Civil Rights

The words "civil rights" might connote the thought of equal opportunities. However, civil rights are much more than that. They extend to all nonpolitical rights of citizens. All though most would like to believe that civil rights legislation really started with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment to the Constitution, it really all began with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

After the end of Civil War the Constitution was amended to give former slaves freedom and the rights of citizens. This passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to Constitution were supposed to give the African-Americans equal protection under the law. They were also intended to give the new citizens the right to vote.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed by Congress was supposed to offer African-Americans the same rights as "enjoyed by white citizens to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property." In reality this law was rarely enforced and had little effect. Most sections of the law were either repealed by later Congresses or ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It was not until the Jones v. Mayer in 1968 that the Supreme Court upheld the 1866 Civil Rights Act. About 102 years after the legislation was passed an African-American man was able to buy a house that an owner had refused to sell on the basis that Jones was black.

Previously segregation and "Jim Crow" laws prevented African-Americans from having equal opportunities or protection under the law. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 established that providing separate, but equal facilities was constitutional. It was not until the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 that the Supreme Court declared separate facilities "inherently unequal."

The NAACP or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909 was the first of many steps to increase public awareness, put pressure on Congress, and initiate legal action in courts. Rosa Parks arrest in 1955 that lead to the boycott of Montgomery Alabama's segregated bus system produced a prominent leader.

Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This group organized orderly, persistent protest throughout the country. King gave the modern civil rights movement a new set of tactics. King employed the use of civil disobedience or nonviolent resistance.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was based after President Johnson and widespread public support pushed Congress to pass the new law. Southern senators vigorously opposed the bill in months of filibusters. Eventually the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed with support from both parties. Some of the laws major titles were outlawing discrimination in public accommodations, this mean that there could be no segregation of public bathrooms or restaurants and barring arbitrary voter registration. Other titles included giving the attorney general the power to bring lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and schools. Two other important titles were the withholding of federal funds from public or private programs that practice discrimination and the prohibition of job discrimination by private employers on account or race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. This law was the enforced more effectively then prior legislation in the past.

The truth of this is that by having Congress pass legislation to reiterate what the 14th Amendment states weakened the Constitution. The 14th Amendment clearly states that "no state or shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." The 15th Amendment stated 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." Congress by passing legislation only reiterating what was stated in the amendments set the precedent that even though the Constitution stated that the right to vote could not be denied by the states it still had to pass federal legislation. In effect this weakened the government and forces it to pass redundant laws or related ones for situations that had already been taken into account in prior legislation. This also means that as hard as amendments are to add to the Constitution federal laws must still be passed.

The modern civil rights movement with the help of Martin Luther King, Jr. brought about new changes in society. However, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only made it clear that laws will mean nothing unless they are enforced. This also guaranteed that it would be harder to pass amendments to the constitution over civil rights such as the Equal Rights Amendment. As far, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has established the so-called equal opportunity and protection under the law. It shall provide for equality all it can during the time being, until new legislation is passed again.