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CIVIL RIGHTS

CIVIL RIGHTS. EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW?. CONCEPTS of EQUALITY. Equality of Opportunity People should have an equal chance to develop their talents Effort and ability should be rewarded equally Levels the playing field Recruiting specific race, gender so everyone has same chance starting out.

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CIVIL RIGHTS

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  1. CIVIL RIGHTS EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW?

  2. CONCEPTS of EQUALITY • Equality of Opportunity • People should have an equal chance to develop their talents • Effort and ability should be rewarded equally • Levels the playing field • Recruiting specific race, gender so everyone has same chance starting out

  3. CONCEPTS of EQUALITY • Equality of Outcome • Greater uniformity in social, economic and political power among different social groups • Allocate admissions or jobs based on race, gender, disability-unrelated to ability (quotas) • “In order to treat some persons equally, we treat them differently.” Justice Harry Blackmun • Create barriers to personal achievement-whatever group is given preferential treatment is done so at the expense of others

  4. CIVIL RIGHTS • Powers or privileges guaranteed to the individual and protected from arbitrary removal at the hands of the govt. or other individuals…positive rights

  5. CIVIL WAR AMENDMENTS • Intended to provide freedom and equality to blacks • 1865 - 13th Amendment outlawed slavery • 1868 – 14th Amendment citizenship and due process • 1870 – 15th Amendment political equality • Blacks free and equal…according to the Constitution…

  6. CONGRESS AND THE SC…LAWMAKING vs. LAW INTERPRETATION • Post Civil War-black codes set up by local and state govts. • Civil Rights Act of 1866 • Part of it grants all citizens the • right to make and enforce contracts • right to sue in court • purchase, lease, sell land • Civil Rights Act of 1875 • Attempted to guarantee blacks equal access to public accommodations (streetcars, inns, parks, theaters, etc.)

  7. SUPREME COURT ACTION • 1873-SC said Civil War amendments had not changed the relationship btwn. national and state govts. • State citizenship and national citizenship remain separate and distinct • 14th Amendment did not obligate states to honor rights guaranteed by US citizenship

  8. SUPREME COURT ACTION • 1876-justices limited Congressional attempts to protect rights of blacks • Rights infringed upon were not nationally protected rights-Congress powerless to punish states that violated those laws • 15th Amendment did not guarantee ALL citizens the right to vote-it only listed grounds that could not be used to deny that right

  9. SUPREME COURT ACTION • 1883-SC struck down public accommodations section of Civil Rights Act of 1875 • National govt. could prohibit only government action that discriminated against blacks-private acts or acts of omission by a state were beyond the reach of the nat’l govt. • The state could not exclude blacks from juries, but a restaurant could refuse service to blacks=outside government sphere

  10. BARRIERS TO VOTING RIGHTS • Poll tax • First imposed by GA in 1877 • $1 or $2 tax on every citizen who wanted to vote • Not a burden for most whites, but blacks could not afford= no vote • Literacy tests, minimal education requirements, grandfather clause (grandfather had to have voted before 1867-3 yrs. before 15th Amendment declared race could not be used to deny rights

  11. RACIAL SEGREGATION • 1892- Homer Plessy-7/8 white, sat in “whites only” LA train car • Arrested-argued LA mandate of racial segregation was unconstitutional infringement on both the privileges and immunities and equal protection clauses of 14th Amendment

  12. PLESSY v. FERGUSON • 1896-SC disagreed-upheld state imposed racial segregation in what came to be known as separate but equal doctrine • Separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the 14th Amendment as long as they were equal • 1898-extended separate but equal to schools • SC renders Congressional acts and laws, as well as Constitutional amendments, ineffective

  13. DISMANTLING OF SCHOOL SEGREGATION • Denied right to vote and to be represented in govt., blacks sought power in other ways • 1909-NAACP • Founded by WEB DuBois with goal of ending racial discrimination and segregation • Two pronged legal and lobbying attack on separate but equal doctrine • Pressing for fully equal facilities for blacks • Proving the unconstitutionality of segregation

  14. PRESSURE FOR EQUALITY • 1935 Lloyd Gaines graduated from Lincoln College • All black school in MO • Applied to state law school • MO refused to allow him entrance to an all-white school • State’s policy was to pay costs of blacks admitted to out-of-state law schools • Gaines and NAACP appeal for admission to University of MO Law School • 1938-SC ruled, using Plessy, that Mo could not shift to other states its responsibility to provide an equal education for blacks

  15. PRESSURE FOR EQUALITY • SC has consistently ruled that separate facilities must be equal • Restrictions on interactions with other students (McLaurin- doctoral students given a few rooms in the “colored only” section • Separate “law school”-a few rooms in an office building (Sweatt) did not provide the quality of the white school • Still, SC not ready to overturn or even reexamine separate but equal

  16. PRESSURE FOR DESEGREGATION • McLaurin decision showed NAACP that time was right to attack segregation itself • Public attitudes beginning to change-greater tolerance • Blacks fought with honor-in segregated units-in WWII • Blacks and whites working together in unions and service and religious organizzations

  17. HARRY TRUMAN • 1947 established President’s Committee on Civil Rights, risking his political future • Called for national laws prohibiting racially motivated poll taxes, segregation and brutality against minorities • Called for guarantees of voting rights and equal employment opportunities • 1948 Truman ordered desegregation of military

  18. CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE COURTS • 1947-D of J began filing briefs in support of civil rights • Most imp. = Brown v. Topeka Board of Education • Result of 20 years of planning and litigation on part of NAACP to invalidate school segregation

  19. BROWN v. TOPEKA BOARD OF ED • Linda Brown’s father tried to enroll her in white public school • Refused due to race • Fed. district court said black school was equal to white school • According to Plessy, Linda had to attend black school • Dad appealed

  20. BROWN v. TOPEKA BOARD OF ED • Case reached SC in late 1951 • SC delayed hearing the case until after the 1952 election • Brown merged with four other cases for a class action suit (combining claims of similar individuals so they can be heard as a single suit) • Supported by NAACP and coordinated by Thurgood Marshall • Challenged separate but equal doctrine • Tangible measures (standards for teacher licensing, teacher-pupil ratios, library facilities) schools were equal • Issue was legal separation of the races

  21. BROWN v. TOPEKA BOARD OF ED • May 17, 1954 Justice Earl Warren issued single majority opinion covering all four cases • “…in the field of public education, separate but equal has no place” • State-imposed school segregation violated equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment • Companion case challenged segregation in Washington, DC where segregation imposed by Congress • How could the national govt. be subject to a lesser duty than the states? • SC said racial segregation was a deprivation of liberty without due process-violated 5th Amend: Liberty encompassed equality

  22. BROWN v. BOARD OF ED. II • SC deferred implementation until 1955 • In Brown II, ruled that school systems must desegregate “with all deliberate speed” • Then assigned supervision of desegregation to lower courts • Most complied… except some in south • White businesses would pressure blacks who asserted their rights by foreclosing on their homes and denying credit at stores and banks • GA and NC paid white students’ tuition at private schools • VA ordered desegregated schools to be closed

  23. HOW TO DESEGREGATE • Burden fell on federal judges to dismantle what had become the social order in many communities • 1969 SC ordered segregated school systems “stop at once” • Included busing, racial quotas and pairing/grouping of noncontiguous school zones • 1971 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Schools • SC affirmed the ruling of lower courts to order the busing of children to ensure school desegregation • Applied to de jure segregation: govt. imposed segregation (assignment of whites to one school and blacks to another within same community) • Did not apply to de facto segregation: segregation that is not the result of govt. action (racial segregation resulting from residential patterns)

  24. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT • Eisenhower not as concerned with civil rights • Did enforce school desegregation when safety of children involved • Key to advancing racial equality was political mobilization-Civil Rights Movement • Black churches were crucible to movement • Bulletin board for people who had no voice in govt., bank for those w/o money

  25. CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS • Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat (action backed by NAACP) • Arrested, fined $10 • Black community responded-Montgomery Bus Boycott • Blacks walked, carpooled or stayed home rather than ride city buses • Refused to do business with company or individual who supported Jim Crow laws • Bus co. and local businesses on verge of bankruptcy-began to harass blacks in hopes of frightening them into ending the boycott

  26. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR • Charismatic 26 yr. old Baptist minister • MLK urged blacks to hold out/keep boycotting • 1 yr. after boycott began, Fed. Court ruled segregated transportation systems violated equal protection clause of Constitution • 1957 MLK helped organize Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • Coordinate civil rights activities • Non-violent-civil disobedience: willful, nonviolent breach of unjust laws

  27. OTHER TACTICS • Sit ins • 2/60-4 black college students sat at whites only lunch counter • Harassed-kept the sit-in • Students rotated shifts sitting at the counter so no-one would miss class • Joined by white supporters • Arrested-SC upheld action of demonstrators • Sit-ins increased across country

  28. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 • JFK was initially not committed to civil rights • Changed when protesters jailed, beaten, killed • 1962-ordered federal troops to ensure safety of James Merideth-1st black to attend Univ. of MS • 1963-enforced desegregation of Univ. of AL • Same year news showed civil rights marchers in Birmingham, AL attacked with dogs, fire hoses and cattle prods • JFK asked Congress for legislation that would outlaw segregation in public accommodations • 8/63-”I Have a Dream” speech by King at Lincoln Memorial • 250,000 marched for jobs and freedom

  29. LBJ • JFK assassinated in November, 1963 • Congress passed Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Barred segregation in most public accommodations • Congress acted as reaction to JFK’s death, but realized they needed to erase racial discrimination • Longest debate in US Senate after first successful use of cloture (used to end filibuster)

  30. Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Entitled all persons to “the full and equal enjoyment” of goods, services and privileges in places of public accommodations, without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin” • Est. right to equality in employment opportunities • Strengthened voting rights legislation • Created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)-hearing and investigating job discrimination • Provided that funds could be withheld from federally assisted programs administered in discriminatory manner

  31. OTHER ACTS • Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 • Billions of federal $$$ for schools • Threat of losing this money spurred many local school boards to formulate and implement desegregation plans

  32. OPPOSITION • Constitution does not forbid private discrimination • SC upheld; ruled that acts of discrimination imposed substantial burden on interstate commerce and thus subject to Congressional control • Think about not serving blacks in restaurants…why would Congress have the right to compel the owner to serve blacks?

  33. MORE LBJ • 24th Amendment -1964-banned poll taxes in primary and general elections • 1964-Economic Opportunity Act provided education and training to combat poverty • Voting Rights Act of 1965 empowered attorney general to send voter registration supervisors to areas in which fewer than half minorities had been registered • Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned discrimination in rental and sale of most housing

  34. CONTINUING STRUGGLE OVER CIVIL RIGHTS • Grove City College v. Bell-govt. educational grants to students implicate the institution as a recipient of govt. funds, therefore school must comply w/govt. nondiscriminatory provisions • Only the department receiving the funds had to comply-not whole institutions • Athletic depts. Rarely receive govt. fund, so they didn’t have to comply • Grove City frustrated enforcement of Civil Rights laws • Caused civil rights and women’s groups to look to legislature

  35. RACIAL VIOLENCE AND BLACK NATIONALISM • Middle and late 60s marked by violence-primarily in the South • Bombing of black churches • Slaying of 3 civil rights workers in MS • Police violence against peaceful marchers from Selma to Montgomery • Assassination of MLK in Memphis, 1968 • High unemployment+overcrowding in cities+low wages=riots

  36. NATION OF ISLAM • Nation of Islam (NOI)/Black Muslims rose because of lack of progress toward equality for northern blacks • Led by Malcolm X • Called for separation from whites rather than integration and violence for violence • X distanced himself from NOI shortly before his death by other Muslims in 1965

  37. BLACK PANTHER PARTY • Militant group-caused fear with its denunciation of values of white America • 1966-Stokely Carmichael-then chair of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) called on blacks to assert, “We want black power” • Blacks need power more than white friendship

  38. UPSIDE OF NOI AND PANTHERS • Black nationalism instilled and promoted pride in black history and culture • US colleges/universities offering black studies programs • More blacks voting…see 2008 election! • Blacks elected to public offices • 1967 Cleveland elects black mayor • 1969 Black Representatives form Congressional Black Caucus

  39. CIVIL RIGHTS FOR OTHER MINORITIES • 1987 SC=Civil Rights Act of 1866 (today it is known as Section 1981) offers broad protection against discrimination to ALL minorities. • Members of any ethnic group can recover monetary damages if they prove they have been jobs, housing, education

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