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Civil Rights
American Studies
Dr. Weiselbeg
Civil Rights, Outline
“All men are created equal” - Declaration of Independence, 1776
African American Civil Rights - Background
Slave trade (1619), involuntary immigration, 3/5 compromise, Dred Scott v. Sanford, slavery and expansion, abolitionism, Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman
Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Gettysburg Address (1863)
Amendments 13, 14, 15 (free-citizens-vote)
Amendment 14: equal protection, due process
Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), segregation, impact of world wars,
NAACP, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Great Migration, Harlem Renaissance
Truman Era and Civil Rights, 1940s
Jackie Robinson - 1st African American to play in major league baseball
De-segregation of the armed forces, 1948
Civil Rights, 1950s
The Warren Court (Earl Warren - presided over Supreme Court, 1953-1969)
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
In education, “the doctrine of separate but equal has no place.”
Ordered the end of segregation “with all deliberate speed”
Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957; Little Rock Nine
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955; Rosa Parks, MLK, nonviolence, civil disobedience
Civil Rights during the Kennedy Administration
JFK's New Frontier
Greensboro Sit-in, 1960
Birmingham, Alabama, 1963
Protests march -> police and arrests; dogs, firehoses
MLK jailed; “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963)
University of Alabama, 1963
Governor George Wallace
President Kennedy and National Guard
Forrest Gump
March on Washington
In response to JFK's TV speech on civil rights, proposed bill
MLK's “I have a dream” speech, 1963
“Freedom Summer,” 1964
Civil Rights during the Johnson Administration
President Lyndon Baines Johnson, The Great Society
Medicare
War on Poverty
*Civil Rights Act of 1964
 protection of voting rights for all Americans
 opening of public facilities to people of all races
 a commission to protect equal job opportunities for all Americans
24th Amendment - abolished poll taxes
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 1964 - racial segregation of private facilities
engaged in interstate commerce is unconstitutional
*Voting Rights Act of 1965
 end to literacy tests
 authorized federal agents to register voters in areas suspected of discrim.
 Directed attorney general of US to take legal action against states using poll taxes
Kerner Commission, 1967: “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one
white - separate and unequal.”
Fair Housing Act, 1968
Impact of Vietnam War on LBJ's domestic policies
Civil Rights Groups
SNCC - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
SCLC - Southern Christian Leadership Conference
CORE - Congress of Racial Equality, “Freedom Riders”
Alternative Civil Rights Methods
Black Power - Black Panthers
Malcolm X - Islam, black nationalism (anti-integration); assassinated, 1965
Riots in New York, Watts, 1964,1965
Assassinations
JFK, 1963; MLK, April 1968
Robert F. Kennedy, presidential candidate committed to civil rights, 1968
Women's Rights Movement - Background
Abigail Adams, “Don't Forget the Ladies”
Seneca Falls Convention, 1848; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucrecia Mott
Declaration of Sentiments, “All men and women are created equal”
Abolitionism splits women's suffrage movement, 14th amendment, 1868
Ratification of 19th Amendment, 1920; flappers / New Woman, 1920s
Rosie the Riveter, war-related employment, 1940s
Women's Rights, 1960s
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963
Not all women were content with role as home-maker
Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964 - no job discrimination on basis of sex or race
National Organization of Women (NOW), 1966; founded by Betty Friedan
Birth Control
Equal Rights Amendment, 1972
Approved by Congress, rejected by states (3/4 states ratification necessary)
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or any state on account of sex.”
Equal Employment Opportunity Act, 1972
Required equal wages for equal work
Title IX of Educational Amendments Act, 1972
Gave female college athletes the right to the same financial support as male athletes
Roe v. Wade, 1973
A woman's right to terminate a pregnancy is constitutionally protected
Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment right to privacy
Challenges continue
Feminism - women should have same econ, soc, and pol rights as men
Sexism - beliefs or practices that discriminate against a person on the basis of sex
Glass ceiling - a mid-level position open to women, but allows women to see upper-level
positions occupied by men
Sandra Day O'Connor - first woman on Supreme Court, 1980s
Geraldine Ferraro - Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, 1984
Setbacks for the Women's Rights Movement
President Nixon - vetoed a bill that would have provided for a national system of day care
for the children of working mothers (family, not govt, should take care of children)
Affirmative Action - to correct past injustices against minorities by giving preferences in
employment, college admissions, and appointments.
Affirmative action became attacked as reverse discrimination:
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 1979
Native Americans - Background
Themes (and myths):
Diversity (myth of all Indians being the same or being unified)
Complexity (myth of the “noble savage” and the uncivilized Indian)
Adapted to and altered natural environment (myth environmentalist Indian)
Persistence (myth of the vanishing Indian or of Indians as part of the past)
Settlement and unsettlement: First contact, disease; Columbian Exchange; different colonial
policies and attitudes of Spanish, French, Dutch, British, Americans
Worcester v. Georgia, 1832 Cherokee = domestic, dependent nations; states have no authority
Trail of Tears, 1838-39
Indian Wars, 1870s-1890s
Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1876; “Custer's Last Stand”; Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull
Flight of the Nez Perce, 1877; Chief Joseph; General Nelson Miles
Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890
Dawes Severalty Act, 1887 (Allotment)
American Indians gain full citizenship, 1924
Indian Re-organization Act, 1934 - ended allotment policy
John Collier, Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Native American Civil Rights, 1950s-1970s
Termination, 1953 - end special recognition for Indians, encourage integration
Occupation of Alcatraz, 1969-1971
1868 Sioux Treaty gave Indians rights to unused federal lands
American Indian Movement (AIM)
“Red Power”
Pine Ridge Reservation, “Wounded Knee,” South Dakota, 1973
Oglala Sioux
Leonard Peltier
Civil Rights for Hispanic-Americans
New Spain, Spanish Colonization: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada,
California, Colorado
Puerto Rico - commonwealth
Cuba - 1959 revolution, led by Fidel Castro
Chicanos: Mexican-Americans
Latinos: family origin in Spanish-speaking nations of Latin America
Hispanics: Spanish-speaking Americans
Organizing farm labor, 1963
Cesar Chavez, United Farmworkers Organizing Committee
Asian Americans
Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Gentlemen's Agreement, 1907
Japanese-American internment; Executive Order 9066
Hirabayashi v. U.S., 1943
Korematsu v. U.S., 1944
Civil Rights Act of 1988
Disabled Citizens
Special Olympics
Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504
“free appropriate public education”
Education for All Handicapped Children Act, 1975
I.D.E.A., 1997: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Individualized Education Program (IEP)
Least restrictive environment
Mainstreaming, inclusion
Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990
Rights of the Accused
Mapp v. Ohio, 1961
Baker v. Carr, 1962
Gideon v. Wainwright, 1963
Miranda v. Arizona, 1966
The Environment
George Perkins Marsh, Man and Nature, 1864
John Wesley Powell, Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States, 1879
Conservation / Preservation debates: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot
United States Forest Service, Department of Agriculture
National Parks Service, Department of the Interior
National Parks Act, 1916; dual mandate: to preserve for the enjoyment of future generations
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962
Wilderness Act, 1964
Earth Day, April 22, 1970; Gaylord Nelson
National Environmental Policy Act, 1970
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Impact Statement
Clean Air Act
Endangered Species Act, 1973
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