CH 5

Discrimination: The use of any unreasonable and unjust criterion of exclusion.

Fourteenth Amendment: One of three Civil War amendments; it guaranteed equal protection and due protection.

Civil rights: Guarantees of equal opportunity and protection through obligations imposed on government to protect individuals.

Affirmative action: government policies or programs that seek to redress past injustices against specified groups by making special efforts to provide members of those groups with access to educational and employment opportunities

Jim Crow laws: laws enacted by southern states following Reconstruction that discriminated against African Americans

What is the significance of the Civil Rights Act?: It was a landmark legislation that ended segregation in public spaces and prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, sex, and national origin.

  • It attacked discrimination in public accommodations, segregation in schools, and discrimination by employers in hiring promoting, and laying off employees.

What year did women get the right to vote?: When the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, all American women were finally guaranteed the right to vote. However, for black women in the South would take many more decades to secure.

Brown v. Board of Education: The 1954 Supreme Court decision that struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine as fundamentally unequal; this case eliminated state power to use race as a criterion of discrimination in law and provided the national government with the power to intervene by exercising strict regulatory policies against discriminatory actions.

What was the outcome of Brown v. Board in the South?:

  • Despite the Brown decision, by the mid-1950s, fewer than 1% of Black children in the Deep South attended schools with White children. The movement needed not just court rulings, but federal support for integration and equal rights. The Grassroots movement began organizing, and protests grew over time, emphasizing peaceful resistance.

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56): Sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest. The boycott led to over 40,000 Black riders boycotting the buses. The Supreme Court declared bus segregation unconstitutional.

  • Student Sit-ins (1960-61): Protests began when four Black college students asked to be served at a Whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. The movement grew rapidly, involving over 70,000 participants, and became a key form of collective action.

  • March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963): 200,000+ protesters gathered at the nation’s capital to protest racial segregation and inequality. MLK delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during his march. The event emphasized the demand for justice, jobs, and equal opportunities in the pursuit of the American Dream. Civil Rights leaders later met with President John F. Kennedy to discuss legislative changes.

  • Selma-to-Montgomery Marches (1965): Marches that were organized to push for voting rights, as many Southern states still denied Black people the right to vote. The first march on March 7 was violently attacked by Alabama state troopers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a day known as “Bloody Sunday”. This brutality shocked the public, and subsequent marches, supported by MLK garnered more attention and support. By March 25, 25,000 people joined the movement.

1973 Rehabilitation Act: Outlawed discrimination against individuals based on disabilities.

NAACP’s role in pressing for civil rights:

  • Legal Challenges:

    The NAACP fought discriminatory laws in court. One of their biggest victories was in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), where they successfully argued that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. By focusing on cases that could create legal precedents, the NAACP aimed to dismantle segregation and ensure equal rights under the law.

  • Advocacy and Public Awareness:

    The NAACP organized boycotts, protests, and lobbying efforts to raise awareness and pressure lawmakers. They also worked with other civil rights groups to promote equality legislation. For example, their advocacy was crucial in pushing for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed segregation and protected voting rights for African Americans.