Untitled Page

Civil Rights: Laws or Morality by Anne Fiedler, PhD Background Discrimination has been prevalent in society since people began exhibiting some form of diversity-albeit religious, ethnic, or gender diversity. Throughout history, however, some individuals have realized that prejudice and discrimination are morally wrong. The abolitionists of the nineteenth century fought to free the slaves and give them rights. In the twentieth century, the NAACP emerged, and leaders such as Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement to eradicate discrimination. Governments have tried to codify anti-discrimination by passing laws outlawing discriminatory practices. If the populace does not recognize the immorality of discriminatory actions, however, these practices will continue. Post Civil War After the Civil War the slaves had been freed, but they were often still denied many rights afforded to the white population, such as equal education, job opportunities, and the opportunity to vote. These issues were even more prevalent in the southern states. The Civil Rights Movement started at the end of the Civil War when both the freed African American slaves and the congress wee trying to define and legislate the role African Americans would play in society as they struggled against the racial discrimination, disfranchisement, and segregation that prevailed in the years after Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed by Congress to try to alleviate these issues. Everyone was not in favor of this law. In fact, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, but the Republicans in Congress overrode his veto. Even though the law passed, many Americans did not agree that African Americans had a moral right to equality in schools, the workplace, or public places. The actions of the Ku Klux Klan were in direct opposition to the law. The Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, was passed to protect southern blacks from the Ku Klux Klan by providing a civil remedy for abuses then being committed in the South: Every person who under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, Suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia. The active enforcement of this law by President Ulysses S. Grant helped to break the Ku Klux Klan. The Civil Rights Act of 1886 There have been several Civil Rights Acts throughout American history. The Civil Rights Act of 1886 is the third such act. It stated that all people born in the United States (excluding those subject to any foreign power and Indians not taxed), were citizens of the United States. This included people of every race and color without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. As citizens, they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real estate and personal property. The Twentieth Century Even though the slaves had been freed after the Civil War and legislation had been passed to give minorities equal rights and protect them, discrimination continued because the ethics of many people did not agree with the law. Groups such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of colored People) and the National Urban League were formed, but African Americans continued to be discriminated against in the workplace and were forced to sit in the back of the bus. After World War II, the armed forces of the United States were desegregated, and under President Harry Truman, equal employment opportunity in the civil service was encouraged. The 1950s saw an effort by the courts to remove racial segregation in residential zoning, interstate transportation, and public graduate and professional schools, removing the "separate but equal" doctrine that was prevalent up until that time. The 1950s also saw Martin Luther king and other ministers organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to extend nonviolent forms of social protest throughout the region. Into the 1960s schools and public transportation systems remained segregated. Dr. King led the boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama bus system. He tried to awaken the conscience of white America by staging peaceful demonstrations. Many college students and others heeded the call and joined the freedom movement. In August, 1963, 250,000 participants joined in a national March on Washington where Dr. King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech. College students also joined in staging sit-ins across the south. President John F. Kennedy supported the movement for civil rights. After he was assassinated, his successor, Lyndon Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was initiated by John F. Kennedy and signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson. It is considered to be the strongest civil rights law in U. S. history. The purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to ban discrimination based on a person's color, race, national origin, religion, or sex by barring discrimination in public accommodations, strengthened voting rights guarantees, and by establishing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is made up of eleven sections called titles which include: 1. Title I - Voting Rights guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged. 2. Title II - Public Accommodations said there would be no discrimination or segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants, gas stations, places that served food, theaters, and sports arenas involving interstate commerce. 3. Title III - Desegregation of Public Facilities desegregated all public facilities. 4. Title IV - Public Education calls for the desegregation of public schools. 5. Title V - Civil Rights commission made the Civil Rights commission a permanent body. 6. Title VI - Federally Assisted Programs assures nondiscrimination in the distribution of funds under federally assisted programs. 7. Title VII - Equal Opportunity Employment prohibited any employment discrimination and established a commission to enforce this title against companies and labor unions. 8. Title VIII - Registration and voting Statistics made the Secretary of commerce compile statistics on the denial of the right to vote. 9. Title IX - Procedure After Removal in Civil Rights Cases allowed federal courts to allow appeals of lower courts in the case of discrimination. 10. Title X - Community Relations Service provided a service to help communities resolve racial disputes. 11. Title XI - Miscellaneous. The EEOC was established to monitor and enforce the provisions of this law. After many years, most people and organizations in the U.S. now understand why it is socially responsible to not discriminate and many companies hold employees who do discriminate accountable. Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American member of the Supreme Court in 1967. Still, some politicians, such as George Wallace, a Southern Democrat, did not support the movement. The movement also suffered a blow with the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Since that point in time, the movement has continued, however, mostly in the courts. Post 9/11 Changes in the environment can strongly impact individual's feelings of prejudice. The terrorist events on September 11, 2001 have had this type of impact on American society. In a USA TODAY article (August 10, 2006), "USA's Muslims are under fire," it was reported that a poll of 1,007 Americans showed strong anti-Muslim feelings. Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the poll said "they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims. The same percentage favored requiring Muslims, including U. S. citizens, to carry a special ID `as a means of preventing terrorists attacks in the United States.' About one-third said U.S. Muslims were sympathetic to al-Qaeda, and 22 % said they wouldn't want Muslims as neighbors". These feelings are resulting in discriminatory practices against people perceived to be Muslims or Arabs. The EEOC found a pike in the number of cases filed based on ethnic or religious discrimination immediately after 9/11. Furthermore, by 2006, the number of filings in these two categories was still significantly higher than the number of filings in 1997. Since the beginning of time people have been prejudiced toward those unlike themselves. As the global community has gotten smaller and as the population in the United States has become even more diverse, new tensions will undoubtedly arise due to these differences.

Civil Rights: Laws or Morality

by Anne Fiedler, PhD

Background

Discrimination has been prevalent in society since people began exhibiting some form of diversity-albeit religious, ethnic, or gender diversity. Throughout history, however, some individuals have realized that prejudice and discrimination are morally wrong. The abolitionists of the nineteenth century fought to free the slaves and give them rights. In the twentieth century, the NAACP emerged, and leaders such as Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement to eradicate discrimination. Governments have tried to codify anti-discrimination by passing laws outlawing discriminatory practices. If the populace does not recognize the immorality of discriminatory actions, however, these practices will continue.

Post Civil War

After the Civil War the slaves had been freed, but they were often still denied many rights afforded to the white population, such as equal education, job opportunities, and the opportunity to vote. These issues were even more prevalent in the southern states. The Civil Rights Movement started at the end of the Civil War when both the freed African American slaves and the congress wee trying to define and legislate the role African Americans would play in society as they struggled against the racial discrimination, disfranchisement, and segregation that prevailed in the years after Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed by Congress to try to alleviate these issues. Everyone was not in favor of this law. In fact, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, but the Republicans in Congress overrode his veto.

Even though the law passed, many Americans did not agree that African Americans had a moral right to equality in schools, the workplace, or public places. The actions of the Ku Klux Klan were in direct opposition to the law. The Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, was passed to protect southern blacks from the Ku Klux Klan by providing a civil remedy for abuses then being committed in the South:

Every person who under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, Suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

The active enforcement of this law by President Ulysses S. Grant helped to break the Ku Klux Klan.

The Civil Rights Act of 1886

There have been several Civil Rights Acts throughout American history. The Civil Rights Act of 1886 is the third such act. It stated that all people born in the United States (excluding those subject to any foreign power and Indians not taxed), were citizens of the United States. This included people of every race and color without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. As citizens, they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real estate and personal property.

The Twentieth Century

Even though the slaves had been freed after the Civil War and legislation had been passed to give minorities equal rights and protect them, discrimination continued because the ethics of many people did not agree with the law. Groups such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of colored People) and the National Urban League were formed, but African Americans continued to be discriminated against in the workplace and were forced to sit in the back of the bus. After World War II, the armed forces of the United States were desegregated, and under President Harry Truman, equal employment opportunity in the civil service was encouraged.

The 1950s saw an effort by the courts to remove racial segregation in residential zoning, interstate transportation, and public graduate and professional schools, removing the "separate but equal" doctrine that was prevalent up until that time. The 1950s also saw Martin Luther king and other ministers organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to extend nonviolent forms of social protest throughout the region.

Into the 1960s schools and public transportation systems remained segregated. Dr. King led the boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama bus system. He tried to awaken the conscience of white America by staging peaceful demonstrations. Many college students and others heeded the call and joined the freedom movement. In August, 1963, 250,000 participants joined in a national March on Washington where Dr. King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech. College students also joined in staging sit-ins across the south.

President John F. Kennedy supported the movement for civil rights. After he was assassinated, his successor, Lyndon Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was initiated by John F. Kennedy and signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson. It is considered to be the strongest civil rights law in U. S. history. The purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to ban discrimination based on a person's color, race, national origin, religion, or sex by barring discrimination in public accommodations, strengthened voting rights guarantees, and by establishing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is made up of eleven sections called titles which include:

1. Title I - Voting Rights guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged.
2. Title II - Public Accommodations said there would be no discrimination or segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants, gas stations, places that served food, theaters, and sports arenas involving interstate commerce.
3. Title III - Desegregation of Public Facilities desegregated all public facilities.
4. Title IV - Public Education calls for the desegregation of public schools.
5. Title V - Civil Rights commission made the Civil Rights commission a permanent body.
6. Title VI - Federally Assisted Programs assures nondiscrimination in the distribution of funds under federally assisted programs.
7. Title VII - Equal Opportunity Employment prohibited any employment discrimination and established a commission to enforce this title against companies and labor unions.
8. Title VIII - Registration and voting Statistics made the Secretary of commerce compile statistics on the denial of the right to vote.
9. Title IX - Procedure After Removal in Civil Rights Cases allowed federal courts to allow appeals of lower courts in the case of discrimination.
10. Title X - Community Relations Service provided a service to help communities resolve racial disputes.
11. Title XI - Miscellaneous.

The EEOC was established to monitor and enforce the provisions of this law. After many years, most people and organizations in the U.S. now understand why it is socially responsible to not discriminate and many companies hold employees who do discriminate accountable.

Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American member of the Supreme Court in 1967.
Still, some politicians, such as George Wallace, a Southern Democrat, did not support the movement. The movement also suffered a blow with the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Since that point in time, the movement has continued, however, mostly in the courts.

Post 9/11

Changes in the environment can strongly impact individual's feelings of prejudice. The terrorist events on September 11, 2001 have had this type of impact on American society.

In a USA TODAY article (August 10, 2006), "USA's Muslims are under fire," it was reported that a poll of 1,007 Americans showed strong anti-Muslim feelings. Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the poll said "they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims. The same percentage favored requiring Muslims, including U. S. citizens, to carry a special ID `as a means of preventing terrorists attacks in the United States.' About one-third said U.S. Muslims were sympathetic to al-Qaeda, and 22 % said they wouldn't want Muslims as neighbors".

These feelings are resulting in discriminatory practices against people perceived to be Muslims or Arabs. The EEOC found a pike in the number of cases filed based on ethnic or religious discrimination immediately after 9/11. Furthermore, by 2006, the number of filings in these two categories was still significantly higher than the number of filings in 1997.

Since the beginning of time people have been prejudiced toward those unlike themselves. As the global community has gotten smaller and as the population in the United States has become even more diverse, new tensions will undoubtedly arise due to these differences.