iv. equality before the law. a. equal protection discrimination – treating individuals unfairly...

IV. Equality Before the IV. Equality Before the LawLaw

IV. Equality Before the IV. Equality Before the LawLaw

A. Equal Protection • Discrimination – Treating

individuals unfairly solely because of their race, gender, ethnic group, sexual orientation, age, or religion

• Our government is not able to discriminate in any way

B. Segregation in America• Segregation – Separation of one

group of people from another• After the end of Reconstruction

every Southern state rewrote their constitutions to include segregation

• Jim Crow Laws – Laws that separate people on the basis of race – Start after the election of 1876

Stage Character: Jim Crow

C. Separate But Equal

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Louisiana law required separate

seating for blacks and whites on public railroads

• Herman Plessy argued that his right to equality were violated

D. Court’s Ruling

• Ruled that segregation was permitted if facilities were equal – Separate but Equal

• Segregation was the law of the land for the next 60 years

E. Times a Changing

• Gaines v. Canada (1938)• Lloyd Gaines, an African American,

was not allowed to attend law school at an all-white University of Missouri

• State offered no separate school for blacks

F. Court’s Ruling • State was required to admit

Gaines or create a new school for him to attend

• School decided to admit Gaines• Court upheld the separate but

equal doctrine

Executive Order 9981 – Primary Source

G. Time for Real Change

• Brown v. The Board of Education (1954) – One of the most important cases in 20th century

• Linda Brown was not permitted to attend a local school because she was black

Brown v. Board of Education 1954 – Primary Source

H. Court’s Ruling • Court ruled that separate had never

been equal • No room for discrimination in the realm

of public education • Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson • States were forced to bus students and

integrate schools• Massive resistance erupted across the

South

Little Rock Nine

• Meredith V. Jefferson County BOE (2007)

• Court ruled that assigning kids to schools based on race is Unconstitutional

• What does this do to the Brown decision?

I. Civil Rights Movement

• Civil rights workers throughout the South peacefully broke laws supporting racial segregation

• Rosa Parks – Became famous for refusing to give up her seat to a white man

“Because of You John”- Barack Obama

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – Leader of the Civil Rights movement

• Practice nonviolent resistance to protest governmental policies

• Results in the March on Washington and King’s famous “I have a dream” speech I have a dream

“Any Means Possible”

How Far Have We Come?

Civil Rights Act 1964 – Primary Source

J. Civil Rights Act 1964• Prevented giving federal funds to aid

any state where racial separation was practiced

• 1) Not allowed to refuse service • 2) prohibits discrimination against any

person because of race• 3) Prohibits employers from

discriminating on the grounds of race