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CIVIL RIGHTS

CIVIL RIGHTS. What are Civil Rights?. Civil Rights refers to the positive acts governments take to protect against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government or individuals. African-American Rights through Reconstruction. Founders refused to address slavery issue (states rights)

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CIVIL RIGHTS

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  1. CIVIL RIGHTS

  2. What are Civil Rights? Civil Rights refers to the positive acts governments take to protect against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government or individuals.

  3. African-American Rights through Reconstruction • Founders refused to address slavery issue (states rights) • Abolition movement increases (1830s) • Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) • Emancipation Proclamation (1863) -Freed the slaves? • 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments-intent?

  4. Limiting African American Citizenship • Black Codes restricted opportunities for African Americans • Voting (poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather laws) • Sitting on juries • Or even appearing in public places • Jim Crow Laws mandated racial separation in public places (de jure)

  5. Sample Questions from a Literacy Test State of Louisiana One wrong answer denotes failure of the test. (10 min) • Draw a line around the number or letter of this sentence. • Draw a line under the last word in this line. • Cross out the longest word in this line. • Draw a line around the shortest word in this line. • Circle the first letter of the alphabet in this line. • In the space below draw three circles, one inside the other. • Above the letter X make a small cross. • Draw a line through the letter below that comes earliest in the alphabet. ZVSEDGMKYTPHC • Draw a line through the letter below that comes last in the alphabet. ZVSEDGMKYTPHC • In the space below write the word noise backwards and place a dot over what would be its second letter should it have been written forward. • Give your age in days.

  6. Racial Segregation • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Separate but equal does NOT violate 14th Amend. • NAACP pursue equality in courts • Sweatt vs. Painter (1950) • Struck down separate but equal in TX grad school • Brown v. Board of Ed. (1954) • Ruled against de jure and de facto segregation • Future decision to enforce bussing and redistricting for integration

  7. The Lone Dissenter in Plessy Justice John Harlan, showed foresight when he wrote: “Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case.”

  8. The Civil Rights Acts • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Outlawed discrimination • Allowed for federal suits to integrate schools • Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to monitor and enforce bans on employment discrimination • 24th Amendment – outlaws poll taxes in federal elections (1964) • 1966 courts void poll taxes in state elections • Voting Rights Act 1965 • Eliminated poll tests (literacy tests) • Allowed for federal voter registration drives • Ended use of English-only ballots • Civil Rights Act 1968 • Ended discrimination in housing

  9. The Women’s Rights Movement • The Feminine Mystique (1963) • Civil Rights Act of 1964 included a prohibition against gender discrimination, but the EEOC failed to enforce the law. • National Organization for Women (NOW)-1966 • Roe v. Wade (1973) • Equal Rights Amendment

  10. Is an amendment necessary to address the issue of gender discrimination?

  11. Other Groups Mobilize for Change… • Hispanic Americans -Non-violent protests -Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union • American Indian Movement • Indian tribes considered distinct governments • Gays and lesbians -DADT repealed -Boy Scouts of America et al v. Dale (2000) "One of the heroic figures of our time."Senator Robert F. Kennedy Cesar Estrada Chavez founded and led the first successful farm workers' union in U.S. history.

  12. Percentage of adults ages 18 to 24 who have completed high school by race and Hispanic origin, 1980-97

  13. Affirmative Action • A policy designed to redress prior discrimination. • Bakke v. Regents of the U.C. (1978) • Does Affirmative Action create a system of reverse discrimination?

  14. Continuity and Change • It took over 100 years from the first shot of the Civil War until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights of 1965 for African Americans to begin to fully exercise their rights. • Women only achieved the right to vote in 1920. • Still today we do not have a consensus in America about race and gender relations. • Many argue that racism and sexism are alive and well in America.

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