CIVIL RIGHTS
Civil Rights
 What are they?
 Who has needed to fight them?
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African Americans
Women
Native Americans
Hispanic Americans
Asian Americans
Older Americans
Disabled Americans
Gays and Lesbians
 Rarely achieved a greater measure of justice
without a struggle
African Americans
 Brown v. Board (1954)
 1963 televised march in Birmingham
 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
 Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Public facilities and no job discrimination
 Voting Rights Act of 1965
 Political representation today
 Still below proportion…but rising sharply
Women
 1848—Seneca Falls—Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth
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Cady Stanton
Nineteenth Amendment
Equal Pay Act of 1963
Title IX—1972
Equal Credit Act of 1974
Not close politically to equality
Gender gap
Educational abilities today
Glass ceiling
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Native Americans
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We haven’t been very nice…
Lawsuits to reclaim lands
Reservations
College, life expectancy, poverty, infant
mortality
 Promote self-government and economic selfsufficiency
 1970s—Bureau of Indian Affairs and Wounded
Knee
 Gaming Casinos
Hispanic Americans
 Farmworkers’ strikes
 Grapes and lettuce
 Cesar Chavez
 Bilingual ballots and education
 What are current controversies with this group?
 Growing political force
 Lean Democrat (except Cuban-Americans)
 Liberal on economy and conservative on social
Asian Americans
 Late 1800s—railroads and mines
 Lau v. Nichols (1974)
 Regular classrooms and 14th Amendment
 Upwardly mobile
 Underrepresented politically
Older Americans
 Age Discrimination Act of 1975
 Age Discrimination in Employment Act of
1967
 Mandatory retirement ages are not OK
 In most cases
 Unlike previous groups we discussed, age
discrimination not prohibited by U.S.
Constitution
Disabled Americans
 Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990
 Access
 Not a constitutionally protected group
 Stores and delivery?
Gays and Lesbians
 Romer v. Evans (1996)
 Had tried to eliminate protections for
homosexuals
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Military—don’t ask, don’t tell
Vermont—civil unions
Massachusetts—legal marriage
California battle
Most states ban it constitutionally when
offered the chance
Equal Protection
 Thanks to the 14th Amendment
 When are inequalities allowed?
 Reasonable-basis test
 21 and 18 year olds drinking
 Not suspect category
 Intermediate scrutiny
 Gender
 Almost suspect category
 Strict-scrutiny test
 Race and ethnicity
 Have to prove that it is necessary
Equal Access
 14th Amendment does not prohibit discrimination by
private parties
 Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Equal access to restaurants, bars, hotels, theaters, gas stations,
etc.
 Civil Rights Act of 1968
 Cannot refuse to sell or rent housing to someone based on race,
religion, ethnicity, or gender
 Voting Rights Act of 1965
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White-only primaries, poll taxes (24th Amendment), literacy test
Renewed many times…2006
League of United Latin American Voters v. Perry (2006)
Shaw v. Hunt (1996)
Easley v. Cromartie (2001)
Equality of Result?
 De facto discrimination v. de jure
discrimination
 Affirmative Action
 At first, burden of proof was on women
 That changes in the 1960s
 Disproportionate granting of opportunities to
white males is a result of necessity
Affirmative Action Cases
 University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978)
 Quotas are not OK…but racial considerations are
 Adarand v. Pena (1995)
 Contract issues
 Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
 Undergraduate policy not OK because specific
weight given to race (20/150 points)
 Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
 Law school policy is OK
For Thursday…
 Think about the differences between the
Michigan cases…does it make sense? Is it fair?
 How do civil rights and civil liberties overlap?
Should the government prohibit racist language
and hate speech or are these protected by the
First Amendment?
 How do the cases R.A.V. v. St. Paul and Wisconsin
v. Mitchell distinguish the difference between an
individual's intentions and actions?
 What should the goal of equal rights be in our
country? How can we get closer to achieving
actual equality?