Chapter Five:

Civil Rights

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Learning Objectives

Define civil rights and explain the difference between civil rights and civil liberties.

Explain why discrimination against groups exists in the United States.

Describe the attempts to grant civil rights to African Americans following the abolition of slavery, including the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and the Civil Rights Acts of 1865–1877.

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Learning Objectives

Explain how these initial attempts were frustrated by the courts and Reconstruction politics.

Describe the obstacles to political participation by African Americans including Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and violent racial intimidation.

Evaluate the impact of the “separate-but-equal” doctrine articulated in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Explain the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954).

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Learning Objectives

Explain the role of the Supreme Court in determining civil rights.

Explain the difference between de facto segregation and de jure segregation.

Describe the key provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Evaluate the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Evaluate women’s claims for equality and describe the strategies employed by activists.

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Learning Objectives

Explain why women focused on the states as well as a federal constitutional amendment for suffrage.

Describe goals of the second wave of the women’s movement.

Evaluate how the ERA would have accelerated women’s equality if ratified.

Explain why the ERA failed and evaluate the prospects for the ERA to be added in the future.

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Learning Objectives

Explain how Title IX improved access to all aspects of education for women.

Define sexual harassment and wage discrimination and explain how Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers these forms of discrimination.

Define the purpose and impact of the Twenty-sixth Amendment.

Explain the impact of Latino immigration on U.S. population demographics.

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Learning Objectives

Identify and assess the ways Latino civil rights were limited in relation to education, voting, and employment.

Assess the controversy surrounding the status of undocumented workers and access to public services.

Define and explain the primary goal of affirmative action.

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Learning Objectives

Evaluate why affirmative action is controversial, and identify the limits the Supreme Court has applied to affirmative action programs over time.

Provide the most important provisions of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

Give the most important provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and some of its limits.

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Learning Objectives

Provide the circumstances under which the gay and lesbian rights movement began.

Explain why sodomy laws were rejected in Lawrence v. Texas.

Explain why Congress passed “don’t ask, don’t tell” and why the policy will likely be rescinded.

Assess the current state of the same-sex marriage controversy (the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, civil unions v same-sex marriage).

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African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

Civil Rights refers to the rights of all Americans to equal treatment under the law, as provided for by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress.

Specifies what the government must do—to ensure equal protection and freedom from discrimination.

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African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

Ending Slavery in the United States Emancipation Proclamation of 1863

Thirteenth Amendment (1865)

Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

Fifteenth Amendment (1870)

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African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

Civil Rights Acts of 1865 to 1875

Civil Rights Act of 1866 extended citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

Enforcement Act of 1879 specified criminal sanction for interfering with the right to vote.

Civil Rights Act of 1872 made it a crime to deprive any individual of his/her rights.

Second Civil Rights Act of 1875 entitled all to full and equal enjoyment of public places.

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African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

Limitations of Civil Rights Laws

President Rutherford Hayes in 1877 ended the advancement of civil rights for African Americans.

Supreme Court started to narrowly interpret the 14th Amendment by stating that citizenship rights apply only to national citizenship, not state citizenship.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1892): separate but equal doctrine.

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African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

Voting Barriers for African Americans White primary Poll taxes Literacy tests Grandfather clauses

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African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

End of the Separate-but-equal Doctrine Founding of the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, 1954

established that the separate but equal doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson violated the 14th Amendment.

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African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the United States

Reactions to Integrating Schools Court-ordered busing was not popular in the 1970s

and 1980s.

Minority segregated schools are reemerging because of demographic changes.

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The Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King, Jr. and his philosophy of nonviolence.

Malcolm X and the exercise of Black Power.

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The Escalation of the Civil Rights Movement

Modern Civil Rights Legislation The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Barred

discrimination in Voter registration Public accommodations Public schools Employment

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The Escalation of the Civil Rights Movement

Modern Civil Rights Legislation (Continued) The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 and Other Housing Reform Legislation

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Consequences of Civil Rights Legislation

Political Participation by African Americans

Political Participation by Other Minorities

Lingering Social and Economic Disparities

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Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights

Early Women’s Political Movements Activism for women’s rights began with the

Seneca Falls convention in 1848.

Women’s Suffrage Associations 19th Amendment: Women get the right to vote in

1920.

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Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights22

Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights

Second Wave of the Women’s Movement Betty Friedan created the National Organization

of Women (NOW) in 1966 to address sex discrimination.

In 1972 the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed Congress and went to the states for ratification.

Both men and women protested the ERA, and it was withdrawn from consideration by the states in 1982.

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Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights24

Women’s Campaign for Equal Rights

Challenging Gender Discrimination in the Courts and Legislatures Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972

Gender discrimination as violation of 14th Amendment

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Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace

Protection Against Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) protects

women from Discrimination Sexual Harassment

Equal Pay Act of 1963

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Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace

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Immigration, Latinos, and Civil Rights

Most important challenges to discrimination took place in Texas and California and parallel the claims to rights made by African Americans and women.

The Chicano Movement focused on land rights, farm worker’s rights, education, voting rights, as well as the eradication of ethnic stereotypes and promotion of a positive group consciousness.

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Immigration, Latinos, and Civil Rights29

Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action: policies that attempt to “level the playing field” by giving special preferences in educational admissions and employment decisions to groups that have been discriminated against in the past.

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Securing Rights for Persons with Disabilities

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

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Rights and Status of Gays and Lesbians

State and Local Laws Targeting Gays and Lesbians

Gay Men and Lesbians in the MilitarySame-Sex Marriages

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Web Links

Pew Hispanic Center A nonpartisan research organization that seeks to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the nation: http://pewhispanic.org/.

Women's Rights National Historical Park Operated by the National Park Service, the Park preserves the sites associated with the 1848 First Women's Rights Convention: http://www.nps.gov/wori/index.htm.

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What If…Undocumented Immigrants Were Granted Citizenship?

Granting citizenship to every undocumented immigrant now residing in the United States would have significant political and social implications for the Latino community.

While tax revenue may increase, there may be a reduction of jobs.

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You Can Make a Difference: Dealing with Discrimination

Discrimination can come from friends, teachers, coaches, co-workers, managers, and business owners, and be based on race, color, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation or disability.

Everyone can be affected by discrimination at some point.

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You Can Make a Difference: Dealing with Discrimination

If you believe that you have been discriminated against by a potential employer, consider the following steps:Evaluate your own capabilities, and determine if you are truly qualified for the position.Analyze the reasons why you were turned down. If you still believe that you have been treated unfairly, you have recourse to several agencies and services.

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