1. The Struggle for Civil Rights
Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

2. In this chapter, you will:
Explore the seven steps to winning civil rights.
Review the African American experience that set the pattern for civil rights.
Assess women’s quest for economic and political rights.
Examine the political experience of Hispanics and Asians.
Consider the rights of other groups, including disabled people and same-sex partners.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

3. Winning Rights: The Political Process
The battle for civil rights generally includes seven characteristics. The group seeking rights must define itself, challenge society, and change the way it is viewed. The contest for rights spills across federalism and all three branches of government and involves states, the executive, Congress, and the courts.
Courts interpret charges of discrimination using three standards: suspect, quasi-suspect, and nonsuspect.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

4. Race and Civil Rights: Revolt Against Slavery
The clash over slavery eventually led Lincoln to redefine the American idea of self-rule: “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
Institutional changes marked the rise and the fall of civil rights. Congress passed the Civil Rights Acts, and the states ratified the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.
The Fourteenth Amendment contains the crucial legal rule for civil rights: “No state shall deprive any person of the equal protection of the laws.”
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

5. Race and Civil Rights: Revolt Against Slavery
Later, courts struck down some civil rights laws, Congress repealed laws implementing the Civil War amendments, and the states introduced segregation, which the Supreme Court accepted.
However, it was culture—the false stories that white Americans told about their fellow citizens—that clamped discrimination into place by inducing the majority to ignore the violations of black rights.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

6. The Fight for Racial Equality
The NAACP won a series of cases against segregation, culminating in Brown v. Board of Education; however, implementation proved difficult.
In the early 1960s, ordinary men, women, and children—black and white—organized in mass movements to turn the legal promise of the Brown decision into a practical reality. As the images from marches became more dramatic, surging public opinion pushed Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Taken together, these institutional changes ended de jure segregation in the United States.
The black movement set the model for future civil rights campaigns by many other groups.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

7. The Post Civil Rights Era
To make up for past discrimination, legislatures and courts turned to affirmative action in the 1960s and 1970s. Employers and schools that had previously excluded groups now set aside places for them.
The courts initially sponsored affirmative action programs but are increasingly skeptical of any race-based categories, including those designed to ameliorate past injustice.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

8. Women’s Rights  
When women organized to win rights in the 19th century they met with ridicule and violence.
Women first won voting rights in in the West and Midwest before finally securing the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars gender discrimination. The women’s movement organized to take advantage of legal changes. The law transformed American gender roles in political and professional life.
Gender politics became especially controversial, spilling into many other issues and now featuring the #metoo movement.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

9. Hispanics  
Latinos, the largest immigrant group, have been the fastest growing population in the United States; the rate of increase has slowed in recent years.
Latinos are a diverse people with different national identities, histories, cultures, and concerns.
A key political question is whether Latinos will mobilize around shared interests and concerns. If they do, they will become an even more formidable political force.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

10. Asian Americans  
Asian Americans, the third-largest minority group in the United States, are the fastest growing.
Asian Americans have faced discrimination—including today, the image of a “model minority” that, as with any stereotype, is simplistic and hurtful.
Asian Americans are a tremendously diverse group. The key to their political effectiveness as a group lies in finding common interests and forging ties to other groups.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

11. Native Americans  
Native Americans lost their way of life in the face of colonial settlers’ diseases and armies.
The Supreme Court gave American Indians a special status: a separate people without rights. Although they retain the specia status, Native Americans became U.S. citizens in 1924.
Native Americans support two different civil rights strategies: The ethnic minority approach argues for winning political rights and benefits. The tribal movement approach prefers to withdraw and to emphasize a separate Indian society and culture.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

12. Groups without Special Protections
People with disabilities used an obscure bureaucratic rule to mobilize, and eventually won the Americans with Disabilities Act. The goal is to mainstream disabled people.
The gay (and lesbian) movements were born in a burst of pride and anger in Gays were the first to confront AIDS—a harrowing plague (in its early years) that pushed them into politics and community building.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities have moved toward the mainstream, driven in part by strong public opinion support from younger Americans. The Supreme Court ruled that states may not discriminate against same sex partners when issuing marriage licenses. Still, LGBTQ Americans still face challenges in employment, education, housing, and other venues.
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13. The Fight for Civil Rights Goes On
Voting rights remains a source of fierce political debate today.
When we turn to health, poverty, and criminal justice, we find a familiar story: The United States has made great progress; the United States has a long way to go to achieve full civil rights.
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14. Chapter Summary  
The battle for civil rights generally includes seven stages. A group defines itself, challenges society, and changes the cultural story. The contest for rights spills across federalism; the executive branch can break the ice; Congress is the key to deep social change; the courts are the final arbiters of rights.
The Fourteenth Amendment contains the crucial legal rule for civil rights: “No state shall deprive any person of the equal protection of the laws.”
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

15. Chapter Summary  
A great mass movement rose up in which ordinary men, women, and children turned the legal promise of the Brown v. Board of Education decision into a practical reality. Protests eventually led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of The black civil rights movement set the model for future civil rights campaigns by many other groups.
Legislatures and courts turned to affirmative action in the 1960s and 1970s. The courts, and the public, have become increasingly skeptical of these programs.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

16. Chapter Summary  
Women first won voting rights in the states—across the West—before securing the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of gender.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars gender discrimination. The women’s movement organized to take advantage of the legal changes. The results transformed American gender roles in political and professional life.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

17. Chapter Summary  
Latinos, the United States’ largest immigrant group, are a diverse people with many national identities, cultures, and concerns. Will they mobilize around shared interests? If they do, they will become a formidable political force, poised to advance civil rights claims for “dreamers” and other Hispanic Americans.
Asian Americans are the third-largest minority group in the United States and now comprise 5 percent of the population. They are also a tremendously diverse group.
Native Americans lost their way of life in the face of disease, armies, and settlers. The Supreme Court gave them a special status: a separate people without rights. Although they retain the special status, they became U.S. citizens in 1924.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

18. Chapter Summary  
People with disabilities leveraged an obscure bureaucratic rule to mobilize, and eventually won the sweeping rights of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The gay (and lesbian) movements were born in a burst of pride and anger in Gays were the first to confront AIDS—a harrowing plague that pushed them into politics, health provision, and community building.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities have moved into mainstream politics. Nevertheless, they still face discrimination at work, in school, and over housing.
CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS