American Government and Politics Today

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Chapter
Five:
Civil
Rights
Learning Objectives
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 Define civil rights and explain the difference
between civil rights and civil liberties.
 Explain why discrimination against groups
exists in the United States.
 Describe the attempts to grant civil rights to
African Americans following the abolition of
slavery, including the 13th, 14th, and 15th
Amendments, and the Civil Rights Acts of
1865–1877.
Learning Objectives
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 Explain how these initial attempts were frustrated
by the courts and Reconstruction politics.
 Describe the obstacles to political participation by
African Americans including Black Codes, Jim
Crow Laws, and violent racial intimidation.
 Evaluate the impact of the “separate-but-equal”
doctrine articulated in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
 Explain the impact of the Supreme Court’s
decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(1954).
Learning Objectives
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 Explain the role of the Supreme Court in
determining civil rights.
 Explain the difference between de facto
segregation and de jure segregation.
 Describe the key provisions of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964.
 Evaluate the impact of the Voting Rights Act of
1965.
 Evaluate women’s claims for equality and
describe the strategies employed by activists.
Learning Objectives
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 Explain why women focused on the states as
well as a federal constitutional amendment for
suffrage.
 Describe goals of the second wave of the
women’s movement.
 Evaluate how the ERA would have accelerated
women’s equality if ratified.
 Explain why the ERA failed and evaluate the
prospects for the ERA to be added in the future.
Learning Objectives
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 Explain how Title IX improved access to all
aspects of education for women.
 Define sexual harassment and wage
discrimination and explain how Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers these forms of
discrimination.
 Define the purpose and impact of the Twentysixth Amendment.
 Explain the impact of Latino immigration on
U.S. population demographics.
Learning Objectives
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 Identify and assess the ways Latino civil rights
were limited in relation to education, voting, and
employment.
 Assess the controversy surrounding the status
of undocumented workers and access to public
services.
 Define and explain the primary goal of
affirmative action.
Learning Objectives
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 Evaluate why affirmative action is controversial,
and identify the limits the Supreme Court has
applied to affirmative action programs over
time.
 Provide the most important provisions of the
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
 Give the most important provisions of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and
some of its limits.
Learning Objectives
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 Provide the circumstances under which the
gay and lesbian rights movement began.
 Explain why sodomy laws were rejected in
Lawrence v. Texas.
 Explain why Congress passed “don’t ask, don’t
tell” and why the policy will likely be rescinded.
 Assess the current state of the same-sex
marriage controversy (the Defense of Marriage
Act of 1996, civil unions v same-sex marriage).
African Americans and the Consequences of
Slavery in the United States
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 Civil Rights refers to the rights of all Americans to
equal treatment under the law, as provided for by
the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and
by subsequent acts of Congress.
 Specifies what the government must do—to
ensure equal protection and freedom from
discrimination.
African Americans and the Consequences of
Slavery in the United States
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 Ending Slavery in the United States
 Emancipation
 Thirteenth
Amendment (1865)
 Fourteenth
 Fifteenth
Proclamation of 1863
Amendment (1868)
Amendment (1870)
African Americans and the Consequences of
Slavery in the United States
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 Civil Rights Acts of 1865 to 1875
 Civil
Rights Act of 1866 extended citizenship to
anyone born in the United States.
 Enforcement Act of 1879 specified criminal sanction
for interfering with the right to vote.
 Civil Rights Act of 1872 made it a crime to deprive
any individual of his/her rights.
 Second Civil Rights Act of 1875 entitled all to full and
equal enjoyment of public places.
African Americans and the Consequences of
Slavery in the United States
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 Limitations of Civil Rights Laws
 President
Rutherford Hayes in 1877 ended the
advancement of civil rights for African Americans.
 Supreme Court started to narrowly interpret the
14th Amendment by stating that citizenship rights
apply only to national citizenship, not state
citizenship.
 Plessy v. Ferguson (1892): separate but equal
doctrine.
African Americans and the Consequences of
Slavery in the United States
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 Voting Barriers for African Americans
 White
primary
 Poll taxes
 Literacy tests
 Grandfather clauses
African Americans and the Consequences of
Slavery in the United States
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 End of the Separate-but-equal Doctrine
 Founding
of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, 1954
established that the separate but equal doctrine
established by Plessy v. Ferguson violated the 14th
Amendment.
African Americans and the Consequences of
Slavery in the United States
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 Reactions to Integrating Schools
 Court-ordered
busing was not popular in the 1970s
and 1980s.
 Minority
segregated schools are reemerging
because of demographic changes.
The Civil Rights Movement
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 Martin Luther King, Jr. and his philosophy of
nonviolence.
 Malcolm X and the exercise of Black Power.
The Escalation of the Civil Rights Movement
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 Modern Civil Rights Legislation
 The
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Barred
discrimination in
 Voter
registration
 Public accommodations
 Public schools
 Employment
The Escalation of the Civil Rights Movement
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 Modern Civil Rights Legislation (Continued)
 The
 The
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Civil Rights Act of 1968 and Other Housing
Reform Legislation
Consequences of Civil Rights Legislation
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 Political Participation by African Americans
 Political Participation by Other Minorities
 Lingering Social and Economic Disparities
Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights
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 Early Women’s Political Movements
 Activism
for women’s rights began with the
Seneca Falls convention in 1848.
 Women’s Suffrage Associations
 19th
Amendment: Women get the right to vote in
1920.
Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights
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Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights
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 Second Wave of the Women’s Movement
 Betty Friedan created the National Organization
of Women (NOW) in 1966 to address sex
discrimination.
 In 1972 the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
passed Congress and went to the states for
ratification.
 Both men and women protested the ERA, and it
was withdrawn from consideration by the states
in 1982.
Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights
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Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights
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 Challenging Gender Discrimination in the
Courts and Legislatures
 Pregnancy
 Title
Discrimination Act of 1978
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
 Gender
discrimination as violation of 14th
Amendment
Gender-Based Discrimination in the
Workplace
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 Protection Against Gender-Based
Discrimination in the Workplace
 Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) protects
women from
Discrimination
 Sexual Harassment

 Equal
Pay Act of 1963
Gender-Based Discrimination in the
Workplace
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Immigration, Latinos, and Civil Rights
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 Most important challenges to discrimination
took place in Texas and California and parallel
the claims to rights made by African Americans
and women.
 The Chicano Movement focused on land rights,
farm worker’s rights, education, voting rights,
as well as the eradication of ethnic stereotypes
and promotion of a positive group
consciousness.
Immigration, Latinos, and Civil Rights
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Affirmative Action
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Affirmative Action: policies that attempt to “level
the playing field” by giving special preferences in
educational admissions and employment
decisions to groups that have been discriminated
against in the past.
Securing Rights for Persons with Disabilities
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 Rehabilitation Act of 1973
 Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990
Rights and Status of Gays and Lesbians
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 State and Local Laws Targeting Gays and
Lesbians
 Gay Men and Lesbians in the Military
 Same-Sex Marriages
Web Links
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 Pew Hispanic Center A nonpartisan research
organization that seeks to improve understanding of
the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle
Latinos' growing impact on the nation:
http://pewhispanic.org/.
 Women's Rights National Historical Park
Operated by the National Park Service, the Park
preserves the sites associated with the 1848 First
Women's Rights Convention:
http://www.nps.gov/wori/index.htm.
What If…Undocumented Immigrants Were
Granted Citizenship?
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 Granting citizenship to every undocumented
immigrant now residing in the United States
would have significant political and social
implications for the Latino community.
 While tax revenue may increase, there may be
a reduction of jobs.
You Can Make a Difference: Dealing with
Discrimination
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Discrimination can come from friends, teachers,
coaches, co-workers, managers, and business
owners, and be based on race, color, gender,
religion, age, sexual orientation or disability.
Everyone can be affected by discrimination at
some point.
You Can Make a Difference: Dealing with
Discrimination
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If you believe that you have been discriminated
against by a potential employer, consider the
following steps:
 Evaluate your own capabilities, and determine
if you are truly qualified for the position.
 Analyze the reasons why you were turned
down.
 If you still believe that you have been treated
unfairly, you have recourse to several agencies
and services.