CIVIL RIGHTS

EQUALITY  Civil Rights Policies that extend basic rights to groups historically subject to discrimination  Debates over inequality Racial, gender, age, disability, and sexual preference  Early views of equality Declaration of Independence Delegates to Constitutional Convention did best to avoid problems of slavery and women’s rights

EQUALITY  Constitution Does not guarantee individual rights Equality does not appear in Constitution 14 th Amendment  Equal Protection of Law Used to assure rights for disadvantaged groups Constitutional interpretation  Judicial Scrutiny (Classifications) Racial/ethnic-inherently suspect-presumed to be invalid & upheld if they serve a compelling public interest Gender-reasonable & inherently suspect-must bear a substantial relationship to an important legislative purpose

RACIAL EQUALITY AFRICAN-AMERICANS  Slavery(1600s-1865)  Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)  Civil War Amendments (1865)  Jim Crow Laws  Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)  Segregation de jure-legally required de facto-sanctioned (allowed)

RACIAL EQUALITY AFRICAN-AMERICANS  Brown v. Board of Education (1954)  Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)  Civil Rights Movement ( )  Civil Rights Act (1964) Made racial discrimination illegal in hotels, motels, restaurants, and other public places Forbid job discrimination Cut off aid to segregated schools

RACIAL EQUALITY AFRICAN-AMERICANS  Voting Rights Act (1965) Prohibited any government from using voting procedures that denied a person the right to vote on basis of color  Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg County Schools (1971) Busing to achieve racially balanced schools is constitutional

RACIAL EQUALITY NATIVE AMERICANS  Oldest minority group  Not made citizens until 1924  Indian Claims Act (1924)  National Indian Youth Council & American Indian Movement (AIM)-1960s Protested federal policy toward ancestral lands, past treaties, & ownership of mineral resources

RACIAL EQUALITY ASIAN AMERICANS  Immigration exclusions  Internment Camps ( )  Korematsu v. United States (1944) Internment constitutional  Compensation (1988) $20,000 for each 60,000 survivors  Greater median incomes than any other minority group

RACIAL EQUALITY HISPANIC AMERICANS  14% of American population  Fastest growing in America  20% in poverty  Voting turn out growing  League of United Latin American Citizens  Mexican American/Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund

EQUALITY FORWOMEN  Early History Early 1800s-few political rights, legally subservient to husbands, could not own property, could not go to school 1850s-Begin Women’s Rights Movement  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony  19 th Amendment (1920) right to vote  Decrease in membership

EQUALITY FOR WOMEN  Discrimination in Workplace Wages lacked behind men Glass Ceiling Syndrome Civil Rights Act 1964-allowed women to sue on basis of bias or sexual discrimination/harrassment  Discrimination in Education Title IX (1972)-prevented schools and colleges from discriminating against women in the areas of admissions, financial aid, and athletics

EQUALITY FOR WOMEN  Discrimination in Credit Equal Credit Opportunity (1974)-prohibited banks from denying loans to women based on marital status, and allowed women’s income to be used with husbands on loans  Discrimination & the Supreme Court Burger Court (1970s)-invalidated states laws that discriminated against women in the areas of; jury selection, child support, pension plans, “gentlemen’s clubs”, in the military  Discrimination & Employment Leaves No national law requiring paid maternity leaves Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)  Requires employers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for specific medical conditions

EQUALITY FOR WOMEN  Equal Rights Amendment (1972) Feminist Movement (1970s) Gloria Steinem & Betty Friedan (The Feminine Mystique) “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the US or any state on account of sex.” Opponents  Draft  Unisex bathrooms  Undermine traditional family values Defenders  Necessary to guarantee equality Did not receive enough state votes & died in 1982

EQUALITY FOR WOMEN  Politics and Military First women house minority leader (2003) Considerations for potential presidential candidates Cabinet Positions Supreme Court Justices 15% of Army & Navy/20% of Air Force Allowed enrollment in all military academies (1975) Prohibited from front line combat duties

EQUALITY FOR WOMEN  Sexual Harassment Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993)  No single aspect needed to prove sexual harassment  Law violated when workplace perceived as hostile or abusive Tailhook Scandal (1990s)  83 women & 7 men accused ranked officers of sexual harassment  Many officers lost careers and went to prison Faragher v. City of Boca Raton (1998)  Employers can be held liable for workplace harassment even if they have no knowledge

EQUALITY FOR SENIOR CITIZENS  High voter turn out  Elderly Organizations Gray Panthers American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)  Fight for legislation abolishing age discrimination in employment, better medical benefits, and extension of social security benefits  “Gray Liberation Movement”

EQUALITY FOR DISABLED  Rehabilitation Act (1973) Added disabled people to the list of Americans protected against discrimination  Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) Requires employers and public facilities to provide “reasonable accommodations” Prohibits employment discrimination against the disabled

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION  Mandating that employers make an earnest effort to hire and/or promote minority workers  Goal: true equality of opportunity  Critics: reverse discrimination Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)  California at Davis set aside 16 of 100 places in their medical school for disadvantaged groups  Court said: quotas were unconstitutional, but could make race and/or gender an element of the selection process

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION  California Proposition 209 (1996) Banned state affirmative action programs based on race, ethnicity or gender in hiring, contracting, and educational admissions Other states have since followed their lead Supreme Court has yet to rule