Civil Rights: African Americans & Women

Civil-Rights Fundamentals

  • Civil Rights ≠ Civil Liberties
    • Civil rights = positive rights; government must act to preserve them.
    • Core focus: political, social, economic equality (e.g.
    • vote regardless of race/sex,
    • equal access to schools, parks, libraries,
    • equal pay for equal work).
  • Judicial Lenses for Discrimination
    • Rational-Basis Test – law survives if a rational government purpose exists (age limits for pilots; vision requirement for driver’s license).
    • Intermediate Scrutiny – government must show an important objective & substantial relation (most sex/gender classifications; differing military fitness standards).
    • Strict Scrutiny – government needs a compelling state interest & law must be narrowly tailored (race classifications).
  • 3 Questions Courts Ask
    1. Who is discriminated against?
    2. Which right(s) are threatened?
    3. What realistic remedy can government supply?

African-American Quest for Equality

Slavery & the Constitution
  • Constitution embedded slavery in three clauses, incl. postponing ban on importation until 18081808 (took effect 18091809).
  • Ban raised slave value; illegal smuggling continued until 18651865.
Expansion, Compromises & Court
  • Missouri Compromise (1820)
    • MO = slave; ME = free; maintained Senate balance.
    • Created 36∘30′36^\circ30' line: slavery barred N. of line (except MO).
  • Mexican Cession (1848) revived debate; Wilmot Proviso (passed House twice) sought ban in new territory—blocked by equal Senate.
  • Compromise of 1850 – CA free; MO line void → “Bleeding Kansas.”
  • Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
    • Congress lacks power to bar slavery in territories; Blacks “not citizens.”
    • Closes political/judicial routes → Civil War.
Civil War & Reconstruction
  • War begun over slavery; Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed enslaved in rebelling states (limited immediate effect on ≈3.9 million\approx 3.9\text{ million} enslaved).
  • 13th Am. (1865) – abolishes slavery except as punishment for crime.
  • Black Codes recreate slavery-like economic/social order.
  • Reconstruction Amendments
    • 14th Am. (1868): citizenship by birth; due process; equal protection.
    • 15th Am. (1870): vote cannot be denied by race.
  • Civil Rights Acts (1865-75) enforced equality until Civil Rights Cases (1883) struck them down; end of Reconstruction (1877 Compromise).
Jim Crow Era (c. 1877-1950s)
  • Voting barriers: white-only primaries, poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – “separate but equal.”
  • Terroristic enforcement: KKK (founded 1868); lynchings =4,729=4{,}729 (1882-1950) – postcards/photos show public complicity.
  • Federal Complicity:
    • New Deal housing loans redlining maps; Levittowns bar Blacks.
    • Segregated schools/colleges; job exclusion & unequal pay.
Legal Fight-Back & Mass Action
  • NAACP (1909) – court strategy (e.g., Smith v Allwright (1944) ends white primaries; Brown v Board (1954) ends school segregation – separate inherently unequal).
  • Civil Rights Act 1957 (LBJ) – first since Reconstruction; limited.
  • Non-violent organizations:
    • CORE (1942), SCLC (1954), SNCC (1960).
  • Iconic actions
    • Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955), Birmingham protests (1963), March on Washington (8/1963), Selma (1965), Freedom Riders.
Landmark Statutes
  • Civil Rights Act 1964 – bans discrimination in interstate commerce; employment equality.
  • 24th Am. (1964) – abolishes poll tax.
  • Voting Rights Act 1965 – ends literacy tests, federal oversight (pre-clearance).
  • Affirmative Action launched by Nixon admin.
Continuing Issues
  • Shelby County v Holder (2013) gutted VRA §5 → new voter ID, purges; NC law targeted Blacks “with surgical precision.”
  • Over-policing → disproportionate incarceration; persistent poverty.

Women’s Civil-Rights Movements

First Wave – Suffrage
  • Seneca Falls Convention (1848) – “Declaration of Sentiments.”
  • Activists paused for abolition/Civil War; 15th Am. excluded women.
  • Dual strategy: state vs. national amendment.
  • Successes: WY Territory suffrage (1869); CO state suffrage (1893).
  • 19th Am. (1920) — vote cannot be denied by sex.
Second Wave – Workplace & Equality
  • National Women’s Trade Union League (1903) – labor rights.
  • Women’s Bureau in Dept. of Labor (1920).
  • Pres. Kennedy’s Commission on Status of Women (1961) – symbolic.
  • Title VII CRA 1964 adds “sex” (accidentally) → bars workplace bias; enforcement lag led to NOW (1966).
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
  • Text: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
  • First introduced 19231923; formally proposed 19721972 with deadline.
  • 22 of needed 38 ratified in first year; STOP ERA (Phyllis Schlafly) mobilised; deadline lapsed 06/30/198206/30/1982.
  • Five states rescinded; others ratified later; VA became 38th38^{th} (2019).
  • Legal status pending (deadline validity, archivist action, congressional vote).
Equal Pay & Workplace Rights
  • Equal Pay Act 1963; limited 2-month filing window.
  • Ledbetter v Goodyear → Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009 (180 days from discovery).
  • Additional milestones:
    • 1974 Housing/Credit Act – women get mortgages/cards sans male cosigner.
    • 1974 bans forced maternity leave.
    • 1975 women cannot be excluded from juries.
    • 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
    • 1986 SCOTUS: sexual harassment = hostile work environment.
    • 1993 Family & Medical Leave Act – up to 1212 weeks unpaid leave.
    • 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); lapse 2008-2022 over gun-related provision.
Contemporary Indicators
  • 2022 turnout: 68%68\% women vs 65%65\% men.
  • Wage gap (2022, equal credentials/job): overall $0.83/$1\$0.83/\$1; larger gap for women of color.
  • Sexual assault deemed “occupational hazard” in military (class action circa 2012).

Contraception & Abortion Rights

  • Before 1870s: abortion & contraception broadly legal; later Comstock Laws (1873) ban info/devices via mail.
  • Margaret Sanger → Birth Control League (1916) → Planned Parenthood (1921).
  • Birth-Control Pill (1960) spurs restrictive state laws.
Key Court Decisions
  • Griswold v CT (1965) – privacy protects married couples’ contraception.
  • Eisenstadt v Baird (1972) – extends to unmarried.
  • Roe v Wade (1973) – privacy covers abortion; trimester framework.
  • Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992) – keeps core right; introduces "undue burden" test.
  • Burwell v Hobby Lobby (2014) – closely held firms may refuse contraception coverage on religious grounds.
  • Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt (2016) & June Medical (2020) – clinic TRAP laws = undue burden.
  • Dobbs v Jackson (2022) – no constitutional abortion right; returns power to states.
Post-Dobbs Landscape
  • >20 states enacted full or 15-18 wk bans; others blocked in court.
  • Public opinion shift (Gallup): "legal in all circumstances" rose from 25%25\% (≈2019) to ≈35%\approx 35\% (2022); "illegal in all" fell 21%→13%21\%\rightarrow13\%.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Threads

  • Tension between federalism & equality: Dred Scott, Reconstruction rollback, Shelby County.
  • Positive‐rights doctrine: government obligation vs. individual liberty.
  • Non-violent resistance as moral strategy; media role (Birmingham fire-hoses, TV).
  • Economic legacy: redlining → wealth gap; wage discrimination compounding over lifetime (0.830.83 vs 11 equates to six-figure lifetime loss).
  • Ongoing debate: balance of religious freedom (Hobby Lobby) vs. gender equality; bodily autonomy vs. state interest (Dobbs); "color-blind" vs. corrective policies (affirmative action).