1. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
-Due Process of Law
(the protection of all citizens under the laws and rights provided in the Constitution)

2. History of the 14th Amendment
The 14th amendment was originally ratified to protect the freedman from the abolishment of his rights by southern states.
The 14th amendment was ratified in 1868.

3. Slavery in the Constitution
Framers did not abolish slavery
Because Southern states would not have ratified Constitution if it abolished slavery.
Main goal in 1787: create stronger nat’l govt.
Congress can’t ban importation of slaves until 1808
Fugitive slave clause: free states had to return runaway slaves to their owners
3/5ths Compromise

4. Dred Scott case Supreme Court ruled (1857) that
African Americans are not U.S. citizens
Congress cannot prohibit slavery in new U.S. territories
Constitutional Amendment was required to grant citizenship to blacks

5. Civil War Amendments
13th: (1865): freed all slaves, outlawed slavery permanently in the U.S.
14th (1868): all persons born in U.S. are citizens; states cannot violate citizens’ rights; “equal protection of the laws”
15th (1870): right to vote cannot be denied based on race

6. Failure of Civil War Amendments
Congress passed civil rights laws, but President refused to enforce
Withdrew federal troops from South in 1877
Leads to Southern states passing “black codes / Jim Crow Laws” to prevent blacks from gaining power or equality
Former slaves and free blacks were not treated equally for another 100 years

7. 14th Amendment
Original purpose: protect the rights of former slaves and free blacks
Made state govt’s protect citizens’ Constitutional rights
Limited the power of state govt’s after the Civil War

8. 14th Amendment
“No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”
Applies only to state governments
Does it require “equal opportunity”?
When can people be treated differently by the law?
“rational basis”
“compelling” social interest
Do Fourteenth Amendment worksheet chart in groups. (difficult to find info on priv and immun,)
Show overhead cartoon of states/federal govt roped in.

9. Do these laws violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment? Why/ why not?
Adults under 21 can’t drink alcohol
Women can’t be firefighters
Physically handicapped people can’t be firefighters
15% of all University of Michigan students must be minority races
Women can’t be guards at all-male prisons
Only men have to register for the draft

10. “Equal Protection” Cases
Plessy v. Ferguson: started June 7, 1892
Homer Plessy was a 30 year African American Shoemaker.
He was put in jail for sitting in “white” section on a railroad car in East Louisiana.
The judge on the trial was John Howard Ferguson.
In 1896 the supreme court heard Plessy’s case and found him guilty.

11. Plessy v. Ferguson Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
Segregation by race does not violate the equal protection clause as long as the separate facilities were equal
“separate but equal” doctrine
Allowed states to continue racial segregation in public facilities

12. The Plessy Decision
Set the precedent that separate facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were equal.

13. A Sign at the Greyhound Bus Station, Rome, Georgia September 1943
A Sign at the Greyhound Bus Station, Rome, Georgia September (Esther Bubley, photographer)

14. "The Rex theater for Colored People
"The Rex theater for Colored People." Leland, Mississippi, November Marion Post Wolcott, photographer.

15. "A cafe near the tobacco market." Durham, North Carolina. May 1940.

16. " People waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal
" People waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal." Memphis, Tennessee. September Esther Bubley, photographer.

18. “Equal Protection” cases
2. Brown vs. Board of Education
(1954)
“Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”
Overturned Plessy decision
Outlawed segregation in every state
Not followed in some southern states until forced by federal troops

19. Brown v. Board of Education “Segregation of white and Negro children in public schools of a state solely on the basis of race, pursuing state laws that permit or require segregation denies Negro children the equal protection of laws guaranteed by 14th amendment even though other factors of white and Negro schools should be equal.”