Chapter 5 - Civil Rights

Civil Rights – Actions that the government takes to create equal protection and conditions (opportunity) for all people.

Travel Ban Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbIXmB2ZLmA

Part 1: pages 146-165

Ending Servititude

The 13th amendment states that neither slavery nor involuntary servitutde shall exist within the United States

The 14th amendment tells us that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States (States can not make or enforce laws that would deny any citizen their rights and priviliges as citizens)

The 15th amendment guarantees voting rights to people of all races

Black Codes:

Laws passed by Southern States in 1865 and 1866 afterthe Civil war with the intent and effect of restrictingAfrican American’s freedom

The Ineffectiveness of the Civil Rights Laws

Supreme Court invalidated the 1875 Civil Rights act when it upheld states only in “No State shall make or enforce . .” Private citizens could still discriminate

Plessy v. Ferguson: Separate but Equal Plessy was 1/8th African American. Forced to leave a train

car that was for “all whites”

Segregation alone did not violate the constitution Separate but Equal Doctrine: Separate but equal facilities do

not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment

This gave rise to Jim Crow Laws – state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern U.S.

The End to Separate but Equal

Brown v. Board of Education Oliver Brown decided that 8 – year old daughter Linda Brown,

should be able to go to a “all white school” much closer to his home than the school Linda was attending.

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) supported Brown

Unanimous Supreme Court Decision deciding in favor of Brown.

“Seperation implies inferiority” – Chief Justice Earl Warren, this quote contradicts the earlier courts decision in Plessy v. Fergusson

Poll Tax – special tax paid for voting -1966 – 24th

amendment

Grandfather Clause – restricted voting to those whose grandfathers had voted before 1867

White Primary – A state primary election that restricts voting to whites only . . . Outlawed in 1944

Literacy Test – You have to prove you are able to read in order to vote!

School Integration

De facto segregation—racial segregation that occurs because of past social and economic conditions and residential racial patterns.

De jure segregation—racial segregation that occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies.

Court-Ordered Busing

The Resurgence of Minority Schools

Civil Rights Martin Luther King supported civil disobedience, a

nonviolent public refusal to obey allegedly unjust laws – Philosophy based on Mahatma Ghandi’s philosophy

Malcolm X supported a different philosophy when it came to protest, Black Power (fighting back against oppression using force)

• ( ****Video)

Which of these philosophies do you feel would be effective in our country today? In other countries?

Fixing the Injustices

The 24th Amendment outlawed Poll Taxes that were mostly focused on poor African Americans in the South.

-Ratified Jan 23, 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Open up book – July 2nd 1964 p. 155 – No discrimination in voter registration

- Equal opportunity in employment -Barred discrimination in public accommodations

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 Expansion of the 24th Amendment eliminated discriminatory voter registration tests

In Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US (1964) the Court ruled that the US could enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that the Motel was in violation of it. The Motel wanted to refuse service to Black Proprietors.

Other Problems…

Korematsu v. United States (1944) The Court upheld the National

Government’s order to move Japanese Americans to Internment Camps. They cited the Nation’s need for security outweighing Fred Korematsu’s Rights

Never explicitly overturned but the Justice Department apologized (in 2011) and Reagan gave reparations to survivors in 1988.

Chapter 5b pages 166-184 Gender Based Discrimination in the Workplace

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits gender discrimination in employment.

The Glass Ceiling is a barrier to many women in fortune 500 companies. The “mommy track” in many positions within these companies reinforces these concepts

Sexual Harassment is also prohibited under this act and is defined as when words or actions of a sexual nature interfere with the employee’s work or create a “hostile environment”

Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Women

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits gender discrimination in employment

Title XI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”

Fixing the Injustice Wage Discrimination was addressed in the Equal Pay

Act of 1963, signed by John F Kennedy.

When signed it was suggested a woman on average made 59 cents for every dollar earned by a man.

It is now suggested by the Department of Labor that a woman earns 76 cents for every dollar a man earns . . . . Is this an effective law?

Equal Rights Amendment

To help remedy the issues with gender discrimination proponents proposed and tried to ratify the Equal right Amendment.

How do we usually Amend the Constitution?

Equal Rights Amendment Supporters argued that it would guarantee that

women were treated as equals in all aspects of Society.

Detractors claimed that it would strip away all protections that the government set up to protect women (i.e. maternity leave, draft exemption, and affirmative action).

It ended up failing to earn the required 38 states to ratify the Constitutional Amendment.

Immigration, Hispanics and Civil Rights

Refer to video -Arguments for and Against? https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/31/16226934/daca-trump-dreamers-immigration

What are reasons supporting making illegal immigrants citizens? What are reasons against making illegal immigrants citizens?

Representatives from both parties have proposed laws to make illegal immigrants citizens!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLYfwprjtog&t=196s (trumps peoples court)

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/963365328716812288

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8dCYocuyI&t=295s John Oliver 1:15 – 5:35

The Rights and Status of Gay male and Lesbian Rights Movement Growth in the movement, Stonewall Inn inncident the

beginning of the growth within the movement. (Harassment by officers, 2 day battle with police at a popular bar where beer cans and bottles were thrown at officers – grafiti showed up after incident)

Happened in 1969.

Page 176-179 in your book

Affirmative Action Affirmative Action:

is a policy in educational admissions or job hiring that gives special attention or compensatory treatment to traditionally disadvantaged groups in an effort to overcome present effects of past discrimination

Reverse Discrimination:

The charge that an affirmative action program discriminates against those who do not have minority status

The Bakke Case Allan Bakke, a white student who had been turned down

for medical school at the Davis campus, discovered that his academic record was better than those of some of the minority applicants who had been admitted to the program. He sued the University of California alleging reverse discrimination.

Bakke claimed this violated his protection from the 14th

amendment of the constitution citing “equal protection under the law”

Bakke was admitted to the school, since the court said “race was the only criteria used in the admittance process in this case”. Did NOT rule against all Affirmative Action cases

State Ballot Initiatives Affirmative Action is now illegal in California (ballot

passed by California voters in 1996) First State to ban A.A.

Washington, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Oklahoma have all banned or restricted A.A. in their respective states

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 To succeed in a suit for age discrimination, an

employee must prove that the employer’s action, such as a decision to fire the employee was motivated at least in part by age bias

Mandatory Retirement was not initially addressed but in 1986 it was outlawed in all but a few occupations –such as firefighting.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

ADA requires that all public buildings and public services be accessible to persons with disabilities.

Employers must reasonably accommodate the needs of workers or potential workers with disabilities. Physical access means ramps; handrails; wheelchair accessible restrooms

Employers to “reasonably accommodate” – unless the employer will suffer an “undue hardship”

Definition for person with disability – suffers from physical or mental impairment that “substantially limit” their daily activitys

Limiting the scope of the ADA Sutton v. United Airlines

Supreme Court held that a condition (nearsightedness in this case) that can be corrected with medication or corrective device is not considered a disability under the ADA.

Plaintiffs with bipolar disorder, epilepsy, diabetes and other conditions do not fall under the ADA protection