Civil Rights – Comprehensive Notes (OpenStax Chapter 5)

Key Terms, Standards, & Overarching Ideas

• Civil Rights vs. Civil Liberties
  • Civil rights = government guarantees of equal treatment; civil liberties = limits on government power.
  • Enshrined chiefly in Fifth & Fourteenth Amendments (due-process & equal-protection clauses).
  • Chief Justice Earl Warren (Bolling v. Sharpe $1954$): discrimination so unjustifiable it violates due process.
• Core Judicial Tests for Laws that Discriminate
  • $\textbf{Rational‐Basis Test}:$ law must be $\text{rationally related}$ to a $\text{legitimate governmental interest}$; burden on challenger.
  • $\textbf{Intermediate Scrutiny}:$ sex/gender; discrimination must be $\text{substantially related}$ to an $\text{important governmental objective}$ (Craig v. Boren $1976$).
  • $\textbf{Strict Scrutiny}:$ race, ethnicity, national origin, religion; law must serve a $\text{compelling governmental interest}$, be $\text{narrowly tailored}$, & be the $\text{least restrictive means}$ (used in Japanese-American internment case Korematsu $1944$ and in most affirmative-action cases).
  • Affirmative Action = set of programs/policies aimed at redressing historical discrimination; courts debate whether strict scrutiny applies.
• Three Analytical Questions to Spot Civil-Rights Problems
  $1.$ Which group is discriminated against?
  $2.$ Which right(s) are denied?
  $3.$ What realistic governmental remedy exists?

5.1 What Are Civil Rights & How Do We Identify Them?

• Historical examples of rights denial
  • Women barred from voting until $1920$; African-American men constitutionally enfranchised $1870$ but only $3\%$ registered in the South by $1940$.
  • Same-sex couples denied marriage licenses until Obergefell v. Hodges $2015$.
• Acceptable vs. Unacceptable Inequality
  • Age restrictions on driving/voting are acceptable (public-safety rationale).
  • Racially different prison sentences = unconstitutional.
• Permissible Government Discrimination Examples
  • Age limits on tobacco ($18$) & alcohol ($21$).
  • Entrance standards (GPA, SAT) at public universities.
• Heightened Judicial Skepticism for race, ethnicity, gender, religion due to U.S. history of oppression.
• Foundational Amendments
  • $13^{th}$ (abolition of slavery $1865$).
  • $14^{th}$ (citizenship, due process, equal protection $1868$).
  • $15^{th}$ (male Black suffrage $1870$).

5.2 The African American Struggle for Equality

Slavery → Civil War

• Declaration of Independence’s $“all men are created equal”$ contrasted with slavery; founders sidestepped issue for union’s sake.
• Dred Scott v. Sandford $1857$: Blacks not citizens; Congress cannot ban slavery in territories.
• Civil War (
  $1861–1865$): secession primarily to protect slavery; Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation $1863$ freed slaves only in rebelling states.

Reconstruction ($1865–1877$)

• Federal troops protected Black rights; Black Codes sought to re-enslave via vagrancy laws; Ku Klux Klan violence.
• Disenfranchisement Tactics
  • Literacy & understanding tests; grandfather clauses; poll taxes (annual $\$1–\$2$).
  • White primary excluded Blacks from Democratic primaries, locking them out of real elections.
• Jim Crow: segregation laws upheld by Plessy v. Ferguson $1896$ ($“separate but equal”$ doctrine).

Court-Centered Strategy (NAACP)

• Early victories in higher-education access (Missouri ex rel. Gaines $1938$).
• Brown v. Board of Education $1954$: segregation in public schools inherently unequal; social-science evidence of harm.
• Massive resistance (Little Rock $1957$; Virginia school closures).

Direct-Action Phase

• Montgomery Bus Boycott $1955–1956$ (Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, Dr. King).
• Sit-ins ($1960$ Greensboro); Freedom Rides $1961$.
• March on Washington $1963$; Selma → Montgomery $1965$ ($“Bloody Sunday”$).

Landmark Statutes & Cases

• Civil Rights Act $1964$: bans discrimination in public accommodations & employment; creates EEOC; relies on Commerce Clause.
• Twenty-Fourth Amendment $1964$: ends poll tax in federal elections; Harper v. Virginia $1966$ extends to all elections.
• Voting Rights Act $1965$: bans literacy tests; federal oversight for jurisdictions with discriminatory histories; gutted by Shelby County v. Holder $2013$.

Black Power & Continuing Issues

• Malcolm X, Black Panthers advocate self-defense, Black Pride.
• Present-day problems: de facto school segregation, white flight, racial profiling, economic inequality.
• Affirmative-Action Case Path: Bakke $1978$ (no quotas but race may be factor); Grutter $2003$; Fisher $2013, 2016$ (narrow tailoring).

5.3 The Fight for Women’s Rights

Early Period & Seneca Falls ($1848$)

• Coverture eliminated married women’s legal identity; denied property, custody, higher education.
• Declaration of Sentiments demands suffrage; signers split over voting plank.

Post–Civil War Split

• NWSA (Stanton/Anthony, national amendment) vs. AWSA (Lucy Stone, state strategy).
• Western states (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Idaho) grant votes late $1800s$.

Unified Campaign

• NAWSA $1890$ uses lobbying, petitions, parades ($1917$ NY march $1\,000\,000$ signatures).
• NWP (Alice Paul) employs picketing, hunger strikes; jailed & force-fed.
• Nineteenth Amendment $1920$: national female suffrage, aided by Rep. Harry Burn’s tie-breaking TN vote.

Second-Wave Feminism ($1960s–1970s$)

• Title VII, Civil Rights Act $1964$ outlaws sex discrimination but weak enforcement → NOW $1966$ founded.
• Equal Rights Amendment passes Congress $1972$; deadline extended to $1982$; stalls at $35/38$ states (Phyllis Schlafly opposition).
• Title IX $1972$: bans sex discrimination in education & athletics.

Continuing Challenges

• Glass ceiling; wage gap (women earn $(79\%)$ of male pay as of $2014$).
• Under-representation in Congress (≈$(20\%)$ $2016$) & state legislatures ($(25\%)$).
• Sexual harassment & violence (≈$(1/3)$ women experience domestic violence; $(1/5)$ assaulted in college).
• Reproductive rights: Roe v. Wade $1973$, later restrictions; Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt $2016$ invalidates undue clinic requirements.
• Concept of comparable worth seeks equal pay for jobs of equal responsibility (e.g., daycare vs. sanitation).

5.4 Civil Rights for Indigenous Peoples

Dispossession & Early Policy

• Indian Removal Act $1830$ → Trail of Tears $1838–1839$; $25\%$ Cherokee die.
• Reservations & BIA paternalism; Dawes Act $1887$ allots land; Curtis Act $1898$ abolishes tribal govts.
• Citizenship delayed: Indian Citizenship Act $1924$ (newborns), Nationality Act $1940$ (remaining).

Self-Determination Era

• Indian Reorganization Act $1934$ restores tribal self-govt.
• Modern activism: Alcatraz occupation $1969–1971$ (Red Power); AIM seizes BIA $1972$ & occupies Wounded Knee $1973$ (two AIM deaths, one U.S. marshal wounded).
• Indian Self-Determination & Education Assistance Act $1975$: tribes run programs, receive federal funds.
• Indian Gaming Regulatory Act $1988$ limits state interference with tribal casinos.
• American Indian Religious Freedom Act $1978$ protects ceremonies (peyote, eagle bones).

Alaska Natives & Native Hawaiians

• Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act $1971$: $44\,000\,000$ acres + $\$900\,000\,000$.
• Hawaiians lost $2\,000\,000$ acres after $1893$ annexation; $1\,000\,000$ acres held in trust; ongoing push for self-government; voting process halted by SCOTUS pending appeal.
• Persistent disparities: poverty, unemployment, infant mortality, addiction.

5.5 Equal Protection for Other Groups

Hispanic/Latino Americans

• Territorial additions ($1845–1848$) absorb Mexicans; Jones Act $1917$ grants Puerto Rican citizenship.
• Repression: literacy bans, segregated schools, Operation Wetback $1953–1958$ (>3\,000\,000 deportations).
• LULAC $1929$ fights discrimination; Mendez v. Westminster $1947$ ends CA school segregation.
• Chicano movement ($1960s$): Brown Power, bilingual education, East L.A. walkouts $1968$.
• United Farm Workers $1962$ (Chavez/Huerta) → Delano grape strike $1965–1970$ (“Sí se puede” boycott).
• Anti-immigrant laws: CA Prop $187$ $1994$ (blocked); AZ SB $1070$ $2010$ partly overturned (Arizona v. US $2012$).
• Current debates: DREAM Act, DACA/DAPA, demographic growth (largest minority).

Asian Americans

• Chinese laborers → Chinese Exclusion Act $1882$, Geary Act $1892$, Immigration Act $1924$ (Asians barred).
• Japanese internment under EO $9066$, Korematsu v. US $1944$ upholds; $110\,000+$ incarcerated.
• Post-$1960$ pan-Asian activism; Lau v. Nichols $1974$ mandates language assistance in schools.
• Model-minority stereotype vs. ongoing bias; high educational & income attainment.

LGBT Community

• Early secrecy: Mattachine Society $1950$; Daughters of Bilitis.
• Milestones: Stonewall riots $1969$ → Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activists Alliance.
• Path to equality: APA de-lists homosexuality $1973$; “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” $1994–2011$; Lawrence v. Texas $2003$ decriminalizes same-sex intimacy; civil unions $2000s$; Obergefell v. Hodges $2015$ legalizes same-sex marriage.
• Backlash & Religious Freedom Restoration Acts; continuing issues: housing/employment bias, hate crimes → Matthew Shepard Act $2009$.

Americans with Disabilities

• Historic abuses: eugenics sterilizations upheld in Buck v. Bell $1927$.
• Rehabilitation Act $1973$ bans disability bias in federally funded arenas.
• Education for All Handicapped Children Act $1975$ (IEPs).
• Americans with Disabilities Act $1990$: employment accommodations, accessible transport & public facilities.

Religious Minorities

• Anti-Catholic & anti-Mormon violence $1800s$; Jewish restrictive covenants $1900s$.
• Post-$2001$ Islamophobia: workplace dress disputes, hate crimes, profiling.
• Burwell v. Hobby Lobby $2014$: corporations may claim religious exemption from contraception mandate.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Implications

• Balancing majority interests & minority rights remains core democratic tension.
• Strict scrutiny protects vulnerable groups but sparks debate over judicial activism vs. restraint.
• Affirmative action & comparable worth raise fairness vs. meritocracy questions.
• Religious freedom claims now collide with LGBT & women’s rights, illustrating evolving hierarchy of values.

Real-World Relevance & Modern Connections

• Voting-rights rollbacks post-Shelby signal vigilance needed.
• Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Standing Rock protests, DREAMer activism are direct descendants of earlier movements.
• Courts, Congress, executive orders, and grassroots action all play roles; progress often nonlinear.