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Civil Rights Acts
Civil rights issues and legal concerns have been with us from the earliest days of the country. One of the strongest statements made was in 1776: The Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
The following year, in 1787, the Constitution of the United States was drafted. It set up a system of checks and balances but did not include a statement about civil or individual rights. Nor was it inclusive of all peoples. The Constitution said what the government could do but did not say what it could not do. It provisions was limited to propertied white men only.
The American Bill of Rights was championed by Thomas Jefferson and drafted by James Madison. After considerable discussion it was adopted in 1791 becoming the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Together they protect those "unalienable rights" originally mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. They were also called "natural rights," and "the great rights of mankind."
They included, among other rights, the right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, right to privacy, the right to be treated equally before the law, and the right to be treated fairly by the government.
But by the 1850's civil rights issues had taken a back seat in the nation only to become a center of focus after the Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford. The case involves a man named Dred Scott, a slave owned by a Dr. Emerson, who was taken from Missouri to a free state and then back again to Missouri. Scott sued for his freedom, on the basis of seven years of residence in a free territory.
In a 7-2 vote, the predominately proslavery Supreme Court decided that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories, making the already repealed Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. The Court also stated that blacks were not citizens of the United States, could not become citizens, and could not sue in a court.
All this helped hasten the arrival of the Civil War. It further polarized the already tense relations between Northerners and Southerners
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation approached its third year of the civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and hence forward shall be free." >>> For more on this topic please read: Emancipation Proclamation. Use your browser's Back button to return here.
Following the Civil War three important constitutional amendments were added. The 13th Amendment in 1865 abolished slavery, but did not give blacks equality. Then, congress passed the Civil Rights act of 1866: "all persons shall have the same rights...to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws..." It was vetoed by Andrew Johnson. Congress overrode his veto and passed the 14th Amendment in 1868: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The 15th Amendment (1870), declared it illegal to deprive any citizen of the franchise because of race. Altogether, there have been seven civil rights acts passed by the U.S. Congress. They include those of 1866, 1870, 1871, 1875, 1964, 1968, and 1991. The first two acts gave blacks the rights to be treated as citizens in legal actions, and to sue and be sued and to own property.
The Civil Rights Act of 1871 made it a crime to deny any citizen equal protection under the law by means of "force, intimidation or threat."
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 guaranteed blacks the right to use public accommodations. . It also gave the right to sue for personal damages; gave federal courts exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising under the act and made it a misdemeanor to bar any qualified person from serving as a grand or petit juror. This was last piece of civil rights legislation passed until 1957. It should also be noted that this legislation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883
By the mid-1880s, the political climate was such that the U.S. public had become indifferent to issues of social justice. This shift in attitude was exemplified by the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld the principle of "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites and legally instituted the system of segregation. The system endured until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), in which the Supreme Court declared that separate educational facilities were "inherently unequal." *
During the early part of the 20th century the only significant piece of legislature was the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920: "The rights of citizens...to vote shall not be denied or abridged...on account of sex."
Then in mid-century, under intense public pressure brought about by massive demonstrations during the civil rights movement of 1957 to 1965, Congress enacted new legislation in an attempt to overcome local and state obstruction to the exercise of citizenship rights by blacks. * Three new civil rights acts were enacted by Congress. The first was the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It was a weak compromise, but created the Commission on Civil Rights with the purpose of making a broad study of racial conditions in the US. It gave additional aid to the civil rights division in the US Dept. of Justice and empowered the Attorney General to institute suits on behalf of blacks who were denied the vote in federal elections.
The second was the Civil Rights Act of 1960. It was passed to combat continued interference with the right to vote and terrorist activity against African-Americans. It was designed to end discriminatory registration practices in south and interference with federal suits and investigations. It was largely ineffective because of weak enforcement mechanisms.
The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963. It prohibits sex-based pay differentials on jobs.
Finally, these efforts culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This major piece of legislation also banned discrimination in public accommodations connected with interstate commerce. * It included 11 titles which dealt with voting practices, segregation, provided financial aid to desegregating schools, extended the life of the Civil Rights Commission for four more years, outlawed federal funds for educational institutions or programs practicing discrimination, outlawed employment and union discrimination, required gathering census data by race in some areas, prevented federal courts from sending a civil rights case back to state or local courts, established the Community Relations Service (CRS) to arbitrate local race problems and provided right of jury trial in any case that arose from any section of the act. Civil Rights Act of 1964:
Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, or religion.
Title VI prohibits public access discrimination, leading to school desegregation.
Title VIII is the original "federal fair housing law," later amended in 1988.
The next major legislative act was The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 1965 Executive Order 11246. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed federal registrars to replace state officials in areas in which less than 50% of the adult population had voted in the previous general election. It gave them the power to suspend all literacy and similar discriminatory tests, and register to vote those citizens who were otherwise qualified to vote. The 1965 Executive Order 11246 established affirmative action requirements of government contractors and subcontractors.
Then, in 1967 Congress passed the ADEA which prohibits age discrimination for 40-65 year olds This act was amended in 1986 to remove the 65 year old age cap. (Note: Nebraska has a 70 year old age limit.)
The Civil Rights Act of 1968, passed after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. extended these guarantees to housing and real estate. It was the last major piece of civil rights legislation.
The year 1968 also saw the passing of the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 which requires accessibility for disabled in buildings and facilities financed with federal funds. 504 of the Rehab Act of 1973 -- bars federal contractors or subcontractors from employment discrimination on the basis of disability.
Since the period of the sixties little legislature has been enacted. Today, many civil rights leaders feel that the country is returning to a political climate where the U.S. public is indifferent to issues of social justice. They feel that inroads to repeal or limit the legislative gains in the 50's and 60's are well underway; and point to affirmative action issues and recent Supreme Court decisions. The problem, they say, is not legislative however. It is in enforcement and willingness of US Supreme Court to enforce existing laws.
Nevertheless, Congress passed The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 which requires disabled access for multifamily housing intended for first occupancy after March 13, 1991; the Air Carriers Access Act of 1989 which requires disabled access in construction of terminal facilities owned or operated by an air carrier; and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Of note regarding this last act is Title I which prohibits disability discrimination by employers; Titles II and III which require disability access in all places of public accommodation and business for first occupancy after January 26, 1993 or for occupancy for new alterations, and all state and local government facilities, after January 26, 1992.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 is, more or less, and addendum to civil rights legislature. It's intent is to ease the burden on workers suing to prove job discrimination. According to the legislation, the purposes of this Act are to "(1) respond to the Supreme Court's recent decisions by restoring the civil rights protections that were dramatically limited by those decisions; and (2) strengthen existing protections and remedies available under Federal civil rights laws to provide more effective deterrence and adequate compensation for victims of discrimination."
The Civil Rights Acts passed by the U.S. Congress include those of 1866, 1870, 1871, 1875, 1964, 1968, and 1991. The first two acts gave blacks the rights to be treated as citizens in legal actions, particularly to sue and be sued and to own property. These rights were also guaranteed by the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT (1868) to the Constitution, which conferred citizenship on the former slaves; and the FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT (1870), which declared it illegal to deprive any citizen of the franchise because of race. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 made it a crime to deny any citizen equal protection under the law by means of "force, intimidation or threat." The act of 1875 further guaranteed blacks the right to use public accommodations, but this legislation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883.By the mid-1880s, the political climate was such that the U.S. public had become indifferent to issues of social justice. This shift in attitude was exemplified by the Supreme Court decision in PLESSY V. FERGUSON (1896), which upheld the principle of "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites and legally instituted the system of segregation. The system endured until it was overturned by BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA, KANSAS (1954), in which the Supreme Court declared that separate educational facilities were "inherently unequal." Under intense public pressure brought about by massive demonstrations during the CIVIL RIGHTS movement of 1957 to 1965, Congress enacted new legislation in an attempt to overcome local and state obstruction to the exercise of citizenship rights by blacks. These efforts culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This major piece of legislation also banned discrimination in public accommodations connected with interstate commerce. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 extended these guarantees to housing and real estate, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 eased the burden on workers suing to prove job discrimination.The Civil Rights Act of 1866 The Civil Rights Act of 1866, passed in March of that year by Radical Republicans in Congress over a veto by President Andrew Johnson, declared African Americans to be citizens and granted them equal protection of the laws in matters of contracts, lawsuits, trials, property transactions, and purchases, and it attached penalties for violations of these rights. The act was intended to prevent President Johnson and ex-Confederates in the South from continuing slavery-like practices under state laws known as the Black Codes or Jim Crow laws. Johnson claimed the act violated states' rights and discriminated against whites. The Act took effect over his veto on April 9, 1866. The act is important to this day in prohibiting racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing.
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 The Civil Rights Acts of 1871 Though known popularly as the Civil Rights Acts of 1871, this refers to the Enforcement Act of February 28, 1871, which amended the Enforcement Act of 1870, passed by Congress to overturn state laws preventing African Americans from voting in the South. The 1871 amendment sought to eliminate registration fraud. It also instituted federal procedures for supervising elections in the South, upon petition to the federal circuit court. The Enforcement Act of April 20, 1871, known as the "Ku Klux Klan Act," allowed president to use the militia and to suspend the right of habeas corpus in times when public safety was threatened, as by the wave of organized violence then spreading throughout the South.
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 The Civil Rights Act of 1875 The Civil Rights Act of 1875 sought to guarantee freedom of access, regardless of race, to the "full and equal enjoyment" of inns, public conveyances and public places of amusement. Citizens were given the right to sue for personal damages. Federal courts were given exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising under the act. Barring any qualified person from serving as a grand or petit juror was made a crime, albeit a misdemeanor. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 is memorable as the last civil rights legislation passed until 1957. It was overturned in 1883 by the Supreme Court.
The Civil Rights Act if 1875 was rarely enforced and in 1883 it was overturned by a Supreme Court decision which found it to violate states' rights. In these "Civil Rights Cases" Justice Harlan gave a now-famous dissent, writing "I am of opinion that such discrimination is a badge of servitude, the imposition of which congress may prevent under its power, through appropriate legislation, to enforce the thirteenth Amendment; and consequently, without reference to its enlarged power under the fourteenth Amendment, the act of March 1, 1875, is not, in my judgment, repugnant to the constitution."
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 established the Commission on Civil Rights, which was mandated to study race relations in the United States. The act also created the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The Attorney General was given the power to sue on behalf of blacks who suffered voting discrimination federal elections.
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 sought to overturn discriminatory registration practices in South. It lacked effective enforcement provisions.
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the legislation most people think of when the term "Civil Rights Act" is invoked. Passed in the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy, its eleven titles combatted voter discrimination, funded school desegregation, renewed the Civil Rights Commission another four years, banned use of federal funds for schools or programs which discriminated, banned discrimination in employment and unions, barred federal courts from remanding civil rights cases back to state or local courts, established the right to a jury trial for in cases involving the act, and more.
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 established a system of federal registrars, under the direction of the U.S. Attorney General, to replace state officials in localities in which fewer than 50% of the adult population had voted in the previous general election. Literacy tests were outlawed and federal registrars were given the power to dismantle discriminatory practices such as literacy tests, as well as power to register citizens to vote.
Section 2 provides that "no voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any state or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race of color.''
Section 5 prohibits states and portions of states from instituting any new voting procedures, including new districts, without first giving the attorney general a chance to object or getting a ruling from U.S. District Court in Washington that the change "does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color.''
The immediate impact of the act was that by the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new African American voters were registered, one third of them by federal examiners. The Voting Rights Act was renewed and extended in 1970, 1975, and 1982.
Full text of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Civil Rights Act of 1968 The Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, was enacted following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and was thought by many prior to his death to be unpassable. The act tackled the controversial area of discrimination in housing. The act covers three-quarters of all housing transactions, barring landlords from refusing to sell or rent on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. The one-quarter of transactions which are exempt are composed of owner-occupants of multi-family dwellings (up to three rental units) and owners of three or fewer rental houses who rent without a real estate agent and who do not indicate racial preference in advertising. Banking and real estate practices involving "redlining" (refusing to approve mortgages in certain neighborhoods) and "blockbusting" (moving in one or more African American families for the purpose of trying to frighten white homeowners out of a neighborhood) were outlawed by the act.
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 Voting Rights Act of 1982 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was renewed in 1970, 1975, and 1982.
The 1975 renewal required bilingual ballots in all states, Justice Department or federal court approval for all changes in state election laws affecting aspects of the act, and extended voting rights protections to Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. The 1982 renewal eliminated the need to prove "intent to discriminate"; prosecutors were allowed to use objective outcomes as sufficient evidence of voting discrimination. Also, the courts were given the power to redraw city and state election district lines to maximize minority representation.
In City of Mobile vs. Bolden (1980), the Supreme Court had ruled 6:3 that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act invalidated only those voting practices that were adopted for the purpose of discriminating. Practices that had only a discriminatory effect, as the at-large city commission challenged in that case, were not banned. The Voting Rights Act of 1982 was intended to and did overturn this decision.
The Voting Rights Act of 1982 held minorities not only had a right to vote, but a right "to elect representatives of their choice." In 1986, a split Supreme Court in Thornburg vs. Gingles (1986) held the 1982 act required states with many minority voters to draw electoral districts that ensured those voters would be represented in Congress, the state legislature or other elected bodies. Based on the 1982 act and the 1986 decision, especially following the 1990 census (which required redrawing voting boundaries for most states), most states with a large number of minority voters sought to create "majority-minority" districts so as to comply with the law. This led to a doubling of the number of African Americans represented in Congress.
In 1995 a more conservative Supreme Court, by a 5:4 vote, held unconstitutional any state redistricting which used race as a "predominant factor" in drawing electoral boundaries (Miller v. Johnson, 1995). The opinion by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy affirmed a lower court finding that Georgia's 11th Congressional District was unconstitutional. In a separate 1995 case, the Supreme Court further limited the Voting Rights Act of 1982 by holding that states with a large population of African Americans and/or Hispanic Americans need not always create a "majority-minority" electoral district to satisfy the law. Rather than establishing a single "majority-minority" district, courts may establish two or more districts where minority voters make up at least 25 percent of the total and thereby can influence who gets elected. The 8-1 decision, in a Tennessee case, removed from states the legal pressure to create electoral districts that elect minorities to Congress, the state legislature, county councils or school boards. In refusing to hear an appeal in the Tennessee case, the Supreme Court took the unusual step of issuing an order officially upholding the restrictive ruling in the Tennessee case. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 The Civil Rights Act of 1991 sought to reverse certain Supreme Court decisions which had limited certain civil rights protections. The act enhanced legal remedies against discrimination.
Text of the Civil Rights Act of 1991
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The U. S. Constitution
