Civil rights pt1

We began this topic with music. Who is/was Pete Seeger and what civil rights song is associated with him?

was known as a voice of struggle & hope. sang "we shall overcome"

Please be sure to review Justice Harlan's dissent in the Plessy case. There are quotes on your slides.

"But in the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. 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. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful."

Who is Ruby Bridges?

First child to integrate schools in New Orleans. She is accompanied by U.S. Marshals.

What important ruling did the SC make in the Brown v. Board of Education case? What was the language used by the Court?

"We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." seperate but equal- iinherently unequal

What were the two accomplishments of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that I discussed?

1. ended segregation in public places 2. also banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. 3. makes it an offense to discriminate against any customer or patron in a place of public accommodation

Who was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

A Baptist minister who helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott. Leader of the civil rights movement

How did the legal question in Brown v. Board of Education differ from the legal questions in earlier rulings such as Sweatt v. Painter?

Can separate but equal ever be equal? Separate but equal had been approved by the courts. Does the situation in this lawsuit provide for equality as well as separation?

Who was Rosa Parks?

Civil Rights leader in Montgomery who's actions started the Montgomery Bus Boycott

How did Southern States react to the ruling in the Brown case? What seemed to persuade many school districts to finally integrate?

Efforts to shut down public schools to prevent integration. By 1964 (ten years after Brown decision), 98 percent of black children in the South still attended all black schools. Civil Rights Act of 1964 cut off federal aid to school districts still practicing segregation.

What was the constitutional basis of the law that required integration of places of public accommodation?

Equal Protection Clause in 14th amendment?

Who was Thurgood Marshall?

First African American Supreme Court Justice. The lead attorney for the NAACP in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Supported unsegregated schools

What is the Equal Protection Clause and where is it found? To whom does it apply?

Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; [nor] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

How did the poll tax in Texas work?

From 1902-1964, Texas had a poll tax of $1.50 that had to be paid by January 31st for the rest of the year.

Who was Jimmie Lee Jackson?

He was an upcoming leader in the civil rights movement. The police were at the church to break up the meeting of the civil rights activists. His family ran to a nearby diner where in trying to protect his grandfather and mother from abuse by the police, he was shot.

In what case did the Supreme Court uphold the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States.

Why was the case of Plessy v. Ferguson so important?

In 1896, the Supreme Court had a chance to rule on whether Jim Crow laws were constitutional. The Court ruled that separate but equal was constitutional, thus insuring that segregation would continue for decades.

What were white primaries?

In 1923, the Texas legislature passed a law that no black citizen could participate in the Democratic Party Primary. Ruled unconstitutional

Please review the cases that went to the Supreme Court before the Brown case and know how the SC ruled on them. You should know concepts but you need not know the name of each case. (All had to do with college segregation.)

In public education 'separate but equal' has no place. Ruby Bridges Civil Rights Act of 1964 cut off federal aid to school districts still practicing segregation.

What was Bloody Sunday?

March from Selma to Montgomery with about 600 marchers was broken up by Alabama State Troopers

Please review these three tests including when they are used: rational basis test, strict scrutiny, and heightened (intermediate) scrutiny.

Rational Basis Text: Is the classification "rational"? easiest test. no fundamental right is being threatened. Heightened (Intermediate) Scrutiny: In between category. Dividing people by sex. Strict Scrutiny: test applies when laws or practices divide people by race.

How did the March from Selma to Montgomery affect voting rights? What did the President do after the March to call attention to the voting issues of black Americans?

Selma to Montgomery March was key factor. President Johnson asked Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act. In his address, he used the phrase, "We shall overcome."

What was the purpose of the lunch counter sit-ins and where did they take place? Please review the details of the sit-ins.

Sit-ins begin at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina (1960).

Please review the details of the filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Southern Senators filibustered the bill. •At that time, it took 67 Senators to vote to end a filibuster, which is called cloture

What is steering when it comes to housing?

Steering is the major problem today. Realtors may show black clients houses in mostly black neighborhoods.

What civil rights law made it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of race and ethnicity in housing?

The Civil Rights Act of 1968

What was/is the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund?

The NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund began to bring suits against the states under leadership of Thurgood Marshall.

What did the Supreme Court say about the new separate law school that Texas created for black students (Sweatt v. Painter).

The Supreme Court ruled that Sweatt had to be admitted to the UT Law School, as the newly established school was inferior in quality to the one already in existence

Which civil rights law dealt with voting issues? What did it do?

Voting Rights Act of 1965- Voting Rights Act suspended the use of literacy tests, sent in federal registrars to register voters and monitor elections.

What were Black Codes?

favored the white signed, such as sharecropping agreements, and created all kinds of devices to keep blacks (and poor whites, sometimes) from voting: grandfather clauses, literacy tests, poll taxes, and white primaries.

What do we mean when we say that a distinction is invidious?

kinds of classification—by race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender (sometimes), sexual orientation, or political views—are seen as invidious, or harmful. harmless distinction would be age for example

What were Jim Crow laws?

segregated virtually all facilities and services in Southern states.

Be sure to know the three Amendments adopted after the Civil War and the subject of each of them.

•Thirteenth Amendment (1865): abolished slavery •Fourteenth Amendment (1868): defined citizenship, had a due process clause and an equal protection clause that applied to the States •Fifteenth Amendments (1870: voting rights for Black men

What law made segregated public accommodations illegal?

•Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it an offense to discriminate against any customer or patron in a place of public accommodation because of race, color, religion, or national origin.