1
Chapter 14
Civil Rights: Where Liberty and Equality Collide
Focus Questions
Q1
Where does the energy that drives social movements come from?
A1
Scholars have developed four approaches in explaining the origins and nature of social
movements. These theoretical approaches are social strain, resource mobilization, political
process, and social-psychological. The approaches are not mutually exclusive and predicated
upon societal discontent within the existing current order. The Social Strain Model points to
processes like industrialization, urbanization, and depression, creating tension and uncertainty
among individuals from which social movements arise. The Resource Mobilization Theory
suggests that since social strain is always present the key to movement success or failure is the
kind and quality of resources that the aroused group can put toward pursuing their rights. The
Political Process Model builds on the resource mobilization model by pointing out that the
receptivity of the political system to the demands of an aggrieved group is critical to the success
of a social movement. Next, the Social-Psychological Theory expands upon the resource
mobilization and political process models to consider what roles, shared values, norms, and
principles have in determining the ways movements form and gain new members.
Q2
What common theme or “frame” did the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s use to
press their demands upon American society?
A2
The civil rights, anti-Vietnam War, and second-wave women’s movements promoted the need for
equal rights legislation. Consequently, these issues have led to further policies extending
protection and providing services for the disabled, ballot measures advocating recognition of gay
rights, and court rulings regarding reproductive issues.
Q3
What role did the Supreme Court play in first limiting and then expanding civil rights for
blacks?
A4
After passage and ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment which guaranteed the rights
of citizenship including equal protection and due process to the freedmen, the Supreme
Court began to restrict the application of these civil rights to the African-American
population. They did this by applying the two clauses in an economic fashion like in the
protection of corporations during the height of laissez-faire political economic decisionmaking in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Specifically, the courts in
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) actually restricted black civil rights by justifying the “separate
but equal” principle as constitutional. This had the impact of maintaining and even
expanding the system of racial segregation practiced in a de jure fashion in the South and
as a de facto measure in the North. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century this
decision was “chipped away at” by the agitations played out in a series of court
challenges by the NAACP, Urban League, and other civil rights organizations.
Ultimately, in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decisions in 1954 and
1955, the high court declared that the “separate but equal” principle was by definition and
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
2
practice unequal. Thus, the system of racial segregation was deemed anathema to the
American and a long process of striking it down and moving beyond it was begun.
Q4
Does affirmative action to assist minorities and women automatically and inevitably
mean reverse discrimination against white men?
A4
Affirmative action programs were designed to rectify past discriminatory practices that
limited the wealth and opportunity of minorities. In turn, employment, contractual, and
education preferences have been given to racial, ethnic, and gender groups. As a reaction
to these programs, some argue that this amounts to reverse discrimination, which
disadvantages white males. The Supreme Court has ruled affirmative action policies are
Constitutional only if they are temporary and if the government does not create a system
of quotas. In addition, race and gender may be factors considered in admission and hiring
practices, but cannot be the sole criterion. Subsequently, the Roberts Court has signaled
its intention to roll back affirmative action programs.
Q5
What were the similarities and differences between the movements for racial and gender
equality?
A5
Both the civil rights and women’s rights movements that began with avocation for
abolition of slavery for blacks and the expansion of the national franchise for women in
the nineteenth century developed in a fuller sense to encompass broader equal treatment
across all areas of society, polity, and economy in the twentieth century. These efforts by
both African Americans and women continue into the present day. They are united in that
there is a general promotion of civil rights in a contest against discrimination but different
in their stress and application; one concentrates on racial disparity and the other on
differential gender treatments. Both are highly organized and have a certain cyclical
structure as to their impacts on society with the two movements coalescing in their
greatest level of societal influence as well as movement activism in the 1960s and 1970s.
Both have had some setbacks in the years after the 1970s in terms of a conservative
backlash that has limited the success of more recent efforts like the failure of ERA for
women and the decline in affirmative action that has limited the ability of blacks to
compete equally with whites. However, both have attained significant and continued
victories in the sense that the Roe v. Wade (1973) decision has stood the test of time so
far, as has the Civil Rights Amendment and the Voting Rights Act (1964, 1965) in
empowering African Americans as a an electoral force, particularly in the Democratic
Party. Efforts by the women’s movement have had some additional help relative to those
activities in the black rights movement because most of the women have been a part of
the status quo of white middle class power in this country, which has given them a more
direct route to the halls of power relative to their black contemporaries.
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
3
Chapter Outline
Civil liberties and civil rights are the two brightest constellations in the U.S. constitutional
firmament and both have grown brighter over the more than 200 years of U.S. national history.
They are not, however, equally bright, and their relative glow has waxed and waned over the
course of our national history. Civil liberties call for the state to remove itself from the activities
of the masses as individual rights of freedom are guaranteed by the Constitution, principally in
the Bill of Rights. Meanwhile, civil rights are calls for state intervention to ensure social justice
and equality on the behalf of individuals and groups within a society that has often practiced
segregation and discrimination. This has led to a certain paradoxical situation in which the old
battle between liberty and order has had to play itself out against a background of limited versus
big government.
I. What are Social Movements?
A. From the beginning of the American republic, popular uprisings were considered natural
occurrences. Thomas Jefferson said that such events are actually healthy for government.
(Remember the tenets of the Declaration of Independence.)
B.
A social movement is a collective enterprise to change the organizational design or
characteristic operating procedures of a society in order to produce changes in the way the
society distributes opportunities or rewards.
C.
While there are several theories regarding the origins and nature of social movements, they
tend to operate accordingly:
1.
General Process of Social Movements (Formula):
a.
Framing: Address a grievance and establish an identity.
b.
Organization: Based on principles and leadership.
c.
Tactics:
1)
Political activism: within the political framework or
2)
Discursive politics: outside political arena; get people talking.
2.
General theories regarding the origins and nature of social movements:
a.
Social Strain Theory suggests that processes like industrialization, urbanization,
and depression create tension and uncertainty among individuals from which
social movements rise.
b.
Resource Mobilization Theory suggests that since social strain is always present
the key to movement success or failure is the kind and quality of resources that
the aroused group can put toward pursuing their rights.
c.
Political Process Theory builds on the resource mobilization model by pointing
out that the receptivity of the political system to the demands of an aggrieved
group is critical to the success of a social movement.
d.
Social-Psychological Theory builds on the resource mobilization and political
process models to consider what roles, shared values, norms, and principles have
in determining the ways movements rise and spread.
D. Movement Tactics and the Ambiguity of Violence
1.
Social movements involve some demonstration or protest by a marginalized group.
Protests may take many forms from sit-ins, boycotts, and marches to violence and riots.
2.
The choice of what tactics social movements use to achieve a desired end depends
upon:
a.
The costs involved to publicize a particular concern, issue or policy.
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
4
b.
The predicted benefits of using a particular strategy to advance a principle or
idea.
c.
c.
3.
II.
The public’s reaction to the use of the desired tactic to achieve the goal.
In turn, if the benefits outweigh the cost, the particular avenue to promote your
position on a policy, issue, or idea will be employed.
However, timing and leadership are also important elements of any successful social
movement. Two political scientists, Francis Piven and Richard Cloward, assert that
given the public’s political attention span is short and political events are fluid, social
movements operate within a time “window” and therefore must strike when the
moment is ripe to do so.
a.
Therefore, social movements must act quickly within this time period.
b.
Furthermore, leaders of social movements often seek benefits for themselves and
are concerned with creating formal institutions to secure incremental gains to
plan for future political battles.
Social Movements in American Politics
A. Political historians and students of social movements contend that surges in movement
activity and similarities between movements occur simultaneously due to a central
organizing principle of a movement period or frame. Examples include:
1.
The intertwined interests of the women’s movement, the abolitionists and international
labor movement to fight for equal rights illustrates the common goal of the
movements.
2.
The civil rights movement, gender equality movement (second-wave women’s
movement) and anti-Vietnam War movement in the mid-late 1960s and 1970s also
coalesced to achieve equal rights.
3.
Therefore, a frame can be seen as the organizing theme within a period of time that
defines the period and provides the glue bringing the various movements together.
a.
Often social movements are not entirely successful and the issue(s) become coopted by political parties and government agencies:
1)
the Republican Party and the abolitionists in the mid-1800s;
2)
worker safety issues and the Progressives;
3)
the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and civil rights organizations in
the 1960s.
B.
The Women’s Rights Movement (see: Lecture Suggestions for a more comprehensive
account of events leading to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment).
1.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the place of women in American society
was defined by the legal concept of coverture whereby women had no right to
property, custody of children after a divorce, and legal standing in a court of law. In
turn, coverture entailed legal guardianship of women by men.
2.
Beginning with the Seneca Falls Declaration, competing women’s groups sought to
expand the political rights and economic and social standing of women in America.
3.
Leaders of the women’s movement, including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Caddie
Stanton, and Lucy Stone, fought for women’s suffrage (the right to vote).
4.
The culmination of their efforts resulted in the ratification of the Nineteenth
Amendment in 1920 extending political equality to women.
5.
Yet, just because women had the right to vote, this did not translate into political
participation. In fact, the women’s movement lost much of its focus once suffrage
was achieved.
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
5
6.
and
needed to
In the 1960s the women’s movement re-emerged to concentrate on the lack of social
economic opportunities available to women.
a.
In 1967 the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for women to
be extended full participation in all facets of society.
b.
During the organization’s first national convention, the delegates produced the
Women’s Bill of Rights calling for:
1)
An equal rights amendment (ERA) to be added to the U.S. Constitution.
2)
Legal control over reproductive issues.
3)
Equal standing in legal issues concerning property and custodial duties.
c.
The Equal Rights Amendment was approved by the House and Senate but
produced a counter-movement led by conservative women’s groups, religious
organizations and political groups, including President Ronald Reagan, who
opposed to the measure.
d.
In 1982, The ERA fell three states short of the thirty-eight states legislatures
ratify.
7. However, the modern women’s movement had several successes including:
a.
Congress’ passage of Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 forbade
discrimination based on gender in any education program receiving federal
funds.
b.
The landmark Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade (1973), guaranteeing a woman’s
right to privacy including the right to choose abortion as a medical procedure.
c.
Laws designed to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.
d.
Equality in compensation (wages) laws.
Consequently, reform movements advocating changes to governing institutions and social practices have
used a variety of strategies and protest tactics to affect policy-makers through informing, educating and,
subsequently, changing public opinion to force the hand of elected representatives to respond to issues
concerning civil rights, women’s suffrage, and legal reforms.
III.
Civil Rights and the Civil War Amendments
A. The Civil War Amendments
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments and the Civil Rights Act of 1875
came about due to the outcome of the American Civil War.
1.
The Thirteenth Amendment: Freedom
The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865 and made slavery illegal in every
American state and territory.
2.
The Fourteenth Amendment: Equality
The Fourteenth Amendment went into effect July 28, 1868 and provided Constitutional
protection for the freed slaves; specifically, they were entitled to equal protection
under the law (although the Amendment does not refer to freed slaves). Also, the
Amendment provides protection from states that could no longer abridge the
privileges and immunities of its citizens, and stipulated life, liberty, or property
could not be taken without “due process” of law.
3.
The Fifteenth Amendment: Voting
The Fifteenth Amendment enfranchised freed slaves in the hope that they would use
the vote to defend their rights and liberties at the ballot box. Unfortunately, this was
short-lived given the de facto segregation used by the states to suppress voting.
4.
Early Supreme Court Interpretations
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
6
a.
Civil War,
racial
5.
within
IV.
In the era immediately after ratification, the Supreme Court interpreted the Civil
War Amendments very narrowly.
1)
In the Slaughterhouse Cases (1873), a group of white men claimed that the
creation of a monopoly by the state of Louisiana denied them equal
protection of the laws per the Fourteenth Amendment. In a close ruling, the
Court ruled state governments would be allowed to define the domestic
rights of its inhabitants, including blacks, as narrowly as possible and the
federal government would not interfere. This characterized the “dual
federalism” existing during the Industrial Revolution.
2)
The first test to the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which made discrimination
illegal in the states, occurred in a series of cases in 1883 known as the Civil
Rights Cases.
(a) In one of the bleakest hours of American jurisprudence, the
Supreme Court ruled by an 8-1 decision that the Civil Rights Act of
1875 was unconstitutional.
(b) The 1883 ruling determined that only state actions were included
and the Act did not prohibit discrimination by private individuals.
(c) Basically, twenty-two years after the beginning of the American
the federal government excused itself from combating
discrimination.
Legal Discrimination: Plessy v. Ferguson
a.
The Supreme Court upheld racial segregation in the 1890 case, Plessy v.
Ferguson, which provided a test case to begin the long journey to gain racial
parity through the federal court system.
1)
The case involved a Louisiana state law that called for separate but equal
accommodations for individuals of different races on trains operating
the boundaries of the state (intrastate routes).
2)
The plaintiff, who happened to be of mixed races, charged this law was a
violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
3)
The Court found that since whites were separated from blacks and vice
versa, accommodations were made for both races and there was no
indication of discrimination and therefore did not violate the Fourteenth
Amendment.
4)
This majority opinion stated that if blacks were seen as inferior it was
because that was their perception and not instituted by the state, railroad, or
any one person. In turn, discrimination was in the eye of the beholder.
b.
Justice Harlan dissented and argued that the separation creates a “badge of
inferiority” for blacks. Harlan argued that the Constitution is colorblind.
The Modern Civil Rights Movement
A. The Road to Integration
1.
Desegregation: The Coming of Brown v. Board of Education
Segregation in the public schools provided an excellent platform for civil rights leaders
to challenge the legality of segregation polices after the turn of the century.
a.
In 1927, the Supreme Court upheld the state of Mississippi’s decision to not
allow a Chinese student to attend a white school.
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
7
b.
2.
3.
4.
In 1935, another test case was underway as a black man named Lloyd Gaines
was denied admission to the all-white University of Missouri Law School. The
case, Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938), allowed the NAACP to
challenge the separate but equal clause with an almost certain ruling against
Gaines, which is what happened. However, the case had some unintended results.
1)
Because there was no black law school, the Court ordered the state to either
build a law school allowing blacks, or pay for Gaines’ out-of-state tuition if
no school was to be available in the state of Missouri.
2)
More importantly, the Court signaled its intention to be the institution that
would re-examine the separate but equal doctrine.
c.
Thus, in 1950, the Court ruled that the University of Texas Law School’s
construction of a black law school was inferior to the white law school and,
therefore, violated the “equal part” of the separate but equal doctrine. A similar
case was heard in Oklahoma. These rulings directly attacked the “equal” portion
of the doctrine. Consequently, the question arose: Could separate in fact be
equal?
d.
Earl Warren ascended to lead the Court after the death of Chief Justice Fred
Vinson. By all accounts, Warren was an opponent of segregation and planned to
use Harlan’s dissent in Plessy as precedent to overturn the separate but equal
doctrine in the 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Education. Warren wrote the
Court’s unanimous ruling that separate but equal had a detrimental affect on
children and therefore “the [children] plaintiffs … had been deprived of the
equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.”
It is worth noting that Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer for the plaintiffs in
Brown. He would later be the first black Supreme Court Justice.
The Civil Rights Acts: 1964, 1965, and 1968
a.
Under the leadership of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 was passed over the objection of many white Southerners who were
members of Johnson’s political party.
b.
The Act prohibited:
1)
Racial discrimination in any program receiving federal assistance (Title
VI).
2)
Racial discrimination by labor unions in businesses with over 100
employees (Title VII).
3)
Permitted the U.S. attorney general to represent citizens attempting to
desegregate state facilities.
c.
In 1968, Congress passed a law prohibiting racial discrimination in the sale or
rental of housing.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965
a
Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965,
providing federal assistance to school districts with low-income students.
b.
As a result, the number of black children attending schools with whites in the
South rose from 1.2 percent in 1964 to 91.3 percent eight years later.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
a.
Jim Crow laws were very successful at limiting the political participation of
blacks in the Northern states and all but excluded black enfranchisement in the
South.
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
8
b.
c.
V.
Jim Crow is the generic name for all of the laws and practices that enforced
segregation of the races in the American South and elsewhere from the end of the
nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibited de facto segregation strategies such as
literacy tests, grandfather clauses, white primaries, and poll taxes that kept
minorities from voting in primaries or elections.
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action policies are designed to make up for the effects of past discrimination by giving
preferences today to specified racial, ethnic, and sexual groups. While the government has
demonstrated its ability to promote policies aimed at ending discriminatory practices, opponents of
affirmative action programs view preferential treatment as reverse discrimination.
A. Confronting Direct Discrimination
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was designed to address direct discrimination or unfair
treatment by one person against another and prohibited quotas or reserved slots for hiring
goals that may result in reverse discrimination against whites.
B.
The Demand for Affirmative Action
Proponents of affirmative action programs support policies aimed at ensuring equality of
opportunity via establishing separate hiring practices as necessary because of the past
discriminatory practices used to deny blacks opportunity and wealth.
C.
Claims of Reverse Discrimination
However, several cases have been brought challenging the constitutionality of affirmative
action programs.
1.
In the 1978 case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Court ruled
against Allan Bakke, who was denied admission to medical school even though his
scores were higher than those of minority applicants who were admitted. The Court
agreed that Bakke’s Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated but also upheld
the practice that race could be considered (albeit along with other criteria) in the
admission process.
2.
Further rulings, such as United Steelworkers of America v. Weber (1979) and Fullilove
v. Klutznick (1980), acknowledged certain affirmative action policies were acceptable if
they are voluntary and temporary.
3.
Throughout much of the 1980s, “set-asides” and preferences in hiring were largely seen
as assisting affirmative action policies; while quotas continued to be illegal.
4.
Yet, beginning in 1985, public dissatisfaction with affirmative action policies began to
be seen in federal court rulings.
a.
In 1995, the Court ruled the University of Maryland’s program to set aside a
certain number of scholarships for minorities or construction projects for
minority-owned companies were invalid.
b.
However, the biggest defeat for affirmative action programs came about in the
2003 Grutter v. Bollinger case involving the University of Michigan’s use of a
point system in determining who would be admitted to law school. The Supreme
Court upheld affirmative action but struck down the specific point system
used by Michigan to admit undergraduates into law school. Writing for the
Court, Justice O’Connor upheld the Bakke ruling that race can be a factor but
ruled that points were used in “a mechanical way” suggesting “firm quotas” that
are unconstitutional.
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
9
D.
VI.
The Roberts Court has signaled its opposition to voluntary integration policies in public
schools by ruling 5-4 that the Seattle and Louisville public schools “failed to provide the
necessary support for the proposition that there is no other way than individual racial
classifications to avoid racial isolation in their school districts.” Whether this constitutes
deference to de facto segregation policies is premature. Nonetheless, the Court has moved
to the ideological right with the addition of John Roberts and Samuel Alito and the retirement
of moderate Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor.
The Women’s Rights Movement
A. Social change, the evolution of the American society from rural to urban, from the
dependence on strong backs to the need for strong minds, opened the door to
enhanced rights for women.
B. Organization and Protest
1. The women’s movement in the United States began at the Seneca Falls
Convention in 1848 producing a manifesto for change entitled, “Declaration of
Sentiments,” and a political alliance between Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton as well as Lucretia Mott, Luch Stone, and Sojourner Truth. Social
activism by these ladies and their supporters brought about some initial legislative
reforms granting women some property rights and after the Civil War the
women’s movement pushed followed a strategy of court challenges that was
largely ineffective in the short term. However, by the 1890s, the women’s
movement began to have some success in advancing female suffrage through the
efforts of Anthony and Stanton’s National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)
and Stone’s American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The two
organizations merged in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage
Association (NAWSA) thus projecting a unified front in the pursuit of their cause
with other women’s organizations like Francis Willard’s Women’s Christian
Temperance Union, Jane Adams’ Settlement House Movement, Consumers’
Leagues, and the general Federation of Women’s Clubs tying all their efforts to
the suffragist cause. By the end of the 1910s fully half of all the states have
expanded the franchise to women and ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment
in 1920 granted women the national right to vote. In the 1960s, women’s
secondary involvement in the anti-war movement and civil rights movements led
them to strike out on their own and advance a broader cause of specifically
women’s rights in an otherwise patriarchic based American society. Books like
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and the creation of the National
Organization for Women (NOW) actively promoted the equal treatment of
women in the American economy, polity, and society.
2. Equal and Personal Control: NOW through its 1967 Women’s Bill of Rights
promoted the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) passed in 1972 but ultimately not
ratified after running out of time in 1983 and abortion rights with the National
Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) formed in 1969. In 1973 the Roe
decision struck down abortion laws as being in violation of the Constitution’s
“right to privacy.”
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
10
C. Counter-mobilization, conflict, and stalemate: Offsetting the liberal initiatives of the
Women’s Movement was a conservative counter-reaction against the ERA and later
abortion led by Phyllis Schafly’s STOP ERA and Eagle Forum as well as activism
promoted by Beverly LeHaye’s Concerned Women of American (CWA) The election
of Ronald Reagan in 1980 saw the tide of popular opinion move against the ERA and
it died in 1982 three states short of ratification.
D. However, the modern women’s movement had several successes including:
1. Congress’ passage of Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 forbade
discrimination based on gender in any education program receiving federal funds.
2. Again, the landmark Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade (1973), guaranteeing a
woman’s right to privacy including the right to choose abortion as a medical
procedure.
3. And, laws designed to combat sexual harassment in the workplace as well as
equality in compensation (wages) laws.
4. Consequently, reform movements advocating changes to governing institutions
and social practices have used a variety of strategies and protest tactics to affect
policy-makers through informing, educating and, subsequently, changing public
opinion to force the hand of elected representatives to respond to issues
concerning civil rights, women’s suffrage, and legal reforms.
Projects, Exercises, and Activities
1.
Affirmative action programs have produced heated debates among legal scholars, politicians, and
voters. Have the students research the history of affirmative action programs in the United States.
What was the original intent of affirmative action policies? Does the national conversation and
public perception of affirmative action differ what from the policies say and do? If so, how? What
court cases, areas of legislation, organizations and federal agencies have been instrumental in
promoting and opposing affirmative action policies? Have the students present their findings to the
class and submit a research paper. This topic is sure to facilitate strong emotional debates among
the students. Finally, what can be done to mediate the differences between proponents of
affirmative action programs and opponents who see this policy as “reverse discrimination”?
2.
One of the biggest threats to human rights is slavery and human trafficking (most of which supports
the “legal” sex trade). Many students are surprised slavery still exists. Currently, Sudan,
Mauritania, Benin, Cambodia, and the Baltic republics are “hotspots” for slavery and human
trafficking. While governments continue to deny the practice exists, the websites created by the
Coalition against Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan has a tremendous amount of information to the
contrary. Have the students access the websites: www.religioustolerance.org/sla_sud.htm and
www.antislavery.org/ to explore modern slavery and human trafficking and answer the following
questions:
First, who supports modern slavery and how do they justify their actions? Second, what are the
countries participating in human trafficking? Third, who is being enslaved and for what reasons?
Fourth, what can be done to stop such practices? Fifth, what is the United States doing to stop these
practices? Finally, in your opinion, what else should be done?
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
11
3. Ask students to trace the history of the Disability Rights movement. Investigate disability
rights organizations (http://www.napas.org/). What are the contemporary issues facing
disabled persons? Students may consider several questions:
a. How are disability rights issues portrayed to the public?
b. Are issues facing the disabled community considered to be civil rights issues in
public opinion?
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
12
Additional Resources
Supplemental Readings
Bergmann, Barbara. 1996. In Defense of Affirmative Action. New York: Basic Books
Bumiller, Kristin. 1988. The Civil Rights Society: The Social Construction of Victims. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press.
Kluger, Richard. 1977. Simple Justice. New York: Random House.
Kull, Andrew. 1992. The Color-Blind Constitution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rosenberg, Gerald N. 1993. The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring about Social Change? Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Thernstrom, Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom. 1997. America in Black and White. New York: Simon &
Schuster.
Tushnet, Mark V. 2006. The NAACP’s Legal Strategy Against Segregated Education: 1925–1950. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Wasby, Stephen L. 1995. Race Relations Litigation in an Age of Complexity. Charlottesville, VA:
University of Virginia Press.
Wilhoit, Francis M. 1973. The Politics of Massive Resistance. New York: Braziller.
Websites
Anti-Defamation League
This is the website for the Anti-Defamation League. It agitates against anti-Semitism and
promotes social justice in a broad manner.
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
This is the website for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee which focuses on
battling discriminatory practices against Arab Americans. The site contains some video links to
related news regarding the treatment of Arabs and Arab Americans.
Find Law
This site provides access to Supreme Court decisions, as well as dissenting and concurring
opinions. These are important for doing research on civil liberties and civil rights cases as they
have been manifested on the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court over the decades.
NOW
The official website for the National Organization for Women. It contains a number of articles
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
13
relating to issues of women’s rights.
NGLT
This is the website for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The organization seeks to
promote political, social, and economic equality for gay men and women.
DOJ Civil Rights Division
This site has a link for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, which will provide
information on current events, the history of federal law enforcement’s role in protecting civil
rights, the Department of Justice’s mission statement, and other governmental information.
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
14
© 2013 Taylor & Francis