Chapter 5 - Civil Rights

Americans' civil rights are grounded in which clause in the Constitution?

"equal protection clause" (This clause is found in the Fourteenth Amendment)

Plessy vs. Ferguson

(1896) The Court ruled that segregation was not discriminatory (did not violate black civil rights under the Fourteenth Amendment) provide that blacks received accommodations equal to those of whites. Homer Plessy, a man defined as "one-eighth Black," sat in a trolley car reserved for Whites and was found guilty of violating a law providing for "equal but separate accommodations" on trains.

How have the following Supreme Court decisions influenced how affirmative action policies are evaluated?

**Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) - The Court ruled that quotas for minority students were unconstitutional. [Although the court ruled against the use of quotas, the Court did not declare affirmative action itself unconstitutional.] **Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) - The Court ruled that diversity in education is a compelling state interest, and thus admissions committees may use race as a factor so long as it is not "mechanical" in application. [The Court's ruling left the door open for race to be considered as one factor in admissions, and it applied strict scrutiny to affirmative action cases.]

What services and protections does the United States provides to unauthorized immigrants?

**access to emergency medical care (The Supreme Court has ruled that unauthorized immigrants cannot be denied emergency medical care) **access to K-12 education (The Supreme Court has ruled that unauthorized immigrants cannot be denied a public K-12 education.)

Fair Housing Act

Allowed the government to initiate legal action in cases of housing discrimination. This law prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of most housing, eventually covering nearly all the nation's housing.

Which level of scrutiny must affirmative action policies now meet?

Strict (Strict scrutiny is the highest level of scrutiny the Court can apply.)

How are cases on affirmative action different from those such as Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia?

correct answer(s): <> Affirmative action programs are designed to assist victims of past injustices. [Loving or Brown were not focused on rectifying old errors but removing current hindrances to minority groups.] <> Affirmative action programs disadvantage those in dominant majority groups. [unlike cases that prevent harm to minority groups, the courts must determine whether the advantage given to those with previous injustices is worth the disadvantage to the dominant majority group.]

"separate but equal" rule

doctrine that public accommodations could be segregated by race but still be considered equal. (pg. 124)

"Separate Sphere"

emphasizing female responsibility for moral issues, and women became important voices in social reform well before they won the right to vote. (Paula Baker, "The Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society, 1780 - 1920 "American Historical Review 89 (June 1984)

Affirmative Action

government policies or programs that seek to redress past injustices against specified groups by making special efforts to provide members of those groups with access to educational and employment opportunities. (pg 141)

Thirteenth Amendment

one of three Civil War amendments; it abolished slavery (pg 122) The Thirteenth Amendment codified what Lincoln had started with the Emancipation Proclamation.

Fifteenth Amendment

one of three Civil War amendments; it guaranteed voting rights for African American men. (pg. 123) The Fifteenth Amendment expanded Black suffrage slightly, though its effects were limited until the civil rights era.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

outlawed job discrimination based on gender and race. The Civil Right Act outlawed job discrimination by all private and public employers, including governmental agencies that employed more than 15 workers.

Which of the following statements about the civil rights of Native Americans are correct?

*Native American reservations are not subject to state laws prohibiting gambling. [for some Native Americans living on reservations, gambling has provided a substantial flow of income.] *Native Americans can be taught in their own languages. [The Lau decision reversed previous policy, which had forbidden members of Native American tribes from speaking their own languages.] (The federal government has allocated land to Native American societies, but not in large amounts and not with the sovereignty that comes from having their own state; In 1924, Congress legislated that all persons born in the United States were full citizens.)

de facto segregation

-- Schools where students are predominantly of one race because of who lives in the neighborhood. (De facto segregation is a result of behaviors and responses to previous laws or policies.) -- Segregation resulting from housing patterns. (De facto segregation is a result of behaviors and responses to previous laws or policies.)

De Jure Segregation

-- laws mandating separate dining facilities for minorities. (De jure segregation is based on specific laws or policies.) -- policies restricting who can sit where on a public bus. (De jure segregation is based on specific laws or policies. While de jure segregation no longer exists, the ramifications of it have persisted in the form of de facto segregation for decades.)

Which branch of government has been most active in the area of civil rights for transgender individuals?

-the executive branch "President Obama was the first president to prohibit discrimination by federal contractors against transgender individuals. President Trump has reversed a number of President Obama's directives"

Which amendment provides the most substantial grounding for modern civil rights legislation?

14th Amendment - (is important for both civil rights and civil liberties. The due process clause specifically lays the legal framework that requires federal government intervention to prevent discrimination. )

Litigating for Equality

1938, The court rejected Missouri's policy of paying the tuition of Black students at out-of-state law schools rather than admitting them to the University of Missouri Law School. (Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada) 1950, the Court rejected Texas's claim that its new "law school for Negroes" provided education equal to that of the all-White University of Texas Law School, a ruling that opened the question of whether any segregated facilities could be truly equal. (Sweatt v. Painter) These cases led NAACP lawyers to confront the "separate but equal" rule head on.

Women Suffrage

19th Amendment (Allowed women the right to vote in August 1920.)

What challenges did African Americans face in the years immediately after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954?

<> Many African Americans still could not exercise their right to vote. [African Americans legally had the right to vote, but Jim Crow laws made voting virtually impossible.] <> Housing remained racially segregated. [Additional court challenges and acts of Congress were needed to address discrimination in housing, and this type of segregation remains a challenge.] <> Employment discrimination against African Americans persisted. [The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the establishment of the EEOC helped reduce this, but it remains a problem today.] "Brown declared legally sanctioned ("de jure") school segregation unconstitutional. However, it took many years after the decision to effectively end the practice in school districts, particularly in the southern United States. Although Brown ended legal segregation, many other practices such as housing discrimination maintained a de facto system of discrimination. Although Brown marked an important departure in the Court's treatment of civil rights, the Court was limited in its abilities to reconcile other aspects of discrimination."

It's 1968, and although you had previously been forced to pay a poll tax to vote, that requirement has now been ended. What directly caused this change?

A constitutional amendment The Twenty-Fourth Amendment abolished the poll tax and was later expanded to prohibit literacy tests as well. It look nearly 100 years for American policy to even begin to match the goals established in the Fourteenth Amendment.

strict scrutiny

A test used by the Supreme Court in racial discrimination cases and other cases involving civil liberties and civil rights that places the burden of proof on the government rather than on the challengers to show that the law in question is constitutional (pg. 125)

How did the Civil War and Reconstruction affect the rights of Blacks in the United States?

After the Civil War, three amendments to the Constitution ( expanded ) civil rights for African Americans. Once Reconstruction ended, however, ( Jim Crow laws ) severely restricted the rights of African Americans, with (southern ) states taking the lead in segregating many public facilities. expanded - one amendment ended slavery, one gave Black men the right to vote, and one guaranteed due process and equal protection under the law. Jim Crow Laws were used to segregate by race in public and private spaces. Southern - racism was prevalent throughout the United States, but southern states sought to restrict the rights of former slaves.

What effect did the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 have?

Correct Answer(s): > It called for making all public businesses accessible to those with disabilities. (After the ADA, public facilities and businesses installed ramps, elevators, and other devices to ensure those with disabilities have access.) > It called for employers to make reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities. (Although employers are not obligated to do so if it would create an undue hardship, most accommodations cost less than $500.) [The ADA did not impose hiring quotas. The Americans with Disabilities Act has removed some of the barriers for individuals with disabilities to pursue employment and educational opportunities.]

Dred Scott v. Sanford

In 1857, Dred Scott was an enslaved person who sued for his freedom because his owner had taken him to Illinois and the territory of Wisconsin both of which prohibited slavery. The court ruled that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and that Scott was his master's permanent property, regardless of where he lived. This decision helped to precipitate the Civil War.

Place these major moments from civil rights history in order from earliest to most recent.

I.) Dred Scott v. Sanford is decided - (Perhaps the Court's most infamous decision, in this case the Court decided that salves were not citizens and instead were the property of theirs owners.) II.) The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified. - (The equal protection clause was added to the Constitution in 1868.) III.) Plessy v. Ferguson is decided by the Supreme Court. - (Plessy v. Ferguson found that "separate but equal" was constitutional as of the 1896 date of the ruling.) IV.) Brown v. Board of Education is decided by the Supreme Court. - (overturned "separate but equal" in school systems in 1954.) V.) The Voting Rights Act is passed. - (The Voting Rights Act of 1965 strengthened legislation protecting voting rights by barring literacy and other tests for voting.) It took nearly 100 years for American policy to even begin to match the goals established in the Fourteenth Amendment.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws enacted by southern states following Reconstruction that discrimination against African Americans. (pg 123) Adopted by the southern states beginning in the 1870s, to criminalize intermarriage of the races and establish segregation of railroad travel, all public accommodations, and public schools.

One of the major strengths of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was to give the federal government the authority to initiate enforcement of court orders of civil rights legislation, rather than wait for a claim to be brought by affected individuals or groups.

TRUE [by giving the executive branch the power to enforce court orders and pursue suits on behalf of affected groups and individuals, the Civil Rights Act was more successful at achieving its goals than were Court decisions alone.]

Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

One of three Civil War amendments; it guaranteed equal protection of the laws and due process. (pg 123) The Fourteenth Amendment offers the most substantial grounding for modern civil rights legislation. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified after the Civil War.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

Organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention who advocated for female rights to vote. Centerpiece was adoption of a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions.

equal protection clause

Provision of the 14th Amendment guaranteeing citizens "the equal protection of the laws." This clause has been the basis for the civil rights of African Americans, women, and other groups. (pg 121) Launched a century of political and legal movements to press for racial equality.

Brown v. Board of Education

The 1954 Supreme Court decision that stuck down the "separate but equal" doctrine as fundamentally unequal; this case eliminated state power to use race as a criterion of discrimination in law and provided the national government with the power to intervene by exercising strict regulatory policies against discriminatory actions. (pg. 125) Oliver Brown, father of 3 girls, decided to go and enroll his 3rd grade daughter Linda, on September 1950, to an all white school that was closer to home. When they were refused, Brown went to the NAACP and soon this case was born. -ended the era of "separate but equal schools" [ After the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the states no longer had the power to use race as a criterion of discrimination in law, and the national government had the power to intervene with strict regulatory policies.]

What congressional action did the Supreme Court use as their foundation for opposing sexual harassment?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (The Court developed most of the laws on sexual harassment from Title VII, identifying two forms of harassment: the quid pro quo type and the hostile environment type.)

African Americans

Were denied for two centuries of full citizenship rights.

Women Rights

Women were barred from voting in national elections and also social institutions as lodges, bars, and club in the 1920s. Doctrine of "coverture" gave the husband control over his wife's property. Lacking political and property rights, women in the US were effectively second-class citizens.

Civil Rights

are positives - things the government MUST do to guarantee citizenship and protect citizens from discrimination.

Susan B Anthony

in 1872, was arrested with several other women in Rochester, New York, for illegally registering and voting in that year's national election. The men that help also were indicted. Anthony was fined $100 but not sentenced to jail, she refused to pay the fine.

de facto

literally, "by fact"; refers to practices that occur even when there is no legal enforcement, such as school segregation in much of the United States today. (pg 125)

de jure

literally, "by law"; refers to legally enforced practices, such as school segregation in the South before the 1960s (pg 125)

Civil rights

obligation imposed on government to take positive action to protect citizens from any illegal action of government agencies and of other private citizens (pg 121)

Reconstruction

the period after the Civil War in the United States when the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union. 16 Blacks were elected to the U.S. Congress and over 600 served in southern state legislatures. Some found a home in the Republican Party, the Party of President Lincoln.

Discrimination

the use of any unreasonable and unjust criterion of exclusion (pg 121)