Civil Rights and Discrimination in America: A Historical Overview - Prof. S. Haynie, Study notes of Local Government Studies

Download Civil Rights and Discrimination in America: A Historical Overview - Prof. S. Haynie and more Study notes Local Government Studies in PDF only on Docsity! 9/15/2011 Poli 2051 Chapter 7- Civil Rights  Civil Rights refers to the equality of rights for all persons regardless of their race, sex, or ethnic background.  The Constitution states that all citizens have equal protection against all laws.  Blacks came to America as indentured servants—work for 7 years then granted freedom.  After 1808, you could not import slaves.  Southern states became highly dependent on the slaves for labor work.  Jim Crow laws were passed in the south -Segregated mostly all black qualities of life (where you eat, shop, etc) Dread Scott vs Sanford (1857) -Scott was a slave in Missouri. He traveled with his owner to Illinois, which is a free state. Then he travels with his owner to Wisconsin and then back to Missouri where he was back a slave. His owner died and owner’s wife remarried to a man who demanded him to be a slave again. Scott sued his new owner because he was once a free man. Once you are free you are always free. -Court says that blacks weren’t citizens. Congress had no power to control slave territories which then raises the question of whether states could prohibit slavery. -Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery on January 1, 1863 Civil War Amendments -13th: prohibited slavery -14th: made blacks citizens; granted equal protection of the laws; gave due process to all citizens -15th: gave black males the right to vote Challenges to segregation Plessey vs Ferguson (1896) -Plessey got on a white bus and got kicked off; sued because he has the 14 th amendment (equal protection of the law). Separate but equal doctrine was established. Court told him that as long he was equally treated. The south had more of a separation side. -Established the Separate but Equal Doctrine The NAACP set up the Legal Fund. -Formed a branch. Thurgood Marshall held that role initially and was in charge of it. They start to challenge things that states were to doing. Start to focus on graduate education in the south. The state government would pay the African American to go to college in another state so that the universities wouldn’t have to segregate. Some schools would create a new school for blacks. -Ex. UT creates a separate law school for blacks and claims that the school is equal when it isn’t. Brown vs Board of Education 1954 -Under the Warren court (very liberal). Brown won. Brown was forced to travel hours on a bus to go to school when she had a white school down the street from her house. Black schools didn’t have as many resources as the white schools did. -This court ruling over turned the separate but equal doctrine and also states that “Separate is inherently unequal”. Warren was the chief justice and he went around to each judge and had a unanimous decision. - In a high school, 9 blacks had to be escorted to each class with a security guard with a rifle. “Whiteflight”: whites who moved out to the suburbs to let children go to a larger white school which then allowed the intercity schools to be segregated again. After 10 years, schools were still segregated. Under the 14th amendment, it prohibits states from treating citizens differently. -Protection against discrimination by the STATE is derived from the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause. -Protection against discrimination by private businesses or groups is derived from the commerce clause of Article I section 8. Congress finds relief in this article.  Article I section 8: Congress has the power to regulate commerce among foreign nations and among SEVERAL STATES and with indian tribes. Congress sees that its “necessary and proper” to ends racism, so then it passes laws to end racism between businesses. 1964 Civil Rights Act -Prohibits discrimination on basis of race, religion, gender, or national origin in public accommodations and employment. -Provides protection against businesses that try to discriminate. 1968 Civil Rights Act -Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, and national origin in the sale or rental of housing. - EEOC: equal employment opportunity commission; responsible for overseeing the protection of citizens under this act.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t have an entity that discriminates.  EX: a country club. A country club is a PRIVATE place, and since it does regulate commerce it isn’t discrimination -If you are an individual and you need to find relief in discrimination: 14th amendment -If you are an individual and you need to find relief in the business: Article I section 8 Gender discrimination Women were given the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920. Unlike what the south did with African Americans to refuse to give blacks the white to vote, women were different. -Equal pay act of 1963: men and women must receive equal pay for equal work. Women would be payed less because they wouldn’t work that much as the men did. Women are not the “breadwinner” of the families.