American Legal History
Civil Rights Timeframe . . .
Civil War & Reconstruction → 1860 - 1877
Gilded Age → 1870s - 1900
Progressive Era → 1890s - 1920
American Imperialism → 1880s - 1914
World War I → 1914 - 1918
The Roaring Twenties → 1920 - 1929
Great Depression & New Deal → 1929 - 1941
World War II → 1941 - 1945
Post-War Boom → 1946 - 1959
Cold War → 1945 - 1991
Civil Rights Movement → 1954 - 1968
New Frontier & Great Society → 1960 - 1968
Vietnam War - 1954 - 1975
Era of Social Change - 1960 - 1980
End of the Century → 1980 - 2000
New Millenium → 2001 -
American Legal History II
Civil Rights
What is the role of law in society?
How does law impact society?
How does context impact law?
How did the HISTORY of the Civil Rights Movement impact Supreme Court decisions and law?
To what extent did Supreme Court decisions reflect the achievement of the goals of the Civil Rights Movement?
To what extent did Supreme Court decisions protect and preserve the Civil Rights Movement?
Viewing civil rights through the lens of law as an arena of struggle in which contending groups and individuals try to put their own stamp on what citizenship means in American life.
Methodological considerations - Focus on state and federal statutes, along with court decisions, or the social change promoted by organizations and subsequent protests?
Legal and Constitutional equality.
Securing Equal Protection
Ending legally established discrimination
Equal Access
Education reform
Housing
Voting
Civil Rights Movement - Goals
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Fourteenth Amendment
“Nadir of American Race Relations”
Outcome of Reconstruction
1877 → Early 20th Century
Slaughterhouse Cases
1883 → Civil Rights Cases → State Actor (Action) vs. Private or Individual Action
1883 → Racial Purity → Pace v. Alabama
1899 → Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education → de jure segregation
Nullifying 13th, 14th, and 15th . . .
Civil Rights Act
Enforcement Act
Ongoing, evolving segregation in public and private accommodations
Consistent denial of legal protections and civil liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights
De Jure in the South → De Facto in the North and West
Jim Crow Examples
Accomplishments of Reconstruction
Permanent destruction of legal slavery
Guarantee that slavery would not expand westward
Immediate, blanket citizenship for African-Americans
Promise of full legal and political equality for African-Americans
Promise of a more just society free of racism.
Laws and Constitution rewritten to incorporate equal citizenship.
Mobilization of African-Americans:
Education
Economy
Military
Voters
Reconstruction Amendments
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Pre-Brown Developments/Decisions
Race and the Justice System
Lynching
Fallout of Plessy
Jury Exclusion
Apathetic legal defense
Systemic Bias
Origins of Lynching Culture in the U.S. → The Mob
The Elaine Massacre
Rights of the Accused
Habeas Corpus
Procedural Due Process, Equal Protection
The right to trial by jury;
The right to trial in a timely manner;
The right to be informed of the nature and cause of all accusations against you;
The right to confront witnesses against you;
The right to have legal counsel available to you; and
The right to compel witnesses to testify on your behalf.
Protection against excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment.
Moore v. Dempsey (1923)
1st case related to treatment of African-Americans by criminal justice system.
1919 Arkansas
Meeting of Black Tenant Farmers Union
White RR security guard killed
Governor deploys federal troops
Race Riot kills nearly 200 blacks
Round-up, torture, indictments, and prosecution → 12 defendants sentenced to death
Irregular efforts by counsel
Trial swarmed by mobs of armed whites.
Investigation and NAACP appeal
Habeas Petition and alleged violation of Due Process Clause of 14th Amendment
6 -2 Decision
Significance:
Wider use of habeas to oversee state court convictions
Stricter scrutiny by Supreme Court of state criminal trials to ensure BoR compliance
Reduced capacity for local denial.
Walter F. White
Powell v. Alabama (1932)
First of the Scottsboro Boys Cases
Alleged Rape on freight train → Fight, eventual retraction
Denied legal counsel or contact with families
9 sentenced to death
All white jury.
Major Question: Did the trials of the Scottsboro Boys violate the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment?
7 -2 Decision
Excerpt
Norris v. Alabama (1935)
Second of the Scottsboro Boys Cases
Retrial after first Powell.
Focused on the issue of the systematic exclusion of African-Americans from jury service.
8 - 0 Decision
Larger Significance:
Changing Constitutional view of racial discrimination.
All-white juries were commonplace and not considered unconstitutional.
Racial diversity and proportionality necessitated
Which branch of government should be responsible for social change?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of changes to laws that are Constitutional? Legislative?
What is the difference between the following:
Executive Orders/Actions
Legislation
Judicial Decisions
Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)
Missouri
Restrictive Covenants on properties
“People of the Negro or Mongolian Race” prevented from occupying specific properties
“Ran with the land”
Kraemer sued to prevent Shelley family from occupying the purchased home.
Lower Courts → Constitutional because restrictive covenants were individual actions.
Major Question(s):
Are racially based restrictive covenants legal under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution?
Can they be enforced by a court of law?
6 - 3 Decision