Equal Rights: Civil Rights Chapter 5

Civil Liberties  Civil Liberties = Individual rights that are protected from infringement (interference) by government.  Civil liberties refer to individual freedoms  Examples?

Civil Rights  Civil Rights = The right of every person to equal protection under the law and equal access to society’s opportunities and public facilities.  Requires government action to secure that groups of people are not being discriminated  Civil rights refer to equality  Examples?

De Jure Discrimination  Reasons why people claim CIVIL RIGHTS  Procedural Inequalities (De Jure Segregation) Rules that specifically discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnicity that results from a law  Racial segregation that is legally sanctioned because of laws or decisions by government agencies

Civil Rights  Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Homer Plessy challenged a Louisiana law requiring that railroads provide separate accommodations for blacks & whites Separate but Equal accommodations did not violate the equal protection clause of 14 th amendment Separate but equal doctrine was used to justify segregation for nearly 60 years

De Facto Discrimination  Substantive Inequalities (De Facto Segregation)  Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnicity that results from social, economic, and cultural biases  Racial segregation that occurs not as a result of laws but because of past social & economic conditions and residential patterns

Civil War Amendments  13 th Amendment (1865)  Ended Slavery in the US  14 th Amendment (1868)  Equal Protection Clause No state can deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws  SC interpret equal protection to mean that states must treat all persons in an equal manner & may not discriminate unreasonably against a particular group of individuals  15 th Amendment (1870)  All males given the right to vote regardless of race.

Voting Barriers  Literacy Tests  Created to disenfranchise African Americans voters  Grandfather Clause  Limited voting to those whose ancestors could vote before the Civil War.  Poll Taxes  Tax on voting to disenfranchise the poor  White Primary  Allowed political parties to exclude African Americans from voting in primaries in South.

Would you have been able to vote? The Alabama Literacy Test  Which body of Congress can try impeachments of the President?  The Senate  At what time of day on January 20th does the term of the President end?  Noon  If the president does not sign a bill, how many days is he allowed in which to return it to Congress for reconsideration?  10 days  If a bill is passed by Congress and the President refuses to sign it and does not send it back to Congress in session within the specified period of time, is the bill defeated or does it become law?  It becomes law

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)  The Brown Case Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) The Supreme Court unanimously held that segregation by race in public education is unconstitutional. Violated 14 th Amendment (Equal Protection Clause) Catalyst for Civil Rights movement 5-2 Linda Brown

Civil Rights Movement  Montgomery Bus Boycott ( )  Rosa Parks  Formation of SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) leaded by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1957)  Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee  Lunch counter Sit-ins, 1961  Focused attention on segregated accommodations  Tactic of nonviolent civil disobedience  Demonstrators remained in their seats until forcibly removed

The Civil Rights Movement 1955 – Bus Boycott in Montgomery, AL 1957 – Little Rock, AR Desegregation

School Integration  Central High School, Little Rock, AR  Governor of AK used state’s national guard to block the integration of Central High School in 1957  President Eisenhower federalized the AR National Guard and sent in more troops to force integration.

King’s Dream Speech  August 28, 1963  March on Washington 

Equal Access  The Civil Rights Acts of 1964  Prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, & national origin Outlawed segregation in public facilities, i.e hotels, restaurants, movie theatres, and public transportation Ended racial discrimination in employment Withholding of federal funds from discriminatory state & local programs

Equal Ballots  The Voting Rights Act of 1965, as Amended  Made illegal to interfere with anyone’s right to vote in any election held in the US  End Racial barriers in voting  Eliminated Literacy test  24 th Amendment ended poll tax

Affirmative action  Programs that give special treatment, in jobs and college admissions to groups that have been discriminated aginst in the past.  1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in hiring  Quota system A specific number of jobs, and university admission, must be given to selected minority group 5-8

Affirmative Action laws  Regents of the UC v. Bakke (1978)  Rigid quotas could not be used as guidelines for admission to university  Reverse Discrimination Discrimination against whites

Equality for Women  Women  Women obtained the right to vote (Suffrage) in 1920 through the 19 th Amendment  Wage Discrmination Equal Pay Act, 1963 Required employers to pay an equal wage for substantially equal work Estimated women earn 76 cents per dollar man  Glass Ceiling Obstacles in advancement that professional women encounter on the job

Equality for Women  Sexual Harassment  Unwanted physical contact, verbal conduct, or abuse of a sexual nature that interferes with a recipient’s job performance Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits of gender discrimination which includes sexual harassment

Other Equality Issues Today  Rights for other groups  The elderly  The disabled American Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990  Gays & lesbians

The Struggle for Equality  Hispanic Americans  Racial Profiling  Form of discrimination  Hispanics constitute the largest ethnic minority in the US  Voter turnout among Hispanics is only 27 %  Cesar Chavez lead civil rights movement for farmers in Central CA in the 1960s 5-4