1. Civil Rights
“Equal Protection”

2. Equal Protection Clause
14th amendment
Civil Liberties
Civil Rights
Due Process Clause
“nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”
Equal Protection Clause
“nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

3. Introduction Civil Rights Racial Discrimination Gender Discrimination
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

4. 14th Amendment (1868)
Forbids any state to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Sex, race, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual preference

5. Civil Rights History The Era of Slavery
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
The Civil War
The Thirteenth Amendment
The Era of Reconstruction and Re-segregation
Jim Crow laws
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Separate but equal doctrine

6. Civil Rights History African Americans
Jim Crow Laws – segregated community
de jure (by law) and de facto (by reality)
Plessy v. Ferguson – separate but equal
Persuade the Court to declare laws unconstitutional if they were separate and unequal in obvious ways
Persuade the Court to declare laws unconstitutional if they were separate but unequal in subtle ways
Persuade the Court to rule that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal

7. Civil Rights History The Era of Civil Rights Required SC Case
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Race based school segregation violates the 14th amendment. Separation is inherently unequal
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Made racial discrimination illegal in many areas
Created EEOC
Strengthened voting right legislation

8. Civil Rights Act of 1964 Voting Public accommodations Schools
Barred discrimination
Schools
Gov. can force desegregation though litigation
Sent in the National Guard to force schools to desegregate
Provided financial aid for schools that integrated
Withheld financial aid from schools that refused to desegregate
Employment
Federal Funds

9. Race, the Constitution, and Public Policy
Getting and Using the Right To Vote
Twenty-fourth Amendment: Eliminated poll taxes for federal elections.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: Helped end formal and informal barriers to voting.

10. Women and Equal Rights
Seneca Falls Convention – 1848 – beginning of women’s suffrage movement
19th Amendment – 1920 – Women vote

11. Women and Equal Rights Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) 1972
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the US or any State on account of sex.” –
Passed Congress but was not ratified by enough states to create a new amendment to the constitution

12. Women and Equal Rights Civil Rights Act (1964)
Title VII – prohibits gender discrimination in employment, extended to sexual harassment
Comparable worth – “equal pay for equal work”
Title IX – provide equal funding for all programs that receive federal funding

13. Required Foundational Documents
Dr. Martin Luther King’s: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Equal protection and the 14th amendment can support and motivate social movements
Relevant to today’s social justice movements as well…

14. Discrimination in America
20/20 video
Stossel age discrimination