1. Civil Rights

2. Post-Civil War Advancements
13th Amendment (1865) – Abolished slavery in the United States.
14th Amendment (1868) – Not only granted citizenship to former slaves but provides for “equal protection” to all citizens.
The 14th Amendment is one of the most applied and argued sections of the Constitution.

3. Jim Crow Laws
Resulted from the end of Reconstruction which allowed former Confederates to return to power in the South.
These laws were designed to discriminate against the new African American citizens.

4. Plessy v. Fergusson
Supreme Court case established the concept of “Separate but Equal.”
Paved the way for legalized segregation.

5. The 15th Amendment Ratified in 1870.
Becomes illegal to deny any citizen the right to vote (suffrage) on “the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude.”
But not so fast….

6. Resistance to the 15th Amendment
Poll Taxes – small taxes levied on the right to vote. Prevented poor African Americans from exercising their right.
Poll taxes were banned in Federal elections by the 24th Amendment in
White Primaries – only whites were allowed to vote in Party Primaries.
This practice was ended by Smith v. Allwright in 1944.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated many obstacles designed to discriminate against minorities.

7. End of Segregation
Brown v. Board of Education – Declared “Separate but Equal” unconstitutional within education.
Class Action suit including Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (VA).
Ordered the integration of schools and the bussing of students.
This court case was used to challenge integration beyond education.

8. Civil Rights Act of 1964
Declared racial discrimination illegal in most areas.
Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to administer fair and equitable hiring practices.
Further strengthened voting rights legislation.

9. The Minority Majority
Native, Hispanic, Asian, Arab, Muslim, and South Asian Americans have and continue to struggle for their own equal rights.
The sum of America’s minorities is now larger than the Caucasian population.

10. Women as a Minority
Not granted the right to vote until the 19th Amendment in 1920.
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) – a proposed Constitutional amendment to protect the rights of women.
- Fails in the Congress in 1923.
- Revived in Passes the Congress but falls three States short of ratification.

11. New Feminist Movement Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963).
- Challenged women to question traditional assumptions and to assert their own rights.
Inspired the creation of:
National Organization for Women (NOW)
National Women’s Political Caucus
Reed v. Reed (1971) – Supreme Court ruled that “arbitrary” gender-based classification violated the 14th amendment

12. Gender Gap
Despite great strides in equality for women, the Gender Gap still exists.
Present statistics show that women continue to earn, on average, 80% of a man’s wages for comparable full time employment.
Why is this and how can it change?