Introduction to American Government. Department of Government and Politics at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT

1. Chapter 6: Civil Rights

3. Yes!
Civil Liberties prevents
government from denying you
your freedoms
People can invalidate
unconstitutional government
actions

4. Civil Rights protect minorities from
majorities
Stops race, religion, gender, ethnic
discrimination
Invalidates actions by people
against people
Right to vote, women‟s suffrage,
separate is not equal

5. EMANCIPATION, CIVIL RIGHTS
AND AFRICAN AMERICANS
Dred Scott,
Reconstruction
and “Jim Crow”
Dred Scott (1795–1858)

6. Dred Scott…
American slave born in Virginia
Moved with owner to Illinois
Slavery illegal in Illinois
Tried to gain freedom on grounds that he
lived in free state of Illinois
SCOTUS ruled against him

7. Dred Scott v. Sandford
(1857)
Black people (slave and free):
 not protected by Constitution
 not U.S. citizens
Regarded as worst decision ever
made by SCOTUS!

8. Civil War (1861–1865) identified
Republican Party as party of
victorious North
Republican-dominated Congress forced
Reconstruction on South via
Constitutional Amendments

9. To the Rescue!
Ending Servitude: Reconstruction
Amendments
 Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
prohibits slavery within U.S.

10.  Fourteenth Amendment (1868):
• All persons born in U.S. are citizens
• States cannot deprive citizens of
constitutional rights
• Secured rights of former slaves &
descendants (overruled Dred Scott v.
Sandford).
• Equal access (Equal Protection
Clause)

11.  Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
established right of citizens
to vote.

12. Southern Democrat’s Reaction?

13. Separate but Equal Doctrine!
Plessy v. State of Louisiana
Homer Plessy, part black-part white
Under Louisiana law: Plessy black
Boards train car designated whites only
Arrested

14. Plessy denied 13th and 14th Amendment rights
 Judge: Feds cannot regulate within state
boundaries
Constitution only applied to federal government
 Lost appeal to State Supreme Court
 Lost appeal to SCOTUS, Plessy v. Ferguson
(7-1)
Okay if both races had equal, but separate,
facilities

15. Two Types of Segregation
De jure: Imposed by law
• Southern Democrat „Jim Crow Laws‟
• Separate but equal doctrine
De facto: Fact of life
• Economic, social conditions, personal
choice

16. Rosa
Parks
© Bettmann /Corbis

17. The End of Separate-but-Equal Doctrine!
Brown vs. Board of Education (1954):
 Struck down separate but equal
 Desegregated public schools
 De jure segregation violates 14th
Amendment
 14th amendment now applies to states

19. • White Flight
• Public schools still segregated
• Schools still unequal
• De jure turned into de facto

20. Would school choice
solve problems of
De Facto segregation?

23. The Civil Rights Movement
• Martin Luther
King‟s
Philosophy of
Nonviolence
• Another
Approach:
Black Power

24. (Library of Congress)

25. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
Migration of black Americans to north
Gained jobs and education
Black middle class develops
Black vote now important in national
elections
NAACP, National Urban League

26. Civil disobedience strategies by MLK
JFK campaigns on new Civil Rights Act
70% of black Americans vote JFK

27. Passage!
Johnson Administration
73 to 27 in U.S. Senate
• Right to Vote
• Banned racial discrimination
in public places
• Required equal employment
opportunities
• Could withhold federal funds
from states

29. Native Americans
• Assimilation
• Citizenship
• Tribal
restoration

30. Received full citizenship rights
in 1924
Millions of dollars in claims
settled for Indian tribes
Some tribal lands restored

31. SCOTUS (1831),
Cherokee Nation v.
Georgia
 Tribes not "states"
 Not "foreign
states” either
 Are "domestic
dependent nations,"
with many sovereign
powers

32. Congress has full power over Indian
affairs
Has repeatedly acted to limit
tribal power

36. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: IS IT
CONSTITUTIONAL?
“Affirmative action” is when
government takes positive
steps to increase
representation of women and
minorities in areas of
employment, education, and
business from which they have
been historically excluded

37. Supporters:
Rights past wrongs… helps disenfranchised
Opposition:
Agree with equal opportunities
Disagree with guaranteed results
Want success based on merit
Oppose "reverse discrimination"

38. Jennifer Gratz:
 Applicant to Univ. of Michigan
 High credentials; not accepted
 Made federal case of rejection
 Believed rejected because of race
 Admission‟s point system
 110 academics, 40 “other factors”

39. Should race and ethnicity be
considered for college admissions?
If Affirmative Action was
necessary at one point, is it
still necessary?
What is equality?

40. Court:
 Struck down point system
 Upheld right of public
universities to use race
factors in admissions
 And yet, today…?

41. Ricci vs. DeStefano
(SCOTUS nomination of Sotomayer)

42. White” New Haven Firefighters
Passed examinations, but denied
promotions
No minority applicant passed

43.  New Haven quota system for
promoting minorities
 New Haven invalidated exams
 White firefighters sued
 SCOTUS case
 White Firefighters win by 5-4
decision, 2009

45. Women‟s Struggle
for Equal Rights

47.  Suffrage
What level of
government first
recognized woman‟s
suffrage?

48. International “women‟s suffrage”
timeline

49. Saudi Arabia still bans women
from voting.
Afghan women
received right to
in 2004…
…but obstacles
still exist:
fear, tradition,
apathy

50. American Suffrage
Time Line
 Women barred from World
Anti-Slavery Convention
(1840)
Activists Stanton and Mott
start women‟s rights
convention (1848)
Back seat to abolition
movement
Combining two might doom
both

51. Const. Amendment proposed (1878):
"Right of citizens to vote shall not be
abridged by U.S. or States on account of sex"
Introduced in next 41 sessions of Congress
WY (territory) already allowed women to vote
WY admitted as state (1890)
UT, CO, ID join WY (1900)
Progressive Bull Moose Party 1st to include
suffrage plank (1912)

52. Proposal wins 2/3rds vote
in Congress favoring
Amendment (1919)
Proposed amendment sent
to states for ratification
Need one more state to
pass amendment (1920)
 One more vote needed in
Tennessee State House
24 year old Rep. Harry
Burn casted deciding vote
for suffrage

53. At time, Harry Burns had in his
pocket a letter from mom
“Don't
forget to
be a good
boy and
vote for
suffrage.”

54. Ended struggle that
lasted 72 years, 1
month, and 5 days.

57. Women in the Work Force
Progress or not that 70% of women in U.S.
work full time?
Is full equality between sexes possible?
Men still dominate national political
institutions. Fair or unfair?

58. o Some career fields divided by sex:
Which ones?
Discrimination?
Female president?
o Do natural differences between genders
exist causing career divisions?

59. Abortion
 Pre-1973 crime at state level except to save
mother‟s life
 1960s: 12 states permit for rape, incest,
physical health
 1970: NY, AK, HI, WA allow for any reason with
doctor‟s approval
 SCOTUS (1973): “Liberty” in Constitution
includes abortion
Ruled “person” in Constitution didn't include
unborn baby

60. In 1973 sonograms & ultrasounds did not exist
If they did would Roe been ruled differently?

61. Regulations and Other Issues
 Tax funds not to be used for abortions (Hyde
Amendment)
 No funding under Medicaid (care for poor)
 Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act
Failed to pass Congress in 2006 (Anesthesia)
 SCOTUS (5–4, 2007):
Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act constitutional
 RU486 – Morning after pill

62. Gallup Poll

63. The Modern Women’s Movement
• Additional Women‟s Issues
– Domestic violence
– Pornography (divided feminists)
– Gender discrimination in employment
– Sexual Harassment
– Laws punishing rape

64. President Kennedy:
Equal Pay Act of 1963
JFK signs
bill providing
women equal
pay

65. Gender-Based Discrimination in
Workplace
• Wage
Discrimination
– Recent figures
show women earn
76 cents for
every dollar
made by a man.
– Glass Ceiling

66. Hispanics in America

67. Immigration,
Hispanics,
and Civil Rights
• Immigration rates highest since
early 20th century.
• By 2050, minority groups
collectively will constitute
majority of Americans.

69. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Maria Sotomayor

70. Illegal Immigration
• Mostly Latin
Americans
entering states
bordering
Mexico looking
for work.
• Issues include:
– Citizenship
– Border Crime

71. Special Protections for
Older Americans
1967 Age Discrimination in
Employment Act
– Prohibits age discrimination in all
but limited number of occupations
– Mandatory retirement largely
illegal

72. Securing Rights for
Persons with Disabilities
• Americans with
Disabilities Act
– No job
discrimination
against disabled
– Requires physical
access to public
buildings and
services

73. Rights and Status of Homosexual
Males and Lesbians
• Growth verses
stagnation in Gay
Rights movement
• Laws strengthening
traditional
marriage
• Religious liberty
issues

74. Gay Community and Politics
- Gay activists play role in both
parties
Gay Men and Lesbians in Military
Child Custody and Adoption
Same-Sex Marriages

78. Gay Rights Movement
Lawrence v. Texas (2003):
SCOTUS rules unconstitutional state
laws barring sodomy
Defeat of Don‟t Ask Don‟t Tell
DOMA and Prop. 8

79. December 7, 2012

80.  Gay and black civil rights movements?
Are they comparable?

81. Is marriage a U.S. Constitutional right?
Yes, on race: SCOTUS, Interracial
Marriage Ruling,
Loving v. Virginia
No SCOTUS ruling declaring “sexual
preference” as having same status
as “race”