Chapter 5 – Civil Rights (Vocabulary Flashcards)

Civil Liberties vs. Civil Rights

• Distinction
  • Civil liberties: Government cannot act; they are negative restraints that safeguard individual freedoms (speech, worship, press, assembly, petition).
  • Civil rights: Government must act; they are positive guarantees of equal treatment for everyone, especially members of protected classes (race, gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, etc.).
• Foundational implication
  • Civil liberties flow largely from the Bill of Rights and the Due Process Clauses (Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments).
  • Civil rights flow primarily from the Equal Protection Clause and subsequent statutes.

Equal Protection Clause and Constitutional Foundations

• Text: “No State shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (Fourteenth Amendment, 1868).
• Judicial gloss
  • Supreme Court shorthand: “All persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.”
  • Practical restatement: “Similarly situated individuals are treated similarly.”
• Principles grounded in equality, fairness, and non-discrimination, yet not absolute—some discrimination allowed if constitutional tests are met (e.g., age restrictions on alcohol).

Discrimination: Definitions and Legal Framework

• Discrimination: Unjust/prejudicial treatment of categories of people, esp. by race, age, sex.
• Two analytic prongs the courts examine:
  1. Discriminatory impact/effect – facially neutral law produces unequal outcomes.
  2. Discriminatory purpose/intent – law enacted because of the unequal treatment it produces.
• Example of lawful discrimination: age-based alcohol purchase limit (21+). Example of unlawful: race-exclusive hiring.

Levels of Scrutiny in Equal Protection Jurisprudence

• Rational Basis Test (default)
  • Government action must be rationally related to a legitimate goal.
  • Burden: Challenger must prove no rational link.
• Intermediate Scrutiny (gender/sex, legitimacy of birth, some immigration status)
  • Action must be substantially related to an important objective.
  • Burden: Government.
• Strict Scrutiny (race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, fundamental rights)
  • Action must serve a compelling interest, be narrowly tailored, and use the least restrictive means.
  • Nearly always fatal to the challenged law.

Affirmative Action

• Definition: Policies/programs intended to remedy historical discrimination and expand opportunities (education, employment) for marginalized groups.
• Legal tightrope: Allowed if it meets strict or intermediate scrutiny (depending on category) and uses race/sex as a plus factor, not a quota (e.g., Regents v. Bakke, Grutter v. Bollinger).
• Ethical debate: Equity vs. color-blind meritocracy, remedy vs. reverse discrimination.

Reconstruction Amendments

• Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
  • Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude except as criminal punishment.
• Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
  • Birthright citizenship, Privileges or Immunities, Due Process (extends to states), Equal Protection.
  • Implies a right to travel among states.
• Fifteenth Amendment (1870 – not explicitly in slides but context)
  • Prohibits race-based voting denial.
• Historical goal: Prevent “black codes” and secure newly freed peoples’ liberties.

Jim Crow Era and Disenfranchisement

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Upholds “separate but equal,” enabling Jim Crow laws.
• Techniques to suppress Black vote:
  • Literacy tests & understanding tests (with grandfather-clause loopholes for illiterate Whites).
  • Poll taxes (receipt in Figure 5.6 shows 1 tax in 1917 Jefferson Parish, LA).
  • White-only primaries.
• Result: Widespread disenfranchisement until mid-20th-century reforms.

Segregation (De Jure vs. De Facto)

• De jure segregation: Mandated by law (e.g., separate schools, public facilities).
• De facto segregation: Result of private decisions (housing patterns, economic factors).
• Even under the Plessy “separate but equal” doctrine, facilities were overwhelmingly unequal (resource disparities favored Whites).
• Iconic visuals
  • Burning of Freedmen’s school (Figure 5.3) demonstrates violent resistance.
  • Little Rock Nine (Figure 5.7): 1957 federal troops enforce integration.

African-American Civil Rights Movement

• Post-WWII direct action: Bus boycotts, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, voter-registration drives.
• Confrontations
  • “Bloody Sunday” on Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma (1965) – televised brutality galvanized support.
• Court breakthrough: Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturns Plessy in education; declares segregation inherently unequal. Implementation met with “massive resistance” for decades.
• Legislative landmarks
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964
    • Bans discrimination in public accommodations, employment (creates EEOC), and unequal voting requirements.
    • Constitutional hook: Congress’s Commerce Clause power, not solely Fourteenth Amendment.
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Figure 5.1 signing)
    • Suspends literacy tests, installs federal examiners, requires pre-clearance for jurisdictions with histories of discrimination.

Impacts and Legacy

• Civil Rights Movement catalyzed subsequent pushes for equality:
  • Women’s liberation, American Indian Movement, Chicano/Latino activism, Asian-American redress, LGBTQIA+ rights.
• Demonstrated strategic spectrum: Non-violent civil disobedience (MLK) vs. separatist/self-defense rhetoric (Malcolm X) (Figure 5.9).
• Contemporary backlash: White supremacist resurgence (Charlottesville “Unite the Right,” 2017; Figure 5.10).

Women’s Suffrage and Women’s Rights

• Early advocates: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott (Figures 5.11 & 5.12) emerge from abolitionist circles.
• Milestones
  • Western territories grant partial suffrage in late 1800s.
  • Nineteenth Amendment (1920): Prohibits sex-based voting denial; still limited by racial disenfranchisement until 1960s.
• Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
  • Proposed 1923, passed Congress 1972, required 38 states; deadline lapsed 1982 though Virginia ratified in 2020 (map Figure 5.14).
• Second-wave feminism (1960s–1980s): Focus on workplace equality, reproductive rights, credit/property, Title IX, combatting sexual harassment.

Native American Civil Rights

• Removal & Sovereignty Loss
  • Trail of Tears (1831–1838) (Figure 5.16 maps forced marches).
• Citizenship progression
  • Indian Citizenship Act 1924 grants citizenship to Native Americans born after enactment; Nationality Act 1940 covers remaining.
• Rights on reservations
  • Courts treat reservations as “quasi-sovereign”; Bill of Rights not automatically applied.
  • Indian Civil Rights Act 1968 extends many rights inside reservations.
• Activism
  • AIM occupation of Wounded Knee (1973) – 71-day standoff; two deaths, 15 injuries (Figure 5.17).

Asian-American, Latino/Chicano, and Immigrant Movements

• Asian-American exclusion
  • Naturalization barred until 1943 for Chinese; broader restrictions loosened post-WWII.
  • WWII Japanese internment (Figure 5.20); redress movement leads to Civil Liberties Act 1988 (not in slides but relevant link).
• Latino/Chicano activism
  • Focus: Farmworker rights (César Chávez, Dolores Huerta), bilingual education, end to segregation (e.g., Mendez v. Westminster, 1947), immigration reform.
• Immigrant rights demands: Anti-trafficking, due process in deportations, Deferred Action (DACA) for undocumented youth.

LGBTQ+ Rights

• Early criminalization: All 50 states outlaw same-sex acts pre-1960s; laws also target gender-nonconforming dress.
• Movement spark: Stonewall riots (1969) though not named in slides.
• Legal milestones
  • Lawrence v. Texas (2003) invalidates remaining sodomy laws under Fourteenth Amendment privacy and liberty.
  • Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) mandates nationwide marriage equality (Figure 5.21 celebration).
  • Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) (referenced): Title VII bars employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Continuing issues: Transgender healthcare access, military service, bathroom & sports participation, hate-crime protections.

Cross-Movement Themes & Ethical/Practical Implications

• Intersectionality: Many individuals belong to multiple marginalized identities; discrimination can be compounded.
• Federalism tension: State autonomy vs. national enforcement (e.g., federal troops in Little Rock; pre-clearance under VRA).
• Commerce Clause as civil-rights engine: Used when Fourteenth Amendment limits reach of Congress over private actors (e.g., CRA 1964 on businesses).
• Scrutiny tiers as gatekeepers: Litigation strategy often hinges on framing classification into strict or intermediate scrutiny.
• Backlash dynamics: Each advance (Reconstruction, Civil Rights, Marriage Equality) triggers counter-mobilization (Jim Crow, Massive Resistance, religious-freedom bills).
• Moral arc narrative: Figures of emancipation (Lincoln – Figure 5.4), civil-rights icons (King, Lewis), and protesters illustrate the long struggle bending toward justice but requiring vigilance.