CIVIL RIGHTS TEST

Civil Rights

• The protections and treatments given to all U.S. Citizens by the government to ensure they receive equal treatment and no discrimination.

  • Typically involve protections against discrimination such as:

    • Race

    • Gender

    • Disabilities

    • or other characteristics

13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

• 13th Amendment (1865): Abolished slavery and indentured servitude, except as a punishment for a crime

• 14th Amendment (1868): Grants citizenship for all people born in the United States or naturalized, and guarantees equal protection under the law

• 15th Amendment (1870): Prohibits the government from denying a citizen to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude

Jim Crow Laws & Black Codes

• Jim Crow Laws: State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the South from the late 1800s until the Civil Rights Movement

  • Examples:

    • Separate Schools

    • Separate Bathrooms

    • Separate Public Facilities

• Black Codes: Laws passed in the South after the Civil War to limit African American Rights

  • Examples:

    • Limiting Property Ownership

    • Limiting Voting

    • Limiting Legal Rights

Key Supreme Court Cases

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Established the “separate but equal” doctrine, which upheld racial segregation.

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954): Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson; ruled that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

• Civil Rights Cases (1883): Declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, allowing private businesses to discriminate.

• U.S. v. Virginia (1996): Struck down male-only admissions at the Virginia Military Institute, reinforcing gender equality.

• University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978): Affirmative action case; ruled that racial quotas in college admissions are unconstitutional but race can be a factor.

• Loving v. Virginia (1967): Struck down laws banning interracial marriage.

• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg (1971): Approved busing to promote school integration.

• Shaw v. Reno (1993): Ruled racial gerrymandering must be strictly scrutinized.

• Baker v. Carr (1962): Established "one person, one vote," ensuring equal representation.

• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): Legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

• Korematsu v. United States (1944): Upheld Japanese internment during WWII, later seen as a violation of civil rights.

Suffrage & Women’s Rights

• Define Suffrage: The Right to Vote

• What Amendment granted the right to vote for Women?

  • 19th Amendment (1920)

Civil Rights Movements & Legislation

• Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”: Argued for civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to unjust laws.

• De jure vs. de facto segregation:

  • De jure: Legalized segregation (e.g., Jim Crow laws).

  • De facto: Segregation by fact, often due to social and economic factors (e.g., housing patterns).

• Civil Rights Act of 1964: Outlawed segregation and discrimination in public accommodations and employment.

• Voting Rights Act of 1965: Banned literacy tests and poll taxes, making voting easier for African Americans

Affirmative Action & Barriers to Voting

• Affirmative Action: Policies that aim to increase representation of minorities in education and employment.

  • For: Helps address historical injustices, promotes diversity.

  • Against: Some argue it leads to reverse discrimination.

• Voting Barriers: Literacy tests, poll taxes, and the Grandfather Clause were used to disenfranchise Black voters.

• 24th Amendment (1964): Banned poll taxes.

Other Civil Rights Protections

• Title IX (1972): Bans gender discrimination in education and sports.

• NAACP, NOW, NAWSA:

  • NAACP: Fights for African American rights.

  • NOW: Fights for women's rights.

  • NAWSA: Led the women’s suffrage movement.

• Equal Rights Amendment (ERA): Proposed amendment for gender equality, never ratified.

• Civil Disobedience: Nonviolent protest against unjust laws (e.g., sit-ins, boycotts).

• Seneca Falls Convention (1848): First women's rights convention in the U.S.

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990): Prohibits discrimination based on disability.

FRQ 1: 

1. The 15th Amendment and State Resistance

• The 15th Amendment (1870) states that the right to vote cannot be denied based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was designed to grant African American men the right to vote after the Civil War.

2. What were three measures taken by Southern states against it?

Southern states implemented voter suppression tactics to circumvent the 15th Amendment. Three key measures include:

• Literacy Test: Required voters to prove they could read and write before voting. Since many formerly enslaved people had limited access to education, these tests were designed to prevent Black voters from passing.

• Poll Taxes: Charged a fee to vote, which disproportionately affected poor African Americans who couldn’t afford to pay.

• Grandfather Clause: Allowed people to vote only if their grandfather had been eligible to vote before the Civil War. Since most Black citizens’ ancestors were enslaved and ineligible to vote, this effectively disenfranchised them.

c) Explain one and why it worked

Let’s take literacy tests as an example.

• Why it worked: Many Southern states designed literacy tests to be intentionally confusing and subjective. White election officials had the power to pass or fail applicants arbitrarily. Even highly educated Black individuals were often denied the right to vote, while illiterate white voters were sometimes given exemptions or easier tests.

• Impact: Literacy tests, combined with poll taxes and intimidation tactics (like violence from groups like the KKK), drastically reduced Black voter turnout. In some Southern states, the percentage of Black men registered to vote dropped to nearly zero until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed these practices
  
  

FRQ 2: Court Case Analysis

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Background

• After the attack on Pearl Harbor (1941), the U.S. government feared that Japanese Americans on the West Coast might be loyal to Japan.

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced relocation and internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, most of whom were U.S. citizens.

• Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American citizen, refused to comply with the order and was arrested for staying in a “military zone” without reporting to an internment camp.

• He sued, arguing that his 5th Amendment (due process) and 14th Amendment (equal protection) rights were violated.

Ruling

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled against Korematsu, upholding the internment camps as constitutional.

The Court argued that national security concerns outweighed individual rights during wartime.

Justice Hugo Black, writing for the majority, stated that racial classifications are “suspect” but justified if there is a “pressing public necessity.”

The Court applied a form of strict scrutiny, but ultimately deferred to the government’s argument that Japanese Americans could pose a national security threat.