The Struggle for Equality
Path to Abolishing Slavery
• The Constitutional Convention would have failed without a compromise on slavery.
• Counted slaves as 3/5ths of person
• Returned runaway slaves to their owners
In the Constitution
What terms are used to describe African Americans?
Dred Scott Case 1857
• A Slave from South• Traveled and lived in North
– Slavery was illegal in this territory
• After coming back to Missouri, Scott argued he should be free
• Court ruled that according to the Constitution – Slaves were property
African Americans
Even though the Constitution banned slavery, the struggle for citizenship and the right to vote had only just begun.
14th Amendment - 1868
• Ensured Citizenship for CitizensTakes power away from states to grant citizenship
• Sometimes called the 2nd Bill of Rights
15th Amendment 1870
• States may not deny the vote to any person on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
• What did they forget????????
24th Amendment 1964
• Southern states were using a poll tax to prevent African Americans from voting.
This amendment made poll taxes illegal
When the Constitution was written, only white men had
the right to vote.
Women also did not have many other rights such as
the right to own property or to be educated for certain
jobs.
As time passed, many people came to feel that this was unfair and that women should have the
same rights as men in our country.
Women’s suffrage (right to vote) became an organized movement in 1848 at a convention in New York.
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
born: 2/15/1820
From: Adams,MA
1871 Arrested for voting in a presidential election
Her speech, “We, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens……..”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
In 1851 Stanton met Susan B. Anthony and for the next fifty years they worked together.
Stanton wrote and gave speeches
Anthony organized and campaigned to achieve these goals.
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott helped to organize and call together the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in July of 1848.
Seneca Falls Convention
•“We hold these truths to be self evident…..that all men AND WOMEN are created equal”
•1848
Sojourner Truth
Truth became a speaker on women's rights issues after attending a Women's Rights
Convention in 1850.
26th Amendment 1971
Lowered voting age from 21 to 18
If you are old enough to die for your country – you should be able to vote
14th Amendment’s principle of EQUAL PROTECTION
•Equal Protection–Means that people must be treated fairly –
–it does not mean that everyone must be treated in exactly the same way.
The banks right to not have to give a loan to everyone who applies for one.
BUTCan’t base it on race, gender, or age.
Segregation
• Separation of blacks and whites in public places
• Laws of segregation were passed after 14th amendment granted citizenship
Did segregation violate the principle of equal protection under the law?
Plessy v. Ferguson 1896
• Homer Plessy• Refused to leave a
“whites only” railroad car
• Court said that separate but equal standards did not violate the 14th amendment
Thurgood Marshall 1950’s
• Can they really be equal and separate?
• NAACP (National Advancement of Colored People)
• First African American on Supreme Court
Brown v. Board of Education 1954
• Linda Brown– 7 blocks from white school– 21 blocks from African American school
• Supreme Court Case• Separate facilities are
inherently unequal• – students made to feel inferior• Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson of
1896
Affirmative Action
• Steps to counteract the effects of past racial discrimination and discrimination against women.– Colleges,
businesses.
University of California v. Bakke 1973
• Reverse Discrimination • White applicant rejected• Other racial and ethnic groups
were admitted with lower GPAs, test scores and interview ratings.
• Stated race could be a factor when achieving a more diverse student body
Grutter v. Bollinger 2003
• White female denied admission (same grounds as Bakke)
• Race or ethnicity is a legal and necessary tool for determining college admissions
Phillips Case
• Ida Phillips– Denied employment
because of gender
– “Do You Have Young Children?”
• Court ruled that company could not have “one hiring policy for women and another for men”