What types of speech are protected? Symbolic speech – symbols, signs, and other methods of expression. The Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional a number of actions including: - An example of protected symbolic speech would be the right of high school students to wear armbands to protest the Vietnam War. Slavery - first started in 1619 - issue divided the constitutional convention - 3/5th Post cival war amendments - 13th 1865 slavery outlawed - 14ths 1868 blacks are citizens, due process and equal protection under law. Important Events in the history of civil rights - 1863 emancipation proclamation frees slaves - 1877 the federal government ended military occupation of the south Civil rights cases (1883) Supreme court decided that congress, those folks who had drafted the 14th amendment and provided for its enforcement, had not understood the amendment or the underlying congressional powers. What is prohibited is state action that discriminated - Justice Harlan was the lone dissenter.Some of these businesses (railroads, hotels) may have been privately owned, but were regulated by the states. - They were in sence agents of the state carrying out and following state guidelines Important Events in the History of Civil Rights Plessy v Ferguson (1896) – Supreme court declared “separate but equal” facilities constitutional. This promoted the rise of Jim Crow laws. 1954 Brown v Board of Education – supreme court declared separate but equal to be unconstitutional. Types of disrimination
De jure: when a law discriminated on its face or in its words De facto: looks beyond the language of the law to its effects; this takes place when a law appears to be “fair on its face” Civil rights legislation No ERA Civil rights act of 1964 - title II ended segregation in public accomidations - Title VI authorized termination of federal aid to any program not ending discrimination - Title VII banned discrimination in employment - All to be enforced by the EEOC Civil rights legislation The civil rights act of 1968 - passes partly in sympathy with the death of Martin Luther King - Extended antidiscrimination policy to the area of housing Americans with disabilities act (1990) - Cannot deny employment/ promotion if reasonable accommodation will allow job performance - Cannot be denied access to government programs of benefits. - Public accommodations must allow full and equal access.