Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy The Struggle for Equality African Americans’ Civil

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman

Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy

• The Struggle for Equality• African Americans’ Civil Rights• The Rights of Other Minority Groups• Women and Public Policy• Other Groups Active Under the Civil Rights

Umbrella• Affirmative Action• Understanding Civil Rights and Public Policy• Summary

The Struggle for EqualityLO 5.1: Differentiate the Supreme Court’s three standards of review for classifying people under the equal protection clause.

• Conceptions of Equality• The Constitution and Inequality

To Learning ObjectivesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman


The Struggle for Equality

• Conceptions of Equality• Civil Rights - Policies protect people

against discrimination.• Equal opportunity - Same chance to use

their abilities and skills in order to succeed.• Equal results – Everyone should have the

same rewards such as earn the same salary or have the same amount of property.

LO 5.1

To Learning Objectives


The Struggle for Equality

• The Constitution and Inequality• Equality is not in the original Constitution.• First mention of equality in the 14th

Amendment – Equal protection of the laws.

LO 5.1


LO 5.1


African Americans’ Civil RightsLO 5.2: Trace the evolution of protections of the rights of African Americans and explain the application of nondiscrimination principles to issues of race.

• The Era of Slavery• The Era of Reconstruction and

Segregation• Equal Education• The Civil Rights Movement and

Public Policy• Voting Rights


LO 5.2



African Americans’ Civil Rights

• The Era of Slavery• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) ruled that

slaves had no rights.• The Civil War (1861-1865) was fought

between 11 Southern States and National Government.

• 13th Amendment (1865) was passed after the Civil War and it outlawed slavery.

LO 5.2




• The Era of Reconstruction and Segregation• Jim Crow Laws (1877–1954) made

separate facilities legal.• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ruled separate

but equal facilities were constitutional.

LO 5.2




• Equal Education• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

ruled school segregation inherently unconstitutional.

• Busing of students was solution for de jure segregation (by law) and de facto segregation (in reality).

LO 5.2


LO 5.2




• The Civil Rights Movement and Public Policy• Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the public policy

that made racial discrimination in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and that forbade many forms of job discrimination.

LO 5.2




• Voting Rights• Suffrage is the legal right to vote.• Fifteenth Amendment extended suffrage to

African Americans.• Poll Tax – A small tax levied on the right to

vote.• White Primary - Only whites were allowed

to vote in the party primaries.

LO 5.2




• Voting Rights (cont.)• Smith v. Allwright (1944) ended the white

primaries.• 24th Amendment eliminated poll taxes for

federal elections.• Harper v. Virginia State Board of

Elections (1966) ruled no poll taxes at all.• Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped end

barriers to voting.

LO 5.2


The Rights of Other Minority GroupsLO 5.3: Relate civil rights principles to progress made by other ethnic groups in the United States.

• Native Americans• Hispanic Americans• Asian Americans• Arab Americans and Muslims



The Rights of Other Minority Groups

• Native Americans• Indian Bill of Rights - Title II of the Civil

Rights Act of 1968 applied most of the provisions of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights to tribal governments.

• Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez (1978) strengthened the tribal power of individual tribe members and furthered self-government by Indian tribes.

LO 5.3




• Hispanic Americans• Hernandez v. Texas (1954) extended

protection against discrimination to Hispanics.• White v. Regester (1973) ruled no

multimember electoral districts in Texas.• Plyler v. Doe (1982) allows public education

for illegal immigrant children in Texas.

LO 5.3




• Asian Americans• During World War II more than 100,000

Americans of Japanese descent were moved to internment camps.

• Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments during World War II.

LO 5.3




• Arab Americans and Muslims• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004) provided

detainees the right to challenge their detention before a judge or other neutral decision maker.

• Boumediene v. Bush (2008) provided foreign terrorism suspects the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.

LO 5.3



Women and Public Policy

• The Battle for the Vote• The Seneca Falls Declaration of

Sentiments and Resolutions that was signed on July 19, 1848 was the beginning of the suffrage movement for women.

• The Nineteenth Amendment was adopted in 1920 and guaranteed women the right to vote.

LO 5.4




• The “Doldrums”: 1920–1960• Laws were designed to protect women,

and protect men from competition with women.

• Equal Rights Amendment first introduced in Congress in 1923

LO 5.4




• The Second Feminist Wave• Reed v. Reed (1971) ruled that arbitrary

gender discrimination violated 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

• Craig v. Boren (1976) - Medium (intermediate) scrutiny standard established for gender discrimination.

• Equal Rights Amendment fails ratification by states in 1982.

LO 5.4




• Women in the Workplace• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned

gender discrimination in employment.• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of

1978 made it illegal for employers to exclude pregnancy and childbirth from their sick leave and health benefits plans.

LO 5.4




• Wage Discrimination and Comparable Worth• Median weekly earnings for women

working full time are only 80 percent those for men working full time.

• The 1st significant legislation that President Barack Obama signed was a 2009 bill outlawing discrimination in compensation.

LO 5.4




• Sexual Harassment• Prohibited by Title VII of Civil Rights Act

of 1964.• Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993) ruled

that no single factor is required to win a sexual harassment case.

• The law is violated when the workplace environment would reasonably be perceived, and is perceived, as hostile or abusive.”

LO 5.4




• Women in the Military• Women make up about 14 percent of the

active duty armed forces.• Congress opened all the service

academies to women in 1975.• Only men may be drafted or serve in

ground combat.

LO 5.4


Other Groups Active Under the Civil Rights UmbrellaLO 5.5: Show how civil rights principles have been applied to seniors, people with disabilities, and gays and lesbians.

• Civil Rights and the Graying of America

• Civil Rights and People with Disabilities

• Gay and Lesbian Rights



Other Groups Active Under the Civil Rights Umbrella

• Civil Rights and the Graying of America• Age classifications fall under rational basis

test.• Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power

Laboratory (2008) ruled employer must show that action against a worker stems from reasonable factors other than age.

LO 5.5




• Civil Rights and People with Disabilities• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

requires employers and public facilities to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment.

LO 5.5




• Gay and Lesbian Rights• Defense of Marriage Act (1996) lets

states disregard same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

• VT, MA, CT, NH, and IA have legalized same sex marriages.

• Lawrence v. Texas (2003) – Made private homosexual acts protected by the Constitution.

LO 5.5


Affirmative ActionLO 5.6: Trace the evolution of affirmative action policy and assess the arguments for and against it.

• Affirmative Action• Policy designed to give special attention to

or compensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvantaged group.

• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)• Ruled that racial set asides were

unconstitutional, but can consider race in admissions.


Documents

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy The Struggle for Equality African Americans’ Civil