Civil Rights Chapter 17

The Ideal of Equality The drive for civil rights focused on –Equal access to voting –Prohibition of certain forms of “categorical discrimination” Categorical discrimination Exclusion, by reason of race, gender, or disability, from public education, employment, housing and public accommodations

Equality and Equal Rights Equality of Opportunity Equality of Starting Conditions Equality Between GroupsEquality of Results

The Struggle for Racial Equality After Reconstruction ended, African Americans were lynched in the South on an average of one every four days

People & Politics: Martin Luther King, Jr. You may well ask, ‘Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are quite right in calling for negotiations. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. - Dr. Martin Luther King

Racial Equality: A Turning Point

Growing Support Among Southern Democrats in Congress for Civil Rights Bills Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation, vols. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8.

Increase in Number of Black Elected Officials

Women’s Rights 15th Amendment did not bar denial of the vote on the grounds of gender Women had to fight for universal suffrage Finally gained it in 1920 with 19 th Amendment

Gender Equality in the Economy The Earnings Gap: Median Weekly Earnings of Men and Women

Gender Equality in the Economy Gender Differentiation in the Labor Market

Hispanics Latinos have suffered discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, education and have faced harsh treatment from police and other government officials Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association to organize Latinos

Life Chances

Asian Americans “Asian-Americans…face widespread prejudice, discrimination and barriers to equal opportunity” -U.S. Civil Rights Commission A WWII Japanese Internment Camp

Annual immigration, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1998, 10.

Native American Peoples: Reservations in the United States

The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) Due Process Clause: “no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law” Equal Protection Clause: “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”

Constitutional Classifications and Tests Rational Basis Test – traditional test to determine whether a law complies with the equal protection requirement and places the burden of proof on parties attacking the law Strict Scrutiny – when a law is subject to strict scrutiny, the courts must be persuaded that there is both a compelling government interest to justify such a classification and that there is no less restrictive way to accomplish this compelling purpose Ex.) Laws that giver preference for public employment based on race are subject to strict scrutiny

Voting Rights: Protecting Voting Rights White PrimaryRacial Gerrymandering Poll Tax Literacy Tests Devices used to Prevent African Americans From Voting

Racial Gerrymandering Following the 1990 census, the Department of Justice pressed southern legislatures to draw as many districts as possible in which minorities would constitute a majority of the electorate Affirmative Racial Gerrymandering in North Carolina

From Segregation to Desegregation--But Not Yet Integration De Jure Segregation Segregation and discrimination mandated by state and local laws De Facto Segregation Segregation and discrimination resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice

Brown v. Board of Education Unanimous Supreme Court opinion overturned Plessy Segregation is detrimental; creates sense of inferiority in African American students The Court relied on social science, because the Fourteenth Amendment was not necessarily intended to abolish segregated schools, and the Court sought a unanimous opinion

Desegregation v. Integration Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg (1971): remedies may include racial quotas, redrawn district lines, and court-ordered busing Inter-city busing could be authorized only if both the city and the suburbs had practiced de jure segregation Busing remains controversial

Rights of Association “My view of the First Amendment and the related guarantees of the Bill of Rights is that they create a zone of privacy which precludes government from interfering with private clubs or groups. The associational rights which our system honors permit all-white, all-black, all-brown, all-yellow clubs to be established….Government may not tell a man or a woman who her associates may be. The individual may be as selective as he desires.” -Justice William O. Douglas (1972)

Rights of Accomodation Commerce clause has been used by the Supreme Court to justify taking action against discriminatory conduct by individuals Title II of Civil Rights Act of 1964: Places of Public Accommodation –makes it a federal offense to discriminate against any customer or patron in a place of public accommodation because of race, color, religion, or national origin

Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964: Employment –makes it illegal for any employer or trade union in any industry affecting interstate commerce and employing 15 or more people to discriminate in employment practices against any person because of race, color, natl. origin, religion, or sex

The Affirmative Action Debate Diversity and Affirmative Action Diversity as a Constitutional Question Race-Neutral Approaches to Diversity Protest over Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s effort to ban racial preferences in university admissions and state contracting

Reaffirming the Importance of Diversity Jennifer Gratz (right) was the successful plaintiff in Gratz v Bollinger. Barbara Grutter (left) was the unsuccessful plaintiff in Grutter v. Bollinger