Civil Rights history

1. Civil Rights Project
Timothy Blake
Community College of Vermont

2. http://www.religionresourcesonline.org
http://33.media.tumblr.com
http://rlv.zcache.com
http://prod-images.exhibit-e.com

3. Human Rights
http://www.un.org/en/documents
• UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSAL
DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
1. We are all born free
2. Don’t discriminate
3. The right to life
4. No slavery
5. No torture
6. You have rights wherever you go
7. We’re all equal before the law
8. Your human rights are protected by law
9. No unfair detainment
10. The right to a trail
11. We’re always innocent until proven guilty
12. The right to privacy
13. Freedom to move
14. The right to seek a safe place to live
15. Right to a nationality

4. Historical Figures
http://stpetersecuadorexperience2013.weebly.com
• Rosa Parks
• On December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks and three other black passengers
were asked to give up their seats to white passengers. Parks refused
and was arrested. Parks actions triggered many future civil rights
events
• The NAACP requested on the day of Parks trial, December 5th, 1955
all members of the black community were asked to boycott buses
for the day
• Parks claimed she was “tired of giving in”, but her resilience
triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which an estimated 40,000
black commuters chose to stay off the buses
• The bus boycott was so successful that the Montgomery
Improvement Association (MIA) was formed and Martin Luther King
Jr. was elected minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

5. Historical Figures
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Dr. King was a believer in non-violent protests, and with nonviolent
protests came more tension, which was needed for African
Americans to be heard.
• More than 200,000 people gathered on the Lincoln Memorial on
August 28th, 1963 to hear Dr. King deliver the “I Have a Dream”
speech
• King was arrested while demonstrating on Good Friday in Alabama.
• “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” was a detailed letter and stated
that “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”(King,
1963).

6. Civil Rights Act of 1964
• This outlawed discrimination in public places and employment
based on religion, race and national origin
• Effective July 2nd, 1964
• outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin
• prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs
• establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity

7. Civil Rights Act of 1964
http://upload.wikimedia.org
http://www.loc.gov

8. Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Lyndon B. Johnson signed this act into law to enforce the
voting rights of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
• This was considered to be the most important piece of
legislation ever signed into law
• Even though the 15th Amendment was passed in 1870, state
and local officials prevented African-Americans the right to
vote (History.com, 2009)

9. Reconstruction amendments-13th,
14th, and 15th Amendment's
• These three Constitutional Amendments address slavery,
citizenship and voting rights.
• The 13th Amendment abolished slavery on December 5th,
1865.
• The 14th Amendment ensured “all persons born in the
United States...excluding Indians not taxed...." were citizens
and were to be given "full and equal benefit of all
laws”(Constitution, 1868).
• 15th Amendment granted African American men the right
to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude”(Constitution, 1870).

10. Women’s Rights
• Women only made 78 cents to ever dollar a man
earned.
• Lily Ledbetter was losing wages to her male
counterparts and took her case all the way to the
Supreme Court. She lost over $200,000 over her
career.
• Lily Ledbetter Act was the first piece of legislation
signed into law by President Obama.
• This ensured women equal pay, maternity leave
and allows women to recover lost wages due to
discrimination.

11. Women’s Rights
http://www.coinfacts.com
• Susan B. Anthony
• Susan B. Anthony was one of the first woman to stand up for the right to
vote
• Born in 1820 and was raised as a Quaker
• Quaker’s believed that women were considered equals of men
• Head of the “Women’s Suffrage Movement”
• Schoolteacher in NY
• After the 14th and 15th Amendments were passed, Anthony wanted to be
“free”, keep their own money, and vote as All men, black or white
• In 1860, NY approved a married woman could own property and keep
wages they earned because of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton
• She voted illegally, was arrested but refused to pay a $100 fine and admit
she was wrong

12. Women’s Rights
• Ratified on August 18th, 1920 the 19th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution granted American women the right to vote
• Women played a key part of the Industrial Revolution
• Women now have the right to do what they want with their
bodies (contraceptives and abortion)
• Equal pay, sexual harassment, sexual assault, workplace
rights, maternity leave are all rights that the feminist
movements of the past campaigned for and won

13. Religious Rights
• According to the First Amendment, nobody can
imped on your right to practice ANY religion
• Christianity is the largest religion (75%)
• About 50% consider themselves Protestants
• 23% Catholic
• 2% Mormon
• Islam is considered the largest non-Christian faith
and can be discriminated against ever since
September 11th, 2001

14. Religious Diversity
www.usreligioncensus.org

15. Religious Prejudices
• All Muslims are terrorists- http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/ARAB_MUSLIM_9-
30-14.pdf
• If you do not believe in God you will go to Hell
• Religious persecution of gays (refusing to allow gays to marry)
• Religious persecution of blacks (Jim Crow Laws)
• KKK as a Christian group
• Upholding slavery as a Christian duty (this one was famously used in the
southern states), as well as pious raping and whipping of the slaves
• Rape (in the literal as well as figurative sense), pillage, plunder and
murder of the early Native Americans as well as annihilating their land and
culture
• Hanging of witches/ Salem Trials

16. Gay Rights
Whitehouse.gov
• Marriage equality
• Over the last 10 years, nineteen states recognize and respect same
sex couples and marriage
• CA, CT, DE, HI, IA, IL, ME, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, PA, RI,
VT, and WA - and Washington, D.C. have the freedom to marry
• Organizations like the National Center for Lesbian Rights, National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Freedom to Marry have advocated
for these rights
• Now over 48% of the U.S. population lives in a state that protects
gay couples
• In 2009, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard & James
Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

17. American Indians
• North American Indian population was estimated at 12
million in the 1500’s to 237,000 in the 1900’s
• Government violated over 68 treaties and took over 20
billion acres from the American Indians
• An estimated 60 million buffalo were killed in the Great
Plains
• By 1910 there were only 85 buffalo left
• In the 1870’s miners violated the Fort Laramie Treaty
• Over 140 million Indians were driven to reservations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjS_C2MFNa8

18. Broken Government Treaties Drove the American
Indians onto reservations
http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/Indian Studies/standingrock/1851treaty.html

19. Solutions
Whitehouse.gov
• President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law ending
discrimination of pre-existing injuries
• ACA improves Medicaid home and community services (HCBS)
• Workforce Recruitment Program Database helps college students with
disabilities find work
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has workers who help those in need
of assistance by facing daily life at home or move to an assisted living
facility or nursing home
• 10% of the worlds population has a disability (650 million)
• 50 million people in this country have a mental or physical disability
• Join a community based organization (donation/volunteer)

20. What are Civil Rights and how can
Social Workers help?
• Civil Rights
• An enforceable privilege or right. Freedom of speech, press, assembly,
discrimination of sex, race, age, disability, origin, sexual orientation, and
religion.
• Social Work
• As a social worker, you promote social change and injustice with the work
of a “clients”, individuals (micro), families, organizations, and communities
• (NASW, 2008).
• Core Values: service, competence, integrity, social justice, worth of person,
and dignity.
• “Social workers primary goal is to help people in need and address social
problems”(NASW, 2008, pg.3).

21. References
• www.Whitehouse.gov.
• Martin Luther King, (2009). Letter from Birmingham Jail. Letter From
Birmingham Jail, 1-12.
• www.ND.gov http://www.ndstudies.org
• http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/standingrock/1851tre
aty.html
• http://www.usccr.gov
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjS_C2MFNa8
• United States Senate, The Constitution, retrieved from
http://www.ussenate.gov
• United States Justice Department, retrieved from www.justice.gov