Civil Rights and Public Policy Chapter 5

Introduction Civil Rights: – Definition: Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals. Racial Discrimination Gender Discrimination Discrimination based on age, disability, sexual orientation and other factors

Historical Examples List historical examples of civil rights violations.

Two Centuries of Struggle Conceptions of Equality – Equal opportunity – Equal results Early American Views of Equality The Constitution and Inequality – 14 th Amendment: “…equal protection of the laws.”

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy The Era of Slavery – Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) – The Thirteenth Amendment The Era of Reconstruction and Resegregation – Jim Crow laws – Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy The Era of Civil Rights – Brown v. Board of Education (1954) – Court ordered integration and busing of students – Civil Rights Act of 1964 Made racial discrimination illegal in many areas (hotels, restaurants) Strengthened voting right legislation

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy Getting and Using the Right To Vote – Suffrage - The legal right to vote. – Fifteenth Amendment: Extended suffrage to African Americans – Grandfather Clause – required a literacy test, but exempted it for anyone who’s g-pa could vote in 1860 – Poll Taxes: Small taxes used to pay for elections- if you paid them, you could vote. – White Primary: Only whites were allowed to vote in the party (Democratic) primaries.

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy Getting and Using the Right To Vote – Smith v. Allwright (1944): ended white primaries. – Twenty-fourth Amendment: Eliminated poll taxes for federal elections. – Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966)- no poll taxes at all. – Voting Rights Act of 1965: Helped end formal and informal barriers to voting.

Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy Other Minority Groups – Native Americans Not American citizens until 1924 Sovereign nation or “domestic dependent nation?” mascots – Hispanic Americans Current immigration trends – Asian Americans Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Women, the Constitution, and Public Policy The Battle for the Vote – Nineteenth Amendment: Extended suffrage to women in The “Doldrums”: – Laws were designed to protect women, and protect men from competition with women. – “protectionism” The Second Feminist Wave – Reed v. Reed (1971) – discrimination based on gender not allowed

Women, the Constitution, and Public Policy Women in the Workplace Wage Discrimination and Comparable Worth Women in the Military – Is the draft discriminatory? Sexual Harassment

Newly Active Groups Under the Civil Rights Umbrella the Graying of America Are the Young a Disadvantaged Group, Too? People With Disabilities Gay and Lesbian Rights

Affirmative Action Definition: – A policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment of members of some previously disadvantaged group. A move towards equal results? Adarand Constructors v. Pena (1995) – programs that classify people by race, even if trying to expand opportunity, should be presumed unconstitutional mative.action/ mative.action/

Synthesis Choose 3 examples of areas where civil rights are still lacking. How can / should our gov’t rectify these problem areas? Standard 5 paragraph essay including introduction and conclusion Due Monday