Civil rights
Civil Rights are given by a
state to its inhabitants, for example the right to obtain employment and the right to use
public facilities like trams, toilets and schools on equal terms with all other people.
The term Civil Rights is closely related to minority groups in the USA, especially to
black people.
History:
Amendment XIII (1865): Abolition
of slavery
Amendments XIV / XV (1868 /
1870): definition of citizenship and protection of rights thereof
The first three Civil Rights
Acts passed in the second half of the 19th century. They granted citizenship to black
people and made them equal in all public places.
In 1883 the Supreme Court
declared the 3rd Act (Equality) unconstitutional, thus ending federal protection for
Blacks. A further setback brought the court case Plessy v.
Ferguson. It had stood as the
legal precedent for the "separate but equal" doctrine. The Court held the
opinion that if railroad cars were separated into two parts, but were equal for black and
white people than the resulting segregation would be constitutional. Segregation in other
places.
It wasn't until 1950 when three
Supreme Court decisions gave a new direction to those who were fighting for Civil Rights.
In 1964 the Civil Rights Act guaranteed equal status in every political and social respect
to Blacks.
National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
It was the NAACP's
accomplishment to do away with the Plessy Ruling by initiating a series of court cases.
They tried to prove that facilities for white and nonwhite people were not equal. That way
they hoped states would integrate, instead of building expensive new schools for just a
few Blacks.
Brown v. Board of
Education
Background: A coloured Girl,
Linda Brown, had to attend an all Black school miles away from her home, although an all
white school was only a few blocks away. Because she was denied to attend the closer
school, her father went to court.
However, it took almost 2 years
until the decision was announced. The case overturned school segregation by declaring it
illegal. But it did not tell how the integration was to be carried out! One year later
another court ruling said, that integration should take place "at the earliest
possible date".
This brought up massive
Resistance in the South. Polls showed that more than 80% of all Whites in the South
opposed to the "Brown" decision. Parents didn't sent their students to
integrated schools.
In the following years the Southern States passed more than 450 laws
to prevent the enforcement.
Affirmative Action
This is a big government program
to help Minority groups. Companies and universities have to have a certain number of
African Americans in order to be taken into consideration for contracts and funds. This
has, however, lead to a kind of "reverse discrimination", because universities
admitted Blacks who were sometimes less qualified than Whites, just to fulfill the goal.
In 1978 the Supreme Court had to
decide on such a case. A white student was not accepted to the University of California,
although his qualifications were much better, than those of some admitted Black Students.
The Court ordered the University to accept the student.
While discussions about
Affirmative Action were going on throughout the last decades, President Clinton tried to
do away with the program in 1995.
Decision in the Brown
v. Board of Education Case (1954)
Does segregation of children in
public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other
tangible factors may be equal, deprive children of the minority group of equal educational
opportunities? We believe it does. ..
. To separate them from others of similar age and
qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their
status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way very unlikely ever
to be undone.
We conclude that in the field of
public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal.
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