Race and Civil Rights

Race and Civil Rights Wilson 6A

Key Questions Who Governs? To What Ends? • If the law supports equality of opportunity, why has affirmative action become so important? • Under what circumstances can men and women be treated differently? • Since Congress enacts our laws, why has it not made that all groups have the same rights? • After the Supreme Court ended racial segregation in the schools, what did the president and Congress do?

Civil Rights • When a group is denied access to facilities, opportunities, or services available to other groups. • Reasonable differences in treatment • Progressive taxation • Quotas • Unreasonable differences in classification • Voting rights • Housing

Black Predicament • Whites threatened by integration • Majority black • Compete for jobs • Political power • Racism • 3,600 lynchings • Property restriction • Belief in segregation • Strategy • Needed white allies • Move issue to the Courts • Civic protest (public awareness)

14th Amendment • “Equal protection of the laws” • Broad interpretation – Constitution is color blind and can make no distinction of race • Narrow interpretation – equal legal rights for all, but with reasonable distinctions • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Narrow view • Separate but equal doctrine

Separate But Equal • NCAAP • Started to stop lynchings • Worked through the Courts to end segregation • Require equality of education • Missouri Law School – Llyod Gaines • Oklahoma Law School – Ada Lois Sipuel • Attack constitutionality of segregation • Texas Law School – Herman Sweatt • Oklahoma PhD Program – George McLaurin • Force integration • Topeka Public Schools – Brown • Charlotte Public Schools – Swan

Brown v. Board of Education • Unanimous opinion overturned Plessy • 14th Amendment not intended to abolish segregation • Relied on social science, racist paradigm • Segregation created a sense of inferiority • Implementation • Class action – “similarly situated” • Done through local federal courts • “all deliberate speed” • Southern Manifesto – “abuse of judicial power” • Resistance for decades

Integration • De jure (south) – required by law • De facto (north) – resulting from patterns of residential settlement • “Freedom of choice” plan in New Kent County, VA • Did not produce a “unitary, non-racial system” • Swan v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg • Prove intent to discriminate • History of segregation • Quotas, redrawn district lines, court-ordered busing • Not every school needs to reflect district numbers

Court-ordered Busing • Mandated if city and suburb had practiced segregation • Not necessary to continually redraw lines and bus routes • White flight may create single-race schools • Integrated schools found in integrated neighborhoods • Controversial until ended in 1992 (DeKalb County, GA) • Partisan issue • Republicans in opposition • Local control

Civil Rights in Congress • Strong opposition • Southern democrats on judiciary committee • Howard Smith headed rules committee • Senate filibuster • Kennedy reluctant • Break deadlock • Changing public opinion • Media coverage of violence • Kennedy assassination • Democratic control of government

Civil Rights Legislation • Voting rights • 1957, 1960, 1965 • Housing discrimination • 1968 • Civil rights bill • 1964 • Mood of Congress favors civil rights • African American voting and representation • White elitism declined

Civil Rights Protests • Mobilize opinion by dramatic events • Sit-ins • Freedom rides • Marches • Voter registration • Montgomery Bus Boycott • Nonviolent civil disobedience • Seen as law-breaking by many whites • Racial violence and threats • Conscious and agenda-setting

Racial Profiling • Law enforcement more likely to stop someone of a particular race or ethnicity • Insufficient data on how police make judgments • Balance between safety and rights • Opponents say profiling is discrimination • Proponents willing to stop innocent people for the sake of public safety; some groups more likely to break law • 9/11 raised debate and stakes

Race and Civil Rights