HIST 17C Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Equal Protection Clause, Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Fourteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution
Start of the civil rights movement
➔Started when African Americans came home from fighting WWI
◆Gained momentum in the 20s and 30s
Brown v Board of Education
➔School education, as a matter of law, violated rights
➔Supreme court refused the doctrine of separate but equal education
➔Was not the start of the civil rights movement
◆No strong relationship between Brown and Montgomery Bus Boycott
◆Dr. King and Thurgood Marshall differed on tactics to bring about social change
● Marshall thought King was wasting time with boycotts and that he should
focus on the federal courts and litigation as a way of achieving change
● King worried that focusing on the courts would distract from grassroots
mobilization
Racial Integrity Act of 1924
◆Same year that confederate statue built in public cemetery
◆An act to preserve racial integrity
● Unlawful for a white person to marry non-white
Mexican Americans
Segregation and discrimination existed outside the south
➔Other groups besides African Americans were responsible for the civil rights movement
➔Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
◆Mexicans who lived in the area of the Mexican cession would have the rights of
American citizens
● Was not honored in practice
◆Became the excuse for a massive land grab by whites
◆Consequence: Mexican Americans were subjected to discrimination
● Could only find jobs as domestic servants or in the fields
Sylvia Mendez
➔California race laws didn’t mention Mexican Americans but were frequently segregated
in schools
➔Mexican Americans believed their citizenship rights depended on being able to claim
they were white
➔School authorities wanted to send her to the Mexican school even though they lived in
the “white” section of town
➔Parents sued so she could attend the white Westminster school
◆Both parties of the case conceded that the case did not involve race
discrimination
◆US census counted Mexican Americans as white
● Created a separate category for Mexican which was designated as a
racial category
● Mexican gov’t objected
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Census Bureau returned to classifying Mexican Americans as white
● Sylvia Mendez was white in the eyes of the law
➔Lawyers for the NAACP and JACL argued on appeal that ANY racial school segregation
was an unlawful violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment
◆Argument wasn’t accepted in court of appeals
◆US Court of Appeals decision
● Maintain OC school district violated the california law by segregating
Mexican Americans because it said nothing about segregating Mexican
America school children
➔Governor Warren
◆Signed a bill to completely desegregate schools
Mexican Americans started seeing themselves as a minority
➔Despite Mendez, Mexican American kids continued to receive substandard education
◆Due to residential segregation and de facto segregation
◆Reinforced by redlining: FHA advised banks only to underwrite mortgages in
certain areas
➔United Farm Workers
◆Began drive to unionize farm workers in 1962
◆Cesar Chavez
● Encouraged religiosity in United Farm Workers marches
● Making Americans think of farm workers in their plight in dealing with big
farmers
● White americans to take part in the spiritual battle against big, anglo
farmers who exploited their workers and didn’t allow them to unionize
○ Whites could participate by boycotting farm products
➔National Labor Relations Act 1935
◆Guaranteed the employees rights to organize and bargain collectively
◆Prohibited employers from conducting unfair labor practices
◆Established National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
◆Achievements
● Recognition of boycotts
● End to the abusive labor contracting system
● Gave workers the right to secret ballot elections
○ Required growers to bargain with unions that won elections
Reies Lopez Tijerina
➔Worked to reclaim land grants that were lost even though the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo were supposed to protect them
Chicanos
Roldolfo “Corky” Gonzales
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Started when african americans came home from fighting wwi. Gained momentum in the 20s and 30s. School education, as a matter of law, violated rights. Supreme court refused the doctrine of separate but equal education. Was not the start of the civil rights movement. No strong relationship between brown and montgomery bus boycott. Dr. king and thurgood marshall differed on tactics to bring about social change. Marshall thought king was wasting time with boycotts and that he should focus on the federal courts and litigation as a way of achieving change. King worried that focusing on the courts would distract from grassroots mobilization. Same year that confederate statue built in public cemetery. Unlawful for a white person to marry non-white. Other groups besides african americans were responsible for the civil rights movement. Mexicans who lived in the area of the mexican cession would have the rights of. Became the excuse for a massive land grab by whites.
