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Civil Rights
Chapter 5
Roots of Suffrage
Slavery and Congress
Slave trade ended 1808
Introduction of cotton gin 1793
South became more dependent on agriculture
Missouri Compromise of 1820
The First Civil Rights Movements: Abolition and
Women’s Rights
The American Anti-Slavery Society in 1883
William Lloyd Garrison – Newspaper Editor
Seneca Falls Convention in 1948 (Women’s Right
Convention)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Lucretia Mott
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Roots of Suffrage
The 1850s: The Calm Before the Storm
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
“The little woman who started the big war”
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
Missouri Compromise declared unconstitutional
Declared slaves were not U.S citizens
The Civil War and Its Aftermath: Civil Rights Laws and
Constitutional Amendments
13th (1865) – Freed the slaves
14th Amendment (1868) – included citizenship for black
Americans; due process clause; contained the Equal
Protection Clause
15th Amendment (1870) - The right to vote shall not be
denied because of race, color or previous condition of
servitude (black males only)
Roots of Suffrage
The First Civil Rights Act of 1866
Extended citizenship to anyone born in the United States
Gave African Americans full equality before the law
Authorized the president to enforce the act through use of
force
The Enforcement Act of 1870
Set out specific penalties for interfering with the right to
vote
The Anti-Ku Klux Klan Act (1872)
Made it a federal crime to deprive an individual of his or
her rights
The Second Civil Rights Act (1875)
Everyone is entitled to equal enjoyment of public
accommodations and places of public amusement
Imposed penalties for violators
The Civil Rights Cases (1883)
The Supreme Court rules that the 14th Amendment only
prevents official discriminatory acts by states, not by
private individuals
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Roots of Suffrage
Civil Rights, Congress, and the Supreme Court
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Equal access to public accommodations
Reconstruction (federal occupation of the South) ended
1877
Jim Crow laws
The White Primary – a state primary election in which only whites
may vote…was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1944 (Smith v.
Allwright)
Poll taxes - outlawed in national elections by the 24th amendment
(1964)
Grandfather clause
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – Separate but equal doctrine which paved
the way for a system of racial segregation.
Stated that segregation did not violate the 14th amendment
1930s NAACP launched full-scale challenge in federal courts
What did Jim Crow laws do?
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The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
The Founding of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
Race riots
Progressive reformers worried such riots
would get worse
14th and 15th Amendments weakening
with Jim Crow laws
Oswald Garrison Villard, the publisher of
the Saturday Evening Post and grandson
of William Lloyd Garrison, teamed up with
other progressives to talk about race
inequalities including W.E.B. Du Bois
(founder of NAACP)
The Push for Equality, 1890-1954
Key Women’s Groups
National American Woman Suffrage Association
Headed by Susan B. Anthony
19th Amendment (1920) Women’s right to vote
National Woman’s Party
National Consumers League
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
Litigating for Equality
Test Cases
Challenged constitutionality of segregated law schools
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Struck down “separate but equal” …AKA Plessy v Ferguson
1896
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Segregation Laws in the United States
in 1954
The Civil Rights Movement
School Desegregation After Brown
“All deliberate speed”
Brown not immediately implemented
Cooper v. Aaron (1958) – states non-compliance
schemes unconstitutional
A New Move for African American Rights
Rosa Parks - Boycott of the Montgomery city bus
system
Segregated bus system ruled unconstitutional
Formation of New Groups
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Martin Luther King Jr.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
“Freedom rides”
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The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on
the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963)
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s priority
Longest filibuster in Senate history
Statutory Remedies for Race Discrimination
Education - Department of Justice could bring cases
against school districts
Employment
“Business necessity” of practices that excluded
African Americans
The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 - The Civil Rights
Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination in the sale
or rental of a dwelling to any person on the basis
of race, color, religion, or national origin.
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The Women’s Rights
Movement
The Equal Rights Amendment (designed for
women)
Two key provisions:
Equality of rights under the law shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by
any state on account of sex.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce,
by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this
article.
Roe v. Wade
Eroded support for Equal Rights Amendment
The Women’s Rights
Movement
The Equal Protection Clause and Constitutional
Standards of Review
Levels of scrutiny
The courts use Strict Scrutiny in Suspect
classifications or race cases
The courts use Intermediate scrutiny in sex
discrimination cases
Rational basis – lowest level of scrutiny
Craig v. Boren (1976) – case involving OK law
where women over 18 could buy 3.2 percent beer
but males had to be 21. Overturned.
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The Women’s Rights
Movement
Statutory Remedies for Sex Discrimination
Equal Pay Act of 1963
Requires equal pay for equal work
Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
Prohibits gender discrimination by employers
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
Bars educational institutions that receive federal
funds from discriminating against female
students
Other Groups Mobilize for
Rights
Hispanic Americans
Hernandez v. Texas (1954)
Jury should include other Mexican Americans
Cesar Chavez
United Farm Workers Union
Voting Rights Act of 1965 amended to
extend voting rights protections to
“language minorities,” including Hispanics.
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Other Groups Mobilize for
Rights
American Indians
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 – good faith
Dawes Act (1887) – children sent to boarding schools
Native American Rights Fund (1970)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Asian and Pacific Island Americans
Pan-Asian identity
Difficult to forge
Free migration to support railroad
Chinese Exclusion Act
World War II
Korematsu v. U.S.
Civil Liberties Act
Other Groups Mobilize for Rights
Gays and Lesbians
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Revised prohibition of gays in military
Ended in 2010
Lawrence v. Texas (2003) – sodomy laws unconstitutional
Same-sex marriage - Legal only in some states
Americans with Disabilities
Disabled veterans
Returning from Korea and Vietnam
Americans with Disabilities Act 1990
Legal protections against discrimination
American Association of People with Disabilities
Advocacy group
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Civil Rights and Affirmative Action
Affirmative action - preferential or compensatory treatment
to assist black applications for university admissions and
scholarships, job hiring and promotion, and other
opportunities for advancement in life. AKA quota system
Created to overcome the results of past unequal treatment of
blacks
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) - Racial
quotas unconstitutional but race can be considered when
accepting applicants. Medical school example.
Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena (1995) -- Affirmative Action programs
cannot use quotas for unqualified persons.
The Supreme Court let the decision stand in Hopwood v. State of Texas
(1996) – a federal appellate court ruled that the use of race as a means of
achieving racial diversity violated the equal protection clause of the 14th
Amendment, thus challenging the Bakke case. Law School case.
Debate continues
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