Harry Truman) - US Military to be desegregated.
*1954 Brown v. Board of Ed. Topeka Kansas, overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.
*1955 Rosa Parks-Bus Boycott
*1957 President Eisenhower forced Little Rock Arkansas’ Central High School to integrate.
*1964 Civil Rights Act Prohibited discrimination in public places and employment.
*1964 24th amendment outlawed the poll tax
*1965 Voting Rights Act prohibited literacy tests and other means of suppressing the vote of
Black Americans.
*1970 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg recognized the busing of students to other schools for
racial balance as ok.
*1984 and 1988 Jesse Jackson runs for president.
*1993 Bill Clinton makes Joycelyn Elders the first black surgeon general.
*2001 Colon Powell becomes the first black Secretary of State under the Bush administration.
*2005 Condoleezza Rice becomes the first black woman to hold the office of Secretary of State.
*2008 Barak Obama is the first black presidential nominee for a major party. (Dems)
*2009 Barak Obama is inaugurated as the first black US President
Women’s Rights
*1848 Reform Movements gained notice first at the Seneca Falls Convention.
*Declaration of Rights and Sentiments called for equality.
*1920 the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote.
*1923 the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced and gained momentum in the late 1960’s.
*1963 Equal Pay Act stated that women had to be paid the same as men for the same job.
*National Organization for Women (NOW) 1966
*1972 Congress proposes a new ERA
*1972 Title IX legislation designed to bring equality to educational programs that receive federal
funds.
*1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act stated that businesses cannot refuse to hire or promote
pregnant woman, and health benefits must cover childbirth.
*1984 Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman to be on a major party ticket for vice president
(Democrats) with Walter Mondale.
*1991 Civil Rights and Women’s Equity an Employment Act allowed for major financial awards
to women who were intentionally discriminated against because of gender.
*2008 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to seek the nomination to president of a major
party.
Other Legislation….
*1978 Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits a company from denying benefits to
older employees.
*1990 The Americans with Disabilities act banned discrimination in employment and promotion,
provided the person can perform a particular job with reasonable accommodations.
Civil Liberties
Are rights guaranteed to every citizen by the bill of rights and the equal protection clause of the
14th amendment.
Incorporation Doctrine says that citizens should be protected from states as well as the federal
government. The first, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth and tenth amendments have been incorporated.
1st amendment
Free religion has two parts; one separates church and state (establishment clause), and two
prohibits the government from interfering in the way a person practices their religion (free
exercise clause).
The establishment clause or “wall of separation,” says that any state action regarding religion
must meet three criteria:
*There must be a secular purpose
*The primary effect cannot be to advance/inhibit religion
*Government cannot be excessively entangled with religion
Free Speech and Press
Government can limit speech if it violates…..
*1919 Schenck v. US established the “clear and present danger test.”
*Obscenity laws that qualifies if the work:
-appeals to prurient interests
-depicts sexual activity in a patently offensive manner
-does not have “literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
Government may not decide what is appropriate before publication, but can impose penalties
after the fact…..No prior restraint
*US v. New York Times (1971) established this.
Protection of criminal defendants
-exclusionary rule prevents police\prosecution from using illegally obtained evidence in a court
of law. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
-fruit of the poisonous tree…refers to additional evidence found based on the illegally obtained
evidence…that evidence may not be used in court either. Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United
States (1920)
-sometimes evidence found can be used, it is called the good faith exception. If police find
evidence that they believe to be legally obtained in good faith, it may be allowed in court.
-Miranda v. Arizona 1966 established the protocol for informing the defendants of their rights at
the time of arrest.
-Gideon v. Wainwright 1963 established the right to counsel even when a defendant can’t afford
one.
-Roe v. Wade 1972 and 1973 established a women’s right to choose abortion or delivery in the
first trimester of pregnancy.
-1990 Cruzan v. Missouri Dept of Health said a parent does not have the right to remove the
feeding tube of a comatose patient, that individuals do have the right to refuse life support if they
can’t live on their own and sign a Do Not Resuscitate order (DNR).