The Struggle for Equal Rights
Chapter 5
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Essential Questions

What is the state of equality in America?
 How has the Supreme Court contributed to the
development of civil rights?
 How have rights for minority groups been
expanded through legislation?
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State of Equality

James Byrd and Matthew Shepard
 Inequality in terms of poverty and infant
mortality rates
 Difference between constitutional and legal
guarantees and practice
 Equal
protection clause and civil rights legislation
 de jure versus de facto
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Key Ideas/Trends

Disadvantaged groups have had to struggle for
equal rights
 Americans have attained substantial equality
under the laws
 Legal equality for all Americans has not
resulted in de facto equality
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Definitions

Civil Rights/Equal Rights—right of every
person to equal protection under the laws and
equal access to society’s opportunities and
public facilities
 Civil Rights/Equal Rightswhether members
of different groups are treated equally
 Civil Libertiesindividual, personal freedoms
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Foundation for Civil Rights is the 14th
Amendment (1868)

Section 1
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of
the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
No State shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any State
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws” (Patterson, 2011, p. 646).
When can groups be treated differently?
Struggle for Equality

African Americans
13th Amendment (1865)
 14th Amendment (1868)
 15th Amendment (1870)
 Dred Scott 1857Taney CourtAfrican Americans
not intended to be included as citizens in Constitution
 Reconstruction (1863-1877)


Civil Rights Act of 1875 declared unconstitutional in 1883 b/c
14th amendment didn’t apply to private individuals
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Struggle for Equality

African Americans
Crow Laws  laws designed to segregate
black and white Americans and to legalize
discrimination
 Barriers to votingintimidation, poll taxes,
literacy tests, all white primary, gerrymandering
 Plessy v. Ferguson1896, test to Jim Crow
railroad law, separate but equal
 Brown vs. Board of Education (Topeka, KS 1954)
 Jim
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Struggle for Equality

African Americans
 24th
Amendment poll taxes unconstitutional
 Civil Rights Act of 1964 (p. 164)
 Ended
de jure discrimination in public accommodations
 Prohibited employer discrimination
 Voting registrars could not have different standards for
blacks and whites
 Attorney general could take violators to court
 Executive branch withhold federal funds
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Struggle for Equality

African Americans
 Voting
Rights Act 1965 (AL, GA, LA, MS, SC,
VA, NC…)
 Suspended
literacy tests
 Federal examiners to monitor voter registration
practices
 African American voter registration increases by 1.3
million in the south by late 1960s
 Encourages African Americans to run for office
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Struggle for Equality

Civil Rights Act of 1968
Struggle for Equality

African Americans
 Gerrymandering-the
drawing of congressional
districts, or any other political district in order to
favor one political party over another (pp. 371372)
 Majority minority districts after 1990 result in
increased minority representation in House
 Shaw v. Reno 1993
Struggle for Equality

African Americans
 School
Integration
 1957
Little Rock High School (federalization of
National Guard)
 1962 University of Mississippi-James Meredith (federal
marshals)
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Struggle for Equality
 Busing
 Swann
v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Bd. of
Education, (1971)busing constitutional
 Segregation of schools resulted from de facto
segregation that Brown didn’t address
 1990smost minorities still went to primarily minority
schools, lower federal courts made it easier for school
districts to get out of
Equality of Result:
School Integration

Does Busing Work?
 Yes:
leads to more positive racial attitudes among
children
 No:

has added to “white flight” to suburbs
Diversity and America’s Schools
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Equality of Result:
Affirmative Action

How does a society achieve balance
between racial equality versus preferential
treatment?
 Do civil rights require the absence of
discrimination or do they require that steps
be taken to insure that blacks and whites
enroll in the same schools, work in the same
jobs…?
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Equality of Result:
Affirmative Action

Pro
 African
Americans have faced greater barriers to
equality and therefore it was justified

Con
 Reverse
discrimination (violation of equal
protection clause and Civil Rights Act of 1964)
Equality of Result:
Affirmative Action

University of California Regents v. Bakke
(1978)
 Strict quotas
unconstitutional but could be used as one
criterion on basis of equal protection clause

United Steelworkers v. Weber (1979)
 Civil
Rights Act of 1964 didn’t preclude private
affirmative action initiatives

Richmond v. Croson (1989)
 Adarand v. Pena (1995)
Equality of Result:
Affirmative Action

University of Michigan Cases: Gratz and
Grutter(2003)
 undergraduate
admission, 20 point system violates
equal protection and Title VI of Civil Rights Act
of 1964; law school policies using race as one
factor narrowly tailored enough to be
constitutional

Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)
 Organizations
cannot reverse equal opportunity
programs even if minorities are adversely affected
African American Equality?

8.8% of two parent African American families
living in poverty
 40.5% of single parent African American
families living in poverty
 Median net worth of retired African American
families is less than $20,000 versus $200,000
for whites
 Progress in terms of elective office
Struggle for Equality

Women
 Declaration
of Rights and Sentiments (1848)
 19th Amendment (1920)
 Equal Rights Amendment (1972)
 Roe v. Wade (1973) present state power
 Military
 Rostker
v. Goldberg (1981)
 1993 air and sea combat positions
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Struggle for Equality

Abortion
 Roe
v. Wade (1973)
 Webster v. Reproductive Health (1989)
 Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
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Struggle for Equality

Women and Politics
 Increased
representation at all levels of
government
 Cabinet secretaries, Speaker of the House,
governors and state legislators
 Success credited to women’s movement of 1970s
Struggle for Equality

Women and the Workplace:
 Title
VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Family Medical Leave Act 1993
 Only 11 CEO’s of Fortune 500
 Comparable Worth = $
Struggle for Equality

Women and the Workplace:




Wage gap narrowing roughly 80% of men
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber (2007)
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009)
Women’s Equality?




Increased political representation
More likely to graduate from college
Few firms have established comparable worth policies
Female headed households much more likely to be por
Struggle for Equality

Native Americans
 Half
live on reservations
 Less likely to attend college

Hispanic Americans
 Legal
and political action: Cesar Estrada
Chavez, (1927-1993)
 Growing political power
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Struggle for Equality

Asian Americans
 Over
12 million Asian Americans
 Emphasize
academic achievement
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Struggle for Equality

Other Groups/Legislation
 Education
for All Handicapped Children Act
(1975)FAPE
 Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
 No
discrimination in public accommodations,
employment, transportation and telecommunications
 Age
Discrimination Act (1975) = 70
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Struggle for Equality

Homosexual Rights
 Hardwick
v. Georgia (1986)Lawrence v. Texas
(2003)
 Romer v. Evans (1996)
 Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (1993)Repeal signed
12/2010
 Marriage
 DOMA
1996
 Massachusetts/Vermont
 Proposition 8
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Persistent Discrimination

Superficial Differences
 Improvement

in support for:
minorities attending college
 obtaining professional
 acceptance as
and managerial jobs
suburban neighbors
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Persistent Discrimination

Deep Divisions
 Continued
inequality in:

health care and mortality rate

nutrition
 education
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So…how has the Supreme Court
contributed to the development of civil
rights?

African Americans
 Women
 Native Americans
 Asian Americans
 Hispanic Americans
 Gays and Lesbians