CIVIL RIGHTS: An “American Dilemma” Cont’d October 8, 2002

The Context of the Civil Rights Struggle n the American civil war n civil rights ( ) n the development of legal segregation ( ) n Jim Crow ( )

The American Civil War – The Outcome n “The end of the Civil War solved the problem of slavery and started the problem of the blacks, which is with America still. Everyone, from Jefferson to Washington onwards, and including Lincoln himself, had argued that the real problem of slavery was not ending it but what to do with the freed blacks afterwards.” Paul Johnson, A History of the American People

The Beginning of the “American Dilemma” n the Gettysburg address (Abraham Lincoln, 1863) –the ‘great task before us’ »a country dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” »“government of the people, by the people, for the people” n including the South n reconstitution of state governments –new state governments signaled immediately that blacks would not be treated as equals

Civil Rights ( ) n Voting Rights Act (1870) –act to enforce the 15 th Amendment n Civil Rights Act (1875) –entitlement to full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations and entertainment n precursors to 1960s civil rights legislation –Civil Rights Act (1964) –Voting Rights Act (1965) n how is this possible??

The Development of Legal Segregation ( ) n Supreme Court decisions –Voting Rights Act (1870) –Civil Rights Act (1875) »limited to official acts not private citizens (1883)

Forms of Discrimination n different forms of discrimination at issue –overt discrimination by the state »segregation –implicit discrimination by the state »eg. voting rights »e.g. defining primaries as private (not public) –systemic discrimination »not direct discrimination by the state »often primarily in the private realm »effects are the same -- segregation

The Development of Legal Segregation ( ) n Supreme Court decisions –Voting Rights Act (1870) –Civil Rights Act (1875) »limited to official acts not private citizens n Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) –“separate but equal” n Jim Crow ( ) –legal, government enforced, court supported (e.g. constitutional) segregation based on race

Roots of the Segregated System n institutional supports of segregation –state imposed segregation –federal segregation »esp. armed forces –Supreme Court and the Constitution

Roots of the Segregated System n societal support for segregation –southern landed aristocracy –poor southern whites »segregation and social status »segregation and the segregated labour market –challenges to segregation were seen to tear at the very fabric of white southern society

The Supreme Court and Civil Rights n the Supreme Court prior to 1954 –how did such blatant discrimination exist under the Bill of Rights and in full view of the Supreme Court? –with the support of the Court!! n Why did the civil rights movement turn to the courts in the 1950s? »they had nowhere else to go! »recognition that Supreme Court could be made to respond to forces of change...