Civil Liberties and Civil Rights What is the difference

Civil Liberties Tend to be described as your protections from or against the government What the government CANNOT take away from you Liberty = freedom Examples include : Freedom of religion, speech, press and fair trial – basically your Bill of Rights Small states refused to ratify the Constitution without a Bill of Rights

Rights are not absolute Just because you are given freedoms does not mean you can do what ever you want! You have the right to do as you please so long as you do not infringe upon the rights of others. Example- you have the freedom of speech, but it is not absolute-you can be punished for obscene language, provoking riots, or saying words that would cause harm to another. You can be sued for Slander or Libel Slander – spoken lies that cause harm to one’s reputation Libel – Written lies that cause harm to one’s reputation

Civil Rights The positive acts of government that protect your Constitutional rights. Examples include: prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or origin. Civil Rights Amendments – The government had to step in after the Civil War to protect against discrimination 13 th – Abolished Slavery 14 th – Equal Protection Clause – all federal laws must be equal for everyone! 15 th – Voting Rights – extended to all races Civil Rights Act of 1964– prohibited discrimination in access to or services in hotels, motels, theaters, restaurants and in other public accommodations on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Terms Segregation – separation based on race, sex, religion or origin Desegregation- The act of ending separation Integration – the act of combining the once segregated people Separate but Equal – a law that allowed segregation as long as each side had equal facilities Jim Crow Laws- as series of racist laws in the South after the Civil War – Charles Hamilton Houston would be credited with “killing” Jim Crow

Landmark Cases Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – involved the 14 th Amendment, Equal Protection Clause. – A Louisiana law, called Separate But Equal, required separate seating for whites and non-whites on public railroads—segregation. – Homer Plessy said this was a violation of his “equal protection of the laws”, because it the law had different policies for different races. – Court said segregation was acceptable if the facilities were equal and as long as both races were offered seating. This would be the establishment of “Separate But Equal” So, at that time the Supreme Court said segregation was LEGAL, as long as each side had an opportunity Upheld the doctrine of Separate But Equal This ruling applied to all situations – schools, restaurants, movies, etc

Landmark Cases Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) – involved 14 th Amendment Equal Protection Clause. Linda Brown, 10 years old, could not attend the neighborhood school that was close to her house because she was black and the school was for whites only. She had to travel on a bus miles away to the black school. Her father argued that the transportation was not “equal”, because the black buses had no air and were run down. At first the Brown side cases were only seeking new buses, new books, and equal facilities, but it eventually led to something far more significant The Supreme Court agreed with Brown and stated that “segregation has no place in education.” Schools would have to integrate over the next decade. This did not apply to all public facilities. There were SIX lawsuits included with Brown’s, we call it Brown because they thought it was the strongest case

Civil Rights Organizations NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NWSA – National Woman’s Suffrage Association

Civil Rights Paves the way for “firsts” First Black Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall – attorney in Brown v. BOE Appointed by LB Johnson in 1965 First Female Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Appointed by Reagan in 1981 First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Appointed in 2009 by Obama