Chapter 18

1. Chapter 18 Equal Rights Under the Law

2. Chapter 18 Topics • Suffrage • Brown v. Board of Education • Civil Rights act 1964 • Voting Discrimination • California

3. Equality ? What does this mean to Americans ? 1. Equality of opportunity 2. Equality of starting positions equal opportunity for someone born into a poor family compared to someone born into a well-to-do family ? 3. Equality between groups 4. Equality of results * Should there be a minimum floor or safety net below which one should not be allowed to fall. * Should everyone should have the same amount of material goods?

4. Women’s Rights “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, We are determined to foment a rebellion, and will nothold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation” - Abigail Adams’ letter to husband John at Constitutional Convention of 1787.

5. Women’s Rights  1. Constitutional Convention a. Abigail Adams pleaded with her husband John to “ remember the ladies”. “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, We are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have novoice, or representation” Abigail Adams’ letter to husband John at 1787 Constitutional Convention.

6. Women’s Rights b. Abigail’s plea was ignored c. When the 14th Amendment was passed, it was understood it did not apply to women’s issues. d. Most often, the laws that treated men and women differently were said to be necessary to protect the “ weaker sex”.

7. Women’s Rights  2. The Right to Vote a. For 130 years after the adoption of the Constitution, women for most part could neither vote nor hold political office. b. Wyoming the first state to allow women to vote, and those states and territories that did allow women to vote were mostly in the West.

8. Women’s Rights Congressional critics complained about Wyoming’s plan to let women vote. Wyoming territorial legislature offered to wait another 100 years before entering the Union. c. First woman elected to Congress was Jeannette Rankin from Montana in 1916…..before women in most of the rest of the country could even vote.

9. Women’s suffrage During late 1800’s suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton began a movement across country to seek full political rights for women. Suffragists made sure that a constitutional amendment to allow women to vote was introduced every congressional session from 1878 to 1919. Finally, in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. They used parades, protests, and civil disobedience to gain attention and support.

10. Women’s suffrage d. In early 1870’s many women attempted to vote in different state elections: 1. some arrested for trying to vote 2. ballot boxes dumped so women’s vote would not count. 3. Susan B. Anthony and 15 others arrested is 1872 presidential election in New York. a. charged with illegal voting, a federal offense. b. she was not allowed to testify at her own trial, fined $100, which she refused to pay.

11. Women’s suffrage After passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, there was success in getting an Equal Rights Amendment (1923) before the states. It did not get the necessary ¾ state votes, but was consistently introduced over the years until it was unofficially killed in 1973 by failure to get the 38 states to ratify after 11 years.

12. War-Time Suffrage When War broke out in Europe in 1939, the United States was neutral in its efforts. Much of Europe, as well as the countries of Japan, USSR and others were fighting for much of the next 2 years without combat involvement from the U.S. That all changed on Dec. 7, 1941 when the country of Japan launched an attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor Hawaii. The United States declared war on Japan on Dec. 8th and we were officially entered into World War II.

13. War-Time Suffrage Soon after the bombing, there was a growing resentment for people of Asian descent in the United States. In California, that resent resulted in a Government-led round-up of Japanese Americans. These “round-ups” meant that the Government went around (mostly Western U.S. ) and captured anyone who looked Japanese and sent them to internment camps where they could be closely monitored. Many of these people were American Citizens with Japanese ancestry in their blood. Many of these citizens were pulled from their houses and businesses without any time to pack or secure their belongings. At the war’s conclusion, these “prisoners” were allowed to return home, but many found all of their possessions had been lost/stolen.

14. War-Time Suffrage It would not be until 1988 when a law was passed to try and make monetary compensation to those Japanese-Americans who were rounded up during World War II. Compensation amounted to $20,000 (this would have been over 40 years after the fact so many of those rounded up were no longer alive or living in the united States

15. Education Discrimination Linda Brown, a third grader, had to walk six blocks to her school bus stop to ride to Monroe Elementary, her segregated black school that was one mile away, while Sumner Elementary, a white school, was seven blocksfrom her house.

16. Brown v. Board of Education It was asserted that this system of racial separation, while masquerading as providing separate but relatively equal treatment of both white and black Americans, instead perpetuated inferior accommodations, services, and treatment for black Americans. Racial segregation in education varied widely from the 17 states that required racial segregation to the 16 that prohibited it.

17. Brown v. Board of Education In 1954, The U.S. Supreme Court declared that the discriminatory nature of racial segregation ... "violates the14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws,"

18. Pre-cursor to Civil Rights Movement • Montgomery, Alabama • 1955 • Rosa Parks and the year-long bus boycott

19. Civil Rights Act of 1964 These are some provisions of the acts major sections, called“ titles”: Title I : Bars arbitrary discrimination in voter registration (Title I) Title II: Outlaws discrim. in public accommodations, such as motels restaurants, theaters. Title III and IV: Gives the AG power to bring lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and schools

20. Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VI: Allows withholding of federal funds from public or private programs (including school programs) that practice discrimination Title VII: Prohibits job discrimination by private employers or unions on account of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex Title VII and X: Expands the power of the Civil Rights Commission, creates a Community Relations Service to conciliate racial disputes 

21. Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VIII: Bans discrimination in sale or rental of most housing , but buyers and renters must prove discrimination. Also called the Open Housing act of 1968. Title IX: (Higher Education Act of 1972) a. prohibits gender discrimination by educational institutions that receive federal funds. b. Title IX used to force increased funding for women-only programs, such as women’s sports. c. These mandatory equity laws have caused some educational institutions to cut less popular men’s sports and caused some backlash against Title IX.

22. Equal protection clause A major part of the 14th Amendment that protects a person from random “unfair” government practices. It was implied in the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. ( but was originally applied only in Fed. Cases.)

23. Racial gerrymandering The process of drawing (or redrawing) legislative district lines on the basis of race in an effort to manipulate the results of an election or otherwise strengthen/weaken a particular race’s political power.

24. Poll tax A policy used to hinder the ability of people to actively engage in the political process of voting. Seen primarily in the South following the Civil War, it was an attempt to keep people without the financial means necessary from voting. (often leaving former slaves and the other poor from having a political voice)

25. Literacy tests • A typical version of the test used before passage of the Voting Rights Act was used to deny Blacks (and other non-whites) the right to vote. • While state law mandated that the test be given to everyone who could not verify that they had at least a 5th-grade education, in real life almost all Blacks were forced to do so even if they had a college diploma while whites were often excused from taking it no matter how little education they had. • Questions were deliberately designed to be tricky and confusing.

26. Literacy tests • Determination of who "passed" and who "failed" was entirely up to the whim of the Registrar of Voters — all of whom were white. • In actuality, whites almost always "passed" no matter how many questions they missed, and Blacks were almost always "failed" in the selective judgment of the Registrar.

27. Literacy tests The Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended Declared that these literacy tests were illegal and could no longer be a requirement for voting in the country.

28. Literacy tests The Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended Declared that these literacy tests were illegal and could no longer be a requirement for voting in the country.

29. Univ. of Cal. Regents v. Bakke Regents v. Bakke (1978) 1. Allan Bakke , white male, top student at Minnesota and Stanford, Vietnam Vet, applied to U of C Davis med school in 1973 and 1974. Was a paramedic. 2. Each year, school admitted 100 students, 84 in general admission program, 16 in a special admissions program for minorities who had previously been underrepresented. 3. Bakke’s admission rejected while students with lower scores allowed to enter. Lawsuit filed on basis of violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1964.

30. Proposition 209 1. In 1996, Calif voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 209 that would forbid any state agency to discriminate OR grant preferential treatment on basis of race, gender, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, public education, or public contracts. 2. Opponents of affirmative action hoped California would be the spark to get a nation-wide movement going against AFFIR-ACT. 3. Washington state had a similar movement, called Initiative 200, which won 58% of popular vote, despite resistance from government and business organizations who outspent the opposition 3-1.

31. Chapter 18 Topics • The focus of modern women’s rights movement has been to secure adoption of the ______________ ______________ Amendment. • A 1988 law provided $20,000 as restitution to ______________ -______________ interned during WW2. • Native Americans are a separate people with power to regulate their own internal affairs, subject to ______________ supervision. • After the Civil War, three “civil rights” amendments were added to the Constitution, the ______________ , ______________ , ______________ Amendments. • The immediate origin of the black revolt occurred in 1955 when a ______________ boycott was organized in Montgomery, Alabama. • The equal protection of the laws clause is part of the ______________ Amendment and is implied in the dur process clause of the ______________ Amendment. • The traditional test of whether a law complies with the equal protection requirement is the ______________ basis test. • Race and national origins are obviously ______________ classifications. • The quasi-suspect classification included ______________ and ______________ . • Poverty, according to the Supreme Court, ( is, is not ) ______________ an unconstitutional classification. • Age (can, cannot ) ______________ be used as a criterion in employment is it is related to proper job performance. • In the 1954 case of ______________ v. ______________ the Supreme Court reversed its 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been ( effective, ineffective ) ______________ . • The poll tax was abolished in federal elections by the ______________ Amendment. • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended set aside ______________ tests throughout the country. • In ______________ v. ______________ the Supreme Court ruled that race cannot be the sole reason for drawing district lines. • The 14th Amendment applies only to ______________ action and not to private groups serving only their own members. • Segregation in places of ______________ accommodation is unconstitutional. • In the Bakke case the Supreme Court held that a special admissions category from which white were excluded was ( constitutional, unconstitutional ) ______________ . • The adoption of California’s Proposition 209 and Washington’s 200 outlawed ______________ ______________ programs.