Law and Justice Chapter 13 powerpoint

1. RACIAL
MINORITIES AND
THE LAW
Chapter 13

2. Racial Minorities and the Law
◦ The United States been bedeviled by race almost from moment first
settlers landed in New World
◦ Virtually assured contentious racial relations
◦ Would require continual actions of law
◦ United Nations Declaration on Minorities
◦ Democracy reliant on “greatest good for greatest number”
◦ Independent judiciaries should step in and apply rules of law
◦ Courts can only go so far if not supported by other branches of
government

3. African Americans: Slavery and
the Law
◦ Slavery as old as human history
◦ Few practices are more repulsive
◦ American slavery evolved from English practice of indentured servitude
◦ Constitution and Declaration of Independence appear to contain
language outlawing slavery
◦ Some claim Somerset v. Stewart (1772) should have been followed
◦ Constitution has language supportive of slavery
◦ Article I, sections 2 and 9; Article IV, section 2

4. African Americans: The Amistad
Case
◦ United States, Appellants v. The Libellants and Claimants of the
Schooner Amistad (1841)
◦ Defendants represented by former President John Quincy Adams
◦ Argued for freedom on basis of natural law principles found in Declaration of
Independence
◦ Court released slaves based on his argument and ordered them to be
released and returned to Africa
◦ Case exacerbated bitter feelings between slave and nonslave states

5. African Americans: The Dred
Scott Case
◦ Scott v. Sandford (1857)
◦ Missouri Compromise of 1820
◦ Court ruled under Article III, no Black person, even if free, could be a
citizen of the United States and thus had no standing to sue in federal
court
◦ Court ruled Missouri Compromise unconstitutional
◦ Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
◦ Opened up areas of West to slavery
◦ Court put stamp of approval on slavery

6. African Americans: Emancipation
and the Reconstruction Period
◦ American Civil War fought to preserve Union, not free slaves
◦ Slavery was major factor leading up to war
◦ Emancipation Proclamation (1862)
◦ Freed slaves in all states in rebellion
◦ Congress then passed Thirteenth Amendment in 1865
◦ Banned slavery in United States and territories
◦ Blacks fared better in aftermath of Civil War
◦ Reconstruction period

7. African Americans: Emancipation
and the Reconstruction Period
◦ Freedman’s Bureau
◦ Supplied former slaves with food, clothing, schools, and land
◦ Served on juries and held office
◦ Desegregation was normal
◦ Southern jurisdictions passed Black Codes
◦ Sought to recreate slavery in new legal forms
◦ Passed under assumption freed slaves would not work unless forced to

8. African Americans: Emancipation
and the Reconstruction Period
◦ Black Codes
◦ Controlled, restricted, and inhibited movements and behavior of ex-slaves
◦ Authorized local authorities to arrest unemployed blacks and fine them for
vagrancy
◦ Struck down with passage of Fourteenth Amendment in 1868
◦ Fifteenth Amendment
◦ Passed in 1870
◦ Grant suffrage to African American males

9. African Americans: The
Emergence of Jim Crow Laws
◦ Defined
◦ Origin of term
◦ Philosophical underpinning was racism
◦ Racism defined
◦ Congress passed Civil Rights Act of 1875
◦ All persons entitled to full access and enjoyment of all accommodations and
facilities in public places

10. African Americans: The
Emergence of Jim Crow Laws
◦ Resulted in Civil Rights Cases (1883)
◦ Private entities and individuals can discriminate
◦ Ruled Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional
◦ Following decision, Southern states began enacting sweeping
segregation legislation
◦ Sought to disenfranchise blacks
◦ Virtually all forms of integration disappeared in South by 1890s

11. African Americans: Segregation,
Disenfranchisement, and the Plessy and
Williams Cases
◦ Most states not overly troubled with granting civil rights to blacks
◦ Balked at granting political and social rights
◦ Louisiana passed statute decreeing all railroad companies must provide
separate but equal accommodations
◦ Comite des Citoyens
◦ Citizens committee
◦ Decided to test Louisiana statute in 1892

12. African Americans: Segregation,
Disenfranchisement, and the Plessy and
Williams Cases
◦ Plessy v. Ferguson (1898) was result
◦ Addressed reasonableness of Louisiana statute
◦ Court ruled separate but equal laws were constitutional
◦ Placed stamp of approval on states’ efforts to deny social rights to blacks
◦ Williams v. Mississippi (1898)
◦ Court upheld disenfranchisement

13. African Americans: Lynching and
Black Protest
◦ Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois
◦ Black leaders with radically different ideas about how blacks should respond
◦ Washington
◦ Black “deficiencies” were responsible for condition
◦ Should appease whites by keeping distance and engaging in hard work
◦ DuBois
◦ Blacks should aspire to higher education and not be content with manual work
◦ Should agitate for restoration of rights

14. African Americans: Lynching and
Black Protest
◦ Founded National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) with help of progressive whites in 1910
◦ Most pressing issue at time was sadistic practice of lynching
◦ 1892-1968
◦ 4,743 persons lynched (over 70 percent black)
◦ After World War I, returning African American soldiers, along with power of
NAACP, fought against this issue
◦ Resulted in backlash and revival of KKK
◦ Lynching increased from 36 in 1917 to 76 in 1919

15. African Americans: Lynching and
Black Protest
◦ Many states had lynching laws (unenforced)
◦ Federal government did not
◦ Federal government did not pass one until passage of Civil Rights Act of
1968
◦ In 1981 two white men convicted for lynching of African American
◦ One was first white man since 1913 to be executed for murdering African
American
◦ Signaled decline of KKK

16. African Americans: “We Shall
Overcome”
◦ World War II was end of Jim Crow
◦ Fair Employment Practices Committee
◦ Commission on Higher Education
◦ Smith v. Allwright (1944)
◦ Paved way for Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

17. African Americans:
Congressional Activity
◦ Desegregation did not really happen until passing of Civil Rights Act of
1964
◦ Power over purse
◦ Voting Rights Act of 1965
◦ Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964)
◦ Civil Rights Act of 1964 upheld
◦ South Carolina v. Katzenbach (1966)
◦ Voting Rights Act of 1965 upheld

18. African Americans: The Cold War
and International Pressure
◦ United States/USSR and battle of over minds
◦ The “Negro problem” in United States
◦ Government filed briefs in civil rights cases supporting civil rights due to
image of the United States in international community

19. American Indians: The Early
Years
◦ United States practiced physical and cultural genocide as official policy
◦ Hostilities increased as European settlers migrated more westerly
◦ Proclamation Act of 1763
◦ British government “protected” Indians
◦ Northwest Ordinance
◦ Continental Congress “protected” them
◦ Constitution granted quasi-independence
◦ Treaty of Fort Pit
◦ Recognized their sovereignty

20. American Indians: The Marshall
Trilogy: Defining Indian Status
◦ Johnson v. McIntosh (1823)
◦ Discovery Doctrine
◦ Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)
◦ Domestic dependent nation
◦ Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
◦ Federal government (not states) had authority over Indian affairs

21. American Indians: The Period of
Removal and Physical Genocide
◦ Indian Removal Act (1830)
◦ Trail of Tears
◦ Movement of American Indians from all over Southeast to Indian Territory
(Oklahoma)
◦ Dakota Sioux and Oklahoma
◦ Year before Trail of Tears
◦ Standing Bear v. Crook (1879)
◦ Indians are people

22. American Indians: The Assimilation
Period and Cultural Genocide
◦ Termination of treaty making and treaties rendered Indians as wards of
state
◦ Cherokee Tobacco Case (1871)
◦ Assimilation period lasted until 1934
◦ Civilized and Christianized
◦ Bureau of Indian Affairs
◦ Ex parte Crow Dog (1883)
◦ Major Crimes Act of 1885
◦ Upheld in United States v. Kagama (1886)

23. American Indians: The Assimilation
Period and Cultural Genocide
◦ General Allotment Act of 1887 (Dawes Act)
◦ Division of reservation lands
◦ Sellable to Anglo Americans
◦ From time of Dawes Act to 1934, Indians lost about two-thirds of their
land
◦ Jim Crow laws existed to segregate Indians
◦ Upheld in Elk v. Wilkins (1884)
◦ Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903)
◦ Legal status of Indians hit lowest point

24. American Indians: The Beginning
of the End of Cultural Genocide
◦ Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
◦ Congress conferred American citizenship to all Indians
◦ Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
◦ Ended practice of cultural genocide
◦ Termination policy in 1953
◦ Devastated tribal welfare and independence
◦ Indian Self-Determination Act (SDA) of 1975

25. American Indians: The Beginning
of the End of Cultural Genocide
◦ American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1968
How Far Have We Come?
◦ Recompense and United States v. Sioux Nations (1980)
◦ Oliphant v. Suquamish (1978)
◦ Nevada v. Hicks (2001)

26. Asian Americans
◦ Chines and Japanese are largest groups
◦ Came over first
◦ Also suffered great deal of prejudice and discrimination
◦ Chinese
◦ Came over voluntarily
◦ Became targets of legal and extralegal harassment upon arrival
◦ Subject to stereotypes

27. Asian Americans
◦ Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
◦ Passed despite unconstitutionality of similar legislation passed in regards to
Europeans
◦ Repealed by Congress in 1943
◦ Some states granted naturalized citizenship
◦ In Re Ah Yup (1878)
◦ Only individuals of European or African origins were eligible to become
citizens
◦ United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)
◦ Government could not deny citizenship to anyone born in United States

28. Asian Americans
◦ Did not mean foreign-born citizens could become naturalized citizens
◦ Ozawa v. United States (1922)
◦ Court explicitly said the could not
◦ Asian Americans allowed greater level of assimilation than African
Americans
◦ Allowed into integrated schools by early 1900s
◦ Worst act of discrimination occurred in 1942

29. Asian Americans
◦ Executive Order 9066
◦ Authorized evacuation and relocation of people of Japanese ancestry
◦ Response to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
◦ Justified as “military necessity”
◦ Korematsu v. United States (1944)
◦ Court ruled although internment was constitutionally suspect, it was justified
during circumstances of wartime “emergency and peril”
◦ Government’s need to protect against espionage outweighed individual rights

30. Asian Americans
◦ Ex Parte Endo (1944)
◦ Government could not continue to detain citizen whom they conceded was
loyal to United States
◦ Began the release of all detainees and beginning of struggle for redress
◦ Korematsu’s original indictment voided and conviction reversed in 1983
◦ Struggle for redress ended in 1988
◦ Awarded tax free payment of $20,000 each and formal government apology

31. Hispanics
◦ Largest minority group in United States
◦ Been “silent minority” until fairly recently
◦ Few people can identify circumstances, issues, and struggles associated
◦ No major civil rights efforts
◦ Group reference tends to be national origin
◦ In re Ricardo Rodriguez (1897)
◦ “Whiteness” of Hispanics determined
◦ Declared white and granted citizenship and voting rights
◦ Put an end to disenfranchisement efforts

32. Hispanics: The Mexican-American
War and the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo
◦ Origin of civil rights concerns began with Mexican American War (1846-
1848)
◦ Primary cause was admittance of Texas to United States in 1845
◦ Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (TGH)
◦ Ceded over 525,000 square miles of territory to United States
◦ Present day Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and parts
of Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming

33. Hispanics: The Mexican-American
War and the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo
◦ First minority group to be granted citizenship
◦ Classification listed as white
◦ Have had their share of discriminatory treatment
◦ Van Reynegan v. Bolton (1877)
◦ Court ruled in favor of descendants of Mexican land grant claimants
◦ Many homesteaders on disputed lands evicted without any compensation for
improvements they made

34. Hispanics: Push and Pull:
Invitation and Exile
◦ The United States has long history of welcoming Hispanics at one time
and expelling them at another
◦ Late 1800s and early 1900s
◦ Mexican-Americans employed by large agricultural enterprises in southern California
◦ During Great Depression, state governments passed legislation barring
employment of aliens on projects funded by government

35. Hispanics: Push and Pull:
Invitation and Exile
◦ Bracero Program (1942)
◦ Called for importation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico to the
United States during severe labor shortages
◦ Recruited only fit individuals
◦ Many who did not qualify for program entered illegally
◦ Caused Mexican military to be deployed along borders
◦ Operation Wetback (1954)
◦ Cooperative American/Mexican effort to stem tide of illegal immigrants

36. Hispanics: Segregation, Jury
Representation, and Voting Rights
◦ Many legal battles fought by Hispanics set stage for battles fought by
other groups
◦ Mendez, et al v. Westminster School District, et al (1946,1947)
◦ School segregation for Hispanics
◦ Heard seven years before Brown
◦ Court ruled segregation of Mexican Americans was valid because law did not
authorize it

37. Hispanics: Segregation, Jury
Representation, and Voting Rights
◦ White v. Regester (1973)
◦ Court ruled legislative districts within each state must reflect population
demographics and not preexisting boundaries if they were result of
gerrymandering
◦ Hispanics not been viewed as “cognizable racial or ethnic group,” but
rather as white
◦ Hernandez v. Texas (1954)
◦ Court ruled Fourteenth Amendment rights extend to all racial/ethnic groups

38. Hispanics: Segregation, Jury
Representation, and Voting Rights
◦ Beginning in early 1980s
◦ Mexican government urged citizens to migrate to United States and send
money back home to support families
◦ United States has seen massive influx of immigrants (legal and illegal) since
that time
◦ Currently, not just individual citizens seek vested interests in the United States
◦ Safety valve for Mexican government
◦ Print “Migrant Guide” instructing nationals how to enter without detection

39. Hispanics: Segregation, Jury
Representation, and Voting Rights
◦ In response to huge influx
◦ California passed Proposition 187 in 1994
◦ Known as Save Our State (SOS) initiative
◦ Prohibited illegal aliens from obtaining social services
◦ Federal judge ruled it unconstitutional
◦ Late in forming powerful civil rights organization
◦ Most loud is Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA)

40. How Far Have We Come?
◦ Racial, civil, political, and social equality for all groups is now a fact
enshrined in law of land
◦ Accepted by all but most reactionary activists
◦ African Americans have made great strides in society since days of
W.E.B. DuBois
◦ Native Americans have also made great strides in quest for equality
◦ Less sovereign today than before Europeans “discovered” America

41. How Far Have We Come?
◦ Compared to other racial groups, Asian Americans today have less
political “muscle”
◦ Despite lack in numbers, have gone from being loathed as “yellow peril” to
“model minority”
◦ Too early to assess progress of Hispanics in United States
◦ Have been (and are) targets of discrimination as labor needs have waxed and
waned

42. How Far Have We Come?
◦ Brief overview of law as applied to minority issues in the United States
may give jaundiced view of law
◦ Much grist for conflict view
◦ In past, courts have functioned as tool to legitimize policies of other two
branches
◦ More recently, minorities, women, and the working class have been able
to use law to resist domination
◦ Some argue it has been “rousing success”
◦ Some argue we have “a long way to go”