Civil Rights
Learning Objectives
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Define the concept of Civil Rights
Describe the evolution of Civil Rights in
our Society
Explain the work still in progress
Explore possible solutions to continuing
problems
Key Terms
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Civil Rights
Black Codes
Jim Crow Laws
Literacy Test
Poll Tax
Urban Segregation
Affirmative Action
What are Civil
Rights?
Civil Rights refers to the positive
acts governments take to
protect against arbitrary or
discriminatory treatment by
government or individuals.
The Evolution of Civil Rights In America
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Civil rights are operationalized by policies designed to protect
people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by
government officials or individuals.
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The religion of American has always been freedom and equality is
central to freedom.
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The Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created
equal.”
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But during much of American history, freedom, equality and
fundamental rights were not extended to minorities and women.
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Racism and sexism might be thought of as America’s original sins.
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We will examine the evolution of the extension of basic rights to
minorities and women; and more recently to issues of discrimination
related to age, disability, and sexual orientation.
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The central issue in civil rights is equality, or equal treatment, what
that concept means, and how it should be extended and protected.
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Thomas Jefferson wrote the famous phrase “all men are created
equal.”
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But Jefferson owned slaves. He said that he did not mean that
everybody was alike, or that there were no differences among
human beings.
Basically, Jefferson’s famous concept has come to mean that
everyone should have equality of opportunity; that is that everyone
should have a chance to get ahead.
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American society does not emphasize equal results or equal
rewards; few American believe that everyone should earn the same
salary or have the same amount of property.
The word equality does not appear in the Constitution, or in the Bill
of Rights. It is first included in the Constitution in the 14th
Amendment.
It is written there in such a way as to be unclear about what it
meant.
America’s struggle to extend basic rights to African Americans
blazed the trail for defining equality (not perfectly) and for doing a
better job of securing equal rights for all Americans.
Three eras delineate African American’s struggle for equality in America:
1. The era of slavery, from the beginning of colonization until the end
of the Civil war in 1865 (about 250 years)
2. The era of reconstruction and resegregation from roughly the end
of the Civil war until 1953
3. The era of civil rights, roughly from 1954 to the present
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In 1857 (Dred Scott v. Sandford) the Supreme Court ruled that a
black man, slave or free, was chattel and “so far inferior that they
had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”
The Union victory in the Civil War resulted in the Emancipation
Proclamation in 1862 and three amendments to the Constitution
which would prove fundamental to extending equality to African
Americans.
Civil War Amendments
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13th 1865: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject
to their jurisdiction.
(This amendment was ratified by Mississippi in 1995.)
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14th 1868: 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 make or
enforce any law which 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 law.
This amendment overruled the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857,
but its guarantees would be widely ignored for nearly a century.
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The Fifteenth Amendment: 1870
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by and States on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
Black Codes or Jim Crow
Laws
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In reaction, the Southern states
passed laws (Black Codes) that
prohibited black Americans from:
 Voting
 Sitting on juries
 Or even appearing in public places
Jim Crow Laws
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During the years of Jim Crow, state laws
mandated racial separation of many places,
including:
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schools
restaurants
hotels
public transportation
theatres
restrooms
Many Jim Crow Laws banned interracial
marriages.
These laws remained in effect throughout
the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Major Civil Rights Acts and Supreme Court Decisions After the Civil War
After the Civil War, Congress placed strict controls on the former
confederate states and passed a number of civil rights laws.
However, in 1876, President Hayes pulled the federal troops out of the
South and let the old slave states resume business as usual.
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1866 - Civil Rights Act granting all citizens the right to make and
enforce contracts, sue or be sued, give evidence, and inherit,
purchase, lease, sell, hold, or convey property.
1873 - Supreme Court ruled that state citizenship and national
citizenship remained separate and distinct. In effect, this decision
stripped the 14th Amendment of its powers to secure the Bill of
Rights guarantees for black citizens.
1875 - Civil Rights Act designed to guarantee blacks equal access
to public accommodations.
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1876 - Supreme Court crippled congressional attempts to protect
the rights of black citizens by ruling that most rights were derived
from state citizenship and therefore not protected by the federal
government.
1876 - Supreme Court rules that the 15th Amendment did not
guarantee the right to vote, it only listed grounds that could not be
used to deny that right.
1883 - Supreme Court struck down the public accommodations
section of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Ruled that the federal
government had no power over individual acts of discrimination.
1896 - Supreme Court ruled (Plessy v. Ferguson) that states did not
discriminate if they provided “separate but equal accommodations.”
The Lone Dissenter in
Plessy
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Justice John Harlan showed foresight when
he wrote:
“Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither
knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.
In respect of civil rights, all citizens are
equal before the law. In my opinion, the
judgment this day rendered will, in time,
prove to be quite as pernicious as the
decision made by this tribunal in the Dred
Scott case.”
The doctrine of “separate but equal” would survive for 58 years.
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The period from roughly 1877 to the 1950s came to be known as
the era of “Jim Crow”: legal segregation and suppression of black
Americans supplemented by white terror and economic coercion
against blacks who tried to resist.
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By the mid-1940s civil rights activists had decided to fight
discrimination in the Courts, Congress and the streets.
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The “separate but equal” doctrine was finally overturned in 1954 in
the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education.
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In 1955 the Supreme Court ruled that the Brown decision would be
implemented “with all deliberate speed.”
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The standard was extremely vague, but Brown was the catalyst for
the modern civil rights movement.
Brown v. Board of Education
(1954)
Fifty-eight years after the
Plessy decision the Court
struck down the "separate but
equal" doctrine in the landmark
Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas (1954)
decision.
3. The Civil Rights Movement
 The Brown v. Board
decision sparked the
development of the modern
civil rights movement.
“With All Deliberate Speed:”
School Desegregation After
Brown
The Court struggled over a remedy.
 A year later, in Brown II (1955), the
Court ruled that segregated systems
must be dismantled “with all deliberate
speed.”
 Central High School and Governor Orval
Faubus illustrated the long and costly
battle to end segregation.
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Non-Violent Protests
 Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
advocated a nonviolent approach
to forcing social change. King
modeled his philosophy on that of
Gandhi, who successfully
employed the nonviolent
approach in an Indian revolt
against the British shortly after
World War II.
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1955 - Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to sit in the segregated
section of a public bus. Her arrest led to a year-long boycott of the
public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama lead by Dr. Martin
Luther King.
1956 - A federal court issued an injunction against the segregation
of buses in Montgomery; giving the civil rights activists a major
victory.
1957 - President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock,
Arkansas to quell the violence associated with efforts to integrate
Central High School.
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1960 - Four black students started the sit-in movement in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
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1961 - Freedom Riders rode buses through the South to publicize
the fact that interstate transportation was still segregated.
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1962 - The University of Mississippi was integrated.
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1963 - The University of Alabama was integrated.
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1963 - Dr. King led massive demonstrations against
segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The national press
documented peaceful demonstrators being brutalized by
police dogs, fire hoses, and cattle prods.
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From a Birmingham jail, Dr. King wrote a defense of nonviolent civil
disobedience as a method of forcing change in unjust laws (Letter
from a Birmingham Jail).
1963 - Dr. King led a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C. in
quest of jobs and freedom. Before some 200,000 people Dr, King
gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
1963 - Two weeks later a black church in Birmingham was rocked by
a dynamite blast that killed four young girls attending Sunday school.
1965 - Dr. King organized a march from Selma, Alabama to
Montgomery to dramatize racial barriers to black voting in that state.
State-troopers, acting on orders of Governor George Wallace, beat
and gassed the marchers. President Johnson federalized the
Alabama National Guard and sent them in to protect the marchers.
1965 - the beginning of the ghetto riots. Significant riots in 1966,
1967 and heavy rioting in 1968 set off by the assassination of Dr.
King. A major riot broke out in Washington, D.C. within blocks of the
White House.
Civil Rights Act of 1957
1. Provided that persons denied the right to vote
could seek injunctive relief from the federal
district courts.
2. Created the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to
carry out investigations of racial discrimination.
3. Established a Civil Rights Division in the
Department of Justice.
4. Authorized the U.S. Attorney General to seek
court injunctions against practices that deprived
blacks of voting rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1960
1. Federal judges or federal referees could be authorized to register
qualified blacks that had been discriminated against by local
officials.
2. Local officials were required to keep all voting records for at
least twenty-two months, and to make them available to the
U.S. Attorney General upon request.
3. Acts of violence and actions designed to deny citizens the right
to vote or to obstruct a federal court order were made federal
crimes.
(In the Southern states many methods were being used to keep
black citizens from voting. Literacy tests, good character tests,
reference requirements, registration harassment, denial based
on small errors, and the Poll Tax.)
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
1. Prohibited discrimination in public accommodations.
2. Prohibited the application of different standards to black and
white voters by registrars, and outlawed the rejection of black
voting applications because of immaterial errors or omissions.
3. Literacy tests had to be in writing and could not consist of
arbitrary standards adopted by local registrars. A sixth-grade
education in an American school would serve as a presumption
of literacy.
4. Prohibited job discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion,
or national origin by employers or labor unions.
5. Provided that federal funds to public or private programs that
practice discrimination be terminated.
The Civil Rights Act of 1965
Qualification: Literacy Test/Less than 50% Voted in 1964
1. All qualifications for voting except citizenship, age, residency, and
criminal record had to be eliminated.
2. Use of literacy tests or similar devices was suspended for five years.
3. If local officials continued to discriminate against blacks, federal
officials could be sent in to register blacks.
4. To insure that black voters could safely go to the polls and have their
vote counted, federal poll watchers could be sent into the county.
5. To prevent the target states and counties from making electoral
changes that might adversely affect black voters, any changes in
voting laws or practices had to be cleared by the Attorney General
or the Federal District Court of Washington D.C.
Sample Questions from a Literacy Test
State of Louisiana
One wrong answer denotes failure of the test. (10
min)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Draw a line around the number or letter of this sentence.
Draw a line under the last word in this line.
Cross out the longest word in this line.
Draw a line around the shortest word in this line.
Circle the first, first letter of the alphabet in this line.
In the space below draw three circles, one inside the other.
Above the letter X make a small cross.
Draw a line through the letter below that comes earliest in the
alphabet. ZVSEDGMKYTPHC
Draw a line through the letter below that comes last in the
alphabet. ZVSEDGMKYTPHC
In the space below write the word noise backwards and place
a dot over what would be its second letter should it have been
written forward.
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1966 - The Supreme Court ruled that the poll tax (still used in five
Southern state) was unconstitutional. The Court ruled that it was
unconstitutional to impose any charge for voter registration or
voting for state or federal officials.
The Voting Rights Act was renewed and expanded in 1970, 1975,
and 1982.
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1975 - Required bilingual ballots in all states.
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Required federal approval of election law changes in covered states.
Civil Rights Progress
Research shows that how well groups do in our society depends
substantially upon:
A.
Level of discrimination they face.
B.
Education and wealth of group
c.
Commitment to education.
d.
Quality of schools, neighborhoods and environments.
e. Match of values with mainstream (commitment to hard work,
family, planning for the future).
Progress After Passage of Civil Rights Laws
A. Decline of violence. Violence was worse just before the laws were
passed.
B. Higher voter registration, voter turnout, increases in minority
representation.
C. Services to minority neighborhoods improved with minority
representation.
D. Sensitivity to minority needs improved with representation.
E. Income gains have been substantial, but still lagging.
F. Increase in role models—over 50 percent of black Americans are
middle to upper income earners.
G. Educational gains have been substantial.
H. More positive racial attitudes—especially on the part of white people.
Some Major Problem Areas
Public Schools
1. Urban segregation.
2. Poor quality of minority schools/poorly financed in many
instances.
Job Discrimination
1. Still easy to document.
Housing
1. Still seriously segregated, but mostly because of income.
Percentage of African American and Latino
Students in Segregated Schools, 1972-1999
The Civil Rights Revolution Opened
Southern Politics to African-Americans
Changes in Black and White Participation in
Presidential Elections, by Region
Percentage of Delegates to Republican
and Democratic National Conventions
Who Are African Americans
Percentage of Blacks Living
Outside the South
Blacks and Whites Differ Greatly
in Their Views About Race Relations
and Racial Policy
Evaluation of Civil Rights as the
Country’s Most Important Problem
Black Representation in State and
Local Government Workforce Is
Higher Than in Private Sector
Hispanic Representation in State and
Local Government Workforce Is Lower
Than in Private Sector
Post-Civil Rights Era
I.
Republican Positions:
a. The civil rights laws and numerous court decisions have
eliminated most discrimination, and these decisions are still in
place.
b. The day of Affirmative Action is over. AA violates basic principals
of fairness and was designed for only a limited time period. AA
was designed to overcome overt discrimination, not to promote
diversity.
c. Society’s obligation is to provide equal opportunity, not to
guarantee equal results.
d. Those who continue to fail to realize the American dream may
need to work harder.
E. Some minorities and other citizens fail because of a lack of a
serious work ethic, a failure to take advantage of educational
opportunities, drug and alcohol abuse, crime, sexual promiscuity,
and out-of-wedlock births.
F. The key for future minority success is work/education and
family—just as it is for everyone else.
II. Democratic positions
a. More fractured now, policies are less clear and less unanimous.
Clinton moved Democratic Party toward the middle.
b. Many Democrats believe that racism is still a serious problem.
Most Democrats support vigorous enforcement of laws and
programs to help low-income people.
c. Still support AA, but in more limited forms—increasingly focusing
on income rather than race.
d. Liberal wing still supports traditional social policies, especially for
“deserving” poor.
e. Some blame American culture for corrupting youth/Cornell
West/Republicans tend to agree.
Courts
a. Now more conservative
b. AA must be temporary and cannot use race as a specific
criterion
c. Alternative - Developmental AA for all low-income people
If the civil rights movement has left problems unsolved,
what can government do now?
1. Improve public schools/access to higher education
2. Reduce Out-of-wedlock births - especially among
teens.
3. Better welfare system - supported work.
4. Improve culture
5. Support developmental AA
6. Support full employment economy
Summary
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The central issue in civil rights is equality, or
equal treatment, what that concept means, and
how it should be extended and protected.
A series of supreme court cases as well as a
long series of Civil and Voting Rights Acts, many
focused around the civil rights movement, have
made substantial progress toward eliminating
discrimination.
Summary
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Despite great progress made in terms of voting
and access to basic services and education
There is, however, still more to be done to
address remaining discrimination in housing and
employment and educational opportunities.
There are differing views on how to proceed but
many suggest that most remaining inequalities,
like differences in the quality are the result of
differences in income
Discussion Questions
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Is the Civil Rights Movement over? How has it
evolved since the days of Martin Luther King Jr.
and his non-violent protesters?
Does racial discrimination still exist in the realm
of employment? If so what role should
Affirmative Action take in overcoming at least its
affects?
What can be done to overcome urban
segregation?
Appendix
Public Opinion on Gay Rights Has
Changed as Gay and Lesbian
Political Activism Has Increased
The Women’s Rights
Movement
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In 1961, President Kennedy created a
Commission on the Status of Women. The
Commission’s report, titled “American
Women,” detailed pervasive discrimination
against women.
The Feminine Mystique (1963) added to
the dawning recognition that something was
wrong.
Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964
included a prohibition against gender
Hispanic Americans
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Hispanic Americans
borrowed tactics from the
African American civil
rights movement
including sit-ins, boycotts,
marches, and activities
that drew publicity.
The Hispanic community
also relied heavily on
litigation strategies.
MALDEF and others have
been successful in
expanding rights and
opportunities for
Hispanics.
"One of the heroic figures of our time."
Senator Robert F. Kennedy
Cesar Estrada Chavez founded and led
the first successful farm workers'
union in U.S. history.