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Civil Rights:. The following is recap of the civil rights movement in the Unites States.
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Civil Rights: The following is recap of the civil rights movement in the Unites States. What we want to consider at the end of this lecture is the impact the civil rights movement has had on all races of people, not just the African Americans who have been at the forefront of many of the legal battles throughout our nations history.
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) Scott was a slave in Missouri, where slavery was legal. But his owner took him North for an extended period of time before they returned to Missouri. Upon their return to Missouri, he sued his slaver owner for his freedom because while he was in the North he was essentially living as a free man.
In Dred Scott v. Sanford the Supreme Court ruled against Scott and also judged that the Missouri Compromise (which allowed slavery in Missouri and made slavery illegal in the Northern territories) unconstitutional. A victory for slavery.
The Civil War Amendments: 13th Amendment – abolished slavery in the United States. 14th Amendment – Called for equal protection under the law for all citizens of the United States. Also states that all people born in the United States are born as citizens. 15th Amendment – Prohibits the government form denying a person (male) the right to vote on the basis of race.
Jim Crow laws: Laws passed usually in the South that made segregation in buses, trains, schools, swimming pools, parks and other public facilities legal. Defacto Segregation: Segregation not by passing of laws, but by custom and tradition. (“We’ve always done it this way”)
Important Segregation cases and the NAACP There were many cases taken up by the NAACP who took them to the U.S. Supreme Court and tested their constitutionality. • Norris v. Alabama – excluded African Americans from serving on juries. • Morgan v. Virginia – segregation on interstate buses. • Sweatt v. Painter – state law schools had to admit qualified African American applicants.
In every one of these cases and many more, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of de-segregation.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Landmark Supreme Court case that validated segregation. The case legalized segregation in many areas of life, schools, restaurants, parks, buses, etc. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court called for “separate-but-equal” facilities to be provided. The problem was more emphasis was put on “separate” than on “equal”. IN reality, they were never equal. It would be 58 years before this decision would be overturned.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka: (1954) Meet Linda Brown Linda was one of the African American students whom this case was brought. She wanted to go to the neighborhood white school, but was refused entrance and told she had to attend the all black school on the other side of town.
Her parents sued the Board of Education of Topeka. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection under the law clause of the 14th Amendment. This case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. Chief Justice Earl Warren ~ “In the field of education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Resistance to segregation: Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)– when nine African American students tried to enter Central High School (by court order), governor Faubus sent in the National Guard to help the protestors keep the students out. President Eisenhower eventually sent the U.S. Army (1,000 - 101st Airborne Division) to Little Rock and escorted the students to school. The soldiers stayed the remainder of the year to ensure that the students were allowed in.
Violence in Birmingham, Alabama (1963) - A march launched by Martin Luther King, Jr. to bring nationwide attention to the violence that was taking place towards African American when they sought to get services they were entitled to. The police chief told his officers to use clubs, fire hoses and police dogs to disperse the marchers.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: The violence of the march in Alabama in 1963 led President Kennedy to call for sweeping Civil Rights legislation. But before he could see it through, he was assassinated. President Johnson finished the work that Kennedy started.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Even with all the previous laws to guarantee the right to vote for everyone, in some areas there were still literacy tests that kept African Americans from voting. The Voting Rights Act removed all the barriers and authorized federal intervention to make sure all people could vote.
Affirmative Action: While many things changed for minorities, there were still many barriers to full equality. Employment was one area that minorities and women still experienced discrimination. In the late 60s, the civil rights movement began to focus on discrimination in the work place. The federal government created affirmative action legislation which called on employers to actively recruit minorities and women.
Eventually, to ensure that employers were complying with government regulations, they instituted quotas. Employers had to have a certain percentage of African American, women, and other minorities (protected groups) in their employ. Affirmative Action extended from the work place to include entrance into colleges and universities as well to ensure equal access.
Regents v. Bakke: In 1974, Allan Bakke, a Caucasian, applied for entrance into the University of California Medical School at Davis. He was highly qualified. Yet, he was rejected. Why? Affirmative Action laws required the UC to accept someone less qualified simply because of their race. Bakke sued the UC Regents claiming reverse discrimination. It went to the Supreme Court.
In 1978, The US. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 in favor of Bakke (University of California Regents v. Bakke). They agreed that his civil rights had been violated.
Even though Court ruled in favor of Bakke, the ruling was not a ruling against affirmative action. Affirmative action was still practiced, and is still somewhat in place today. But not so much in the UC system here in California.
California Proposition 209: In 1995, the University system voted not to use affirmative action any longer. The movement was led by Ward Connerly, a business man and UC Board member. Oh yeah, and he was African American.
California Proposition 209 was the initiative by the State of California to ban giving preferential treatment on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, or national origin. California voters approved of Proposition 209 which ended the practice of affirmative action in this state. Other states soon began their own Prop. 209 legislation. The battle continues to this day.
Immigration: (Hispanic focus) Hispanic Americans also worked for greater rights in this period as well. One of the leaders of the movement was Cesar Chavez (well talk more about later). With the passage of the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, which removed quotas based on national origins. This legislation allowed more Hispanics to enter into the USA legally. In 1960, about 3 million Hispanics lived in the US
But even then, more people from all over Central and South America were heading for the United States to escape repressive political regimes and to look for better lives in the US. Many Hispanics who came to the US found low paying jobs and were often exploited by businesses because of their legal status. The Bracero program helped many Hispanics in Mexico to come and go legally, to work in the US and return home to Mexico in the off season.
Civil Rights Advocates: These are some of the many people who were instrumental in the Civil Rights movement throughout our nations history.
Booker T. Washington – Started the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. W.E.B. DuBois – Influential leader of the NAACP
A. Philip Randolph – Led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He led successful marches in Washington D.C. to force the government to hire more African American Workers. He also encouraged Martin Luther King, Jr. to hold the landmark rally in Washington D.C. which led to the “I have a Dream Speech.
Rosa Parks – Refused to give up seat on the bus, which led to nationwide boycotts. Thurgood Marshall – NAACP lawyer in Brown v. Board of Education and Supreme Court Justice
James Farmer – Organized the Freedom Riders, teams of African Americans and whites who travelled from the North to the South to protest racial discrimination in Alabama. Upon arriving in Alabama, the Freedom Riders were brutalized by the local whites, the police, and the KKK.
James Meredith – African American student who wanted to go to the University of Mississippi. Kennedy ordered 160 U.S. Marshalls to escort him to school. They stayed until he graduated.
Martin Luther King, Jr. – The leader of the African American Civil Rights movement in the United States. • Non-violent • Baptist Preacher • Leader • Was eventually assassinated in April 1968.
Malcolm X – Leader of the Nation of Islam. Led the Black Muslim movement. • Advocated violence as a means of self-defense. • Advocated African Americans separating themselves from white society and forming their own self-governing communities. • Later in life, back off on some of his more radical beliefs. • Was assassinated in 1965. • Inspired the Black Panther movement.
Cesar Chavez – Co-Founder and leader of the United Farm Workers Union , UFW (1960s). • Led the movement for more rights for the farm workers. • Led the historic march from Delano, CA to Sacramento, Ca that won nationwide recognition for the farm labor movement and greater rights. • Inspired by Gandhi. • He was the inspiration, and still is, for many groups seeking more rights for Hispanic Americans.
What was the impact of what these people did upon all races of people?
