Civil Rights Timeline PDF

Marshall gave the example of an African American girl that always picked white dolls instead of black dolls. It was meant to show that African-Americans girls had lost all their self- confidence. Racial segregation makes people suffer. The population doesn’t have any self- esteem and is denied oppor...

Marshall gave the example of an African American girl that always picked white dolls instead of black dolls. It was meant to show that African-Americans girls had lost all their self- confidence. Racial segregation makes people suffer. The population doesn’t have any self- esteem and is denied opportunities. After citing the 14 amendment, a unanimous Court th accepted the arguments of the NAACP that “separate but equal” was a contradiction in terms → the brief was accepted by the Supreme Court “racial segregation has to be removed very quickly”. Chief Justice Warren wrote his opinion is an easy way so that it could be understood by laymen and reprinted in the public press: “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place”. The next year, the SCOTUS decreed that school desegregation should begin everywhere. African Americans could now claim their admission to all-white institutions. Segregation was now – in theory – “finished” everywhere. D. Contemporary Race Relations (1954 – 2020) Race relations are a long and hard process (still happening today). After 1954, resistance (in motels, restaurants, bars, universities) emerged. A black woman, Meredith James, saw her admission in a University refused, causing a spectacular riot (2 dead and 375 wounded). Development of “Freedom Rides”: groups of young people travelled (with busses) through the South defying segregation law. Incremental legal change and the effects produced by the Second World War had doubtless improved the prospects and welfare of African Americans. Strong pockets of resistance were nevertheless thrown up against the Supreme Court’s Brown decision of 1954. Foot-dragging flared up most notably in hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, and universities. The refusal to enroll James Meredith at the University of Mississippi led to an injunction for contempt, spectacular riots which ended with 2 deaths and 375 wounded. Pockets of the population undertook so-called “freedom rides”, meaning that groups of young people traveled through the Deep South by bus, defying the segregation laws (escorted by federal marshals, national guardsmen…). The role of President Kennedy in these matters was ambivalent. He was a man of infinite promise but limited achievements. In truth, African-Americans did not come high on Kennedy’s agenda of priorities at the beginning of administration. The President was confronted with a Southern dominated Congress and a host of foreign policy issues involving Cuba (the Bay of Pigs fiasco of April 1961 and the missile crisis of October 1962), the Soviet Union (requisite Senate ratification of the partial nuclear test ban treaty of October 1963), and Vietnam (growing opposition to Ngo Dinh Diem, leading to his assassination in November 2, 1963). Peaceful demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama in the spring of 1963 changed Kennedy’s priorities. Most notably, Martin Luther King (1929-1968) put Gandhian philosophy to the test (Satyagraha, i.e. non-violent resistance : convert - not coerce the wrongdoer) - jail sentences, more riots, bombs, murders… Piecemeal victories would not, however, solve the problem. Kennedy addressed the nation: “We face… a moral crisis as a country and a people… It is time to act in Congress, in your state and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives”. A few days later, he sent a comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress… One of the hurdles that lay in the way of the enactment was the threat of a 150 “filibuster”, i.e. a form of obstructionism (to delay or completely prevent the passage of a bill : Senate Rule 22). Traditionally, a filibuster consisted in a Senator speaking for as long as he/she wished on any topic (James Stewart in Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington…). A filibuster prevents the Senate from moving on to other business unless the motion is withdrawn, or unless a supermajority of 3/5ths of the Senate brings debates to a close by invoking “cloture”. To stimulate Senators and Representatives, Martin Luther King organized a “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedoms” on August 28, 1963. The march was a huge success with more than 200,000 civil rights supporters and King’s famous speech, “I have a dream…” From a rhetorical standpoint, the speech combines the style of a Black Baptist sermon with Biblical allusions (Psalm 30:5, Isaiah 40:4…), the use of phrases and language from iconic cultural texts (e.g. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address of 1863 ), and 402 anaphora - repetition of a phrase at the beginning of sentences… Martin Luther King, I have a dream… “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. 402 A mere two-minute speech, the iconic Gettysburg Address was delivered by President Lincoln on November 19, 1863, several months after the Union armies had defeated those of the Confederacy at Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863), leaving close to 8,000 dead. The speech begins with the famous sentence, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. 151 We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream." 152 I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. 153  And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring! And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” In the wake of the speech and the march, King was named Man of the Year by Time magazine. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (at the age of 35, the youngest person ever to receive this award). Two events soon shattered the little euphoria that followed Martin Luther King’s speech of August 28, 1963, provoking a thunderbolt of despair. The first occurred in September 1963 when a church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed: 4 African American children were killed. The second happened on November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The person who took over from Kennedy - Lyndon Baines Johnson - or “LBJ” (a politician from Texas, … a Southerner) – seized the opportunity of the universal mood of grief and repentance to press ahead with civil rights legislation. All the while, this would enable LBJ to overcome the suspicions that liberals, Northerners, and African Americans entertained of him. For most of his life as Senator, Johnson had resisted any attempt to push in favor of civil rights. In short, Kennedy’s legislative program was hurried onto the statute book and the Civil Rights bill became law on July 2, 1964. By way of summary, the Civil Rights Act of 1964: gave the U.S. Attorney-General new powers to intervene to protect rights of citizens; spelled out the mandate of the “Equal Employment Opportunity Commission” (EEOC) as well as that of the “Community Relations Service” (within the Department of Justice); outlawed segregation in public places and in places of public accommodation (hotels, motels…). 154 Barely adopted, the Civil Rights Act was nevertheless soon lambasted by politicians and challenged before the courts. In the Senate, Jesse Helms denounced the Civil Rights Act as “the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress”. In the case, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, the appellant refused to let African Americans stay at his motel: he contended that Congress, in adopting the Civil Rights Act 1964, exceeded its power to regulate commerce under Article I, Section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution (cf. the same arguments in the Schechter Poultry case of 1935, concerning the NIRA, and the Alfonso Lopez case, concerning guns). The Supreme Court held against him. Admittedly, Congress 403 was legislating against moral wrongs, “[b]ut that fact does not detract from the overwhelming evidence of the disruptive effect that racial discrimination has had on commercial intercourse”. Chief Justice Earl Warren was somewhat dismayed. Besides underlining the prevalence of adjudication to put an end to the issue, the case illustrates the importance of the Commerce Clause. Along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Johnson managed to pass the Voting Rights Act in 1965, also considered to be a great achievement of the “classical phase” of the civil-rights movement Several Southern states (the “covered States”) were singled out: they had to 404 obtain an authorization from Washington if they wanted to change their voting laws): they need to obtain preclearance. In 2013, in the case Shelby County v. Holder, the SCOTUS decided that preclearance is outlawed. A few days after, we saw several states change their voting rights, including voter suppression. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of a motel – in Memphis Tennessee – on April 4, 1968. Four days later, his widow – Coretta Scott King – Ralph Abernathy, Harry Belafonte and thousands of others marched through downtown Memphis in a validation of Dr. King’s work and to begin a movement that would eventually lead to his birthday – January 15 – being made a national holiday. Not without reluctance, President Ronald Reagan signed th a bill into law in November 1983 declaring that Martin Luther King, Jr,, Day would be celebrated every year on the third Monday of January. The celebration remains steeped in controversy to the day with three states – Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi – celebrating the birth of Robert E. Lee on the day set aside for King. With respect to contemporary race relations in 2020, President Obama’s presidency failed to alleviate racial tensions in the United States. Some argue that American society was in fact more polarized at the end of his two terms of office than at the beginning. Before taking office, 59% of African Americans believed US race relations were “generally good”. By the end of President Obama’s presidency, this number had fallen to 54%. This failure of the 405 Obama presidency is not entirely the President’s own doing. His failure to make headway can in part related to the very questioning of his legitimacy as president in the first place. This can be illustrated by different attempts to force President Obama to release his birth certificate, proving that he was born in the United States, and not in Kenya. His credentials were also questioned when – as Democratic nominee in 2008 – he failed to wear a stars-and-stripes flag pin on his lapel. Many Americans viewed this as a lack of patriotism, if not ant-Americanism. Even the Black Lives Matter movement was questioned. Following the killing of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, in July 2016, police set up a Blue Lives Matter movement. Their 403 Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964). 404 The so-called classical phase “ of the civil-rights movement began in 1954 with the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. 405 Edward Luce, “The Dallas threat to the 2016 race”, Financial Times, July 11, 2016. 155 reasoning was that the Black Lives Matter movement incited supporters to attack the police. President Obama forcibly walked a fine line in the matters mentioned above so as no give the impression he was favoring one community over another. Despite the election of Obama in 2008 and institutional improvements (CRA 1964, EEOC…), community racial tensions are still a characteristic of American culture. Different tragedies and issues come to mind (even at the end of the Obama mandate). In 2020, mention can be made of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, or Jacob Blake… (+ BLM). Mention should also be made of affirmative action We have many cases at the SCOTUS on this: giving help to poor ppl, minorities to give them chances and access to education, employment. Arguments for Arguments against Not normal that we don’t see any blacks on TV It's derogatory (dénigrant) to give help to some (for an ex), affirmative action encourages better African Americans (and other minorities), they representation. should proceed in their professional and educational life with their own manners. It redresses the effects of discrimination. People tend to say that some ppl from minorities succeed only thanks to the AA. It's a counterproductive nature of social reforms. Individual action is better revoir ces arguments B. Indians (Native-Americans) Before Columbus discovered America in 1492, the American Indian population that lived north of Mexico numbered between 10 to 25 million. Hundreds of nations – each possessing its own government, culture, and language – populated the United States, throughout the country, from east to west. The official census of 1900 found only a quarter of a million Indians in the entire United States. The reasons for this sharp decline are well known and tragically simple: epidemic smallpox and other alien diseases introduced by the whites, as well as bloodshed and deceit – from Columbus, Cortés, Pizarro, the Puritans, Andrew Jackson, and countless others. According to the 2010 Census, the total population of Indians and Alaska Natives is approximately 5.3 million (1.7% of the nation’s population). The figure breaks down into 565 federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States (referred to as nations, bands, villages, pueblos, Rancherias, and communities, depending on the tribe’s preference), most of whom live west of the Mississippi. Alaska alone concentrates 226 406 tribes, the rest living in thirty-four states on some 315 Indian reservations covering more than 406 The percentage of Indians living east of the Mississippi is estimated at 25%, principally in the Northeast and North Carolina, which – with a population of 80,000 – has the sixth largest population of any state. See Stephen L. Pevar, The Rights of Indians and Tribes, 4 Ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) th at p. 1. 156