Legal Background of Civil Rights

Have your “Legal Background of the Civil Rights Movement” on your desk – we will go over it today.

Civil War Amendments 13 th Amendment (1865)  outlawed slavery 14 th Amendment (1868)  Defined citizenship  Rights  Equal Protection Clause 15 th Amendment (1870)  suffrage for black males

Equal Protection Clause 14 th Amendment of the Constitution (1868)  “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall [...] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, [...] nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”  Everyone is equal under the law

Jim Crow Laws Throughout the late 1800’s, nearly ½ of states passed segregation laws  Separated people based on race

Jim Crow Laws Throughout the late 1800’s, nearly ½ of states passed segregation laws  Separated people based on race  Schools, parks, playgrounds, hotels, restaurants & water fountains

Jim Crow Laws Throughout the late 1800’s, nearly ½ of states passed racial segregation laws  Separated people based on race  Schools, parks, playgrounds, hotels, restaurants & water fountains Jim Crow laws were made illegal after passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Did a Louisiana law providing for separate railway cars for whites & blacks violate the equal protection clause of Constitution Court ruled that segregation was permitted if facilities were equal  "separate but equal"  Constitutional basis for Jim Crow laws

Opinions The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality.... If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane. — Justice Henry Billings Brown, majority opinion Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. — Justice John Marshall Harlan, dissenting

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Brown v. Board of Education Five cases combined questioning whether segregation deprived students of equal protection under the law

Brown v. Board of Education Five cases combined questioning whether segregation deprived students of equal protection under the law  Court ruled “separate but equal” was un- Constitutional  All schools must desegregate at "deliberate speed” We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. — Chief Justice Earl Warren, for a unanimous Court

Thurgood Marshall

Little Rock Nine (1957)

Massive Resistance 1956 – VA General Assembly gave the Governor the power to withdraw funding & close schools that attempted to comply with Brown  Schools closed throughout the State  VA Supreme Court rejected plan  Prince Edward County schools closed in 1959 for 5 years

Massive Resistance 1956: VA General Assembly gave the Governor the power to withdraw funding & close schools that attempted to comply with Brown  Schools closed throughout the State  VA Supreme Court rejected plan  Prince Edward County schools closed in 1959 for 4 school years 1959: Stratford Jr HS became the first school in VA to integrate

Fort Myer, VA

What Is Equality Under the Law? I. Declaration of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal. II. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the question before the Supreme Court was whether a Louisiana law providing for separate railway cars for whites and blacks violated the Constitution. The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality.... If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane. — Justice Henry Billings Brown, majority opinion Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. — Justice John Marshall Harlan, dissenting

What Is Equality Under the Law? III. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. — Chief Justice Earl Warren, for a unanimous Court IV. Grutter v. Bollinger, No (2003). The issue before the Court in Grutter v. Bollinger was whether the University of Michigan Law School could use race as a consideration in admitting students. Government may treat people differently because of their race only for the most compelling reasons.... Today we endorse [the] view that student body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use of race in university admissions. — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, majority opinion Racial classifications are per se harmful and... almost no amount of benefit in the eye of the beholder can justify such classifications. — Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting