1) Equality through Law

1. Fourteenth Amendment: Equal Protection: The fourteenth

amendment declared that no state shall deny any person within its

jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The equal protection

clause is a basis for equal protection under the law. However, it was

not effectively applied until later.

a. Segregation in Schools: One famous use of the equal

protection clause was the prohibition of educational segregation.

This came to a head in Brown v. Board of Education, where the

court ruled that separate educational systems are inherently

unequal.
b. Judicial Tests of Equal Protection: There were many judicial

tests that were invoked when the fourteenth amendment was

involved in a case. One such test is the reasonable-basis test,

where the courts require government only to show that a

particular law is reasonable. This does not apply to

race/ethnicity based cases, and in those cases a strict scrutiny

test is invoked. The supreme courts position is that those

classifications are inherently suspect.

2. The Civil Rights act of 1964: The equal-protection clause does not

apply to private parties. As a result, for a long period in American

history, De Facto discrimination was rampant. The Civil Rights act of

1964 protected against that discrimination.

a. The Black Civil Rights Movement: The driving factor behind

the passage of the Act was the Civil Rights Movement. This

movement began when Black soldiers came back and realized

they were fighting for a country that refused to protect them.

 The contradiction was intensified after the Montgomery Bus

Boycott, and the March on Washington put the movement in full

swing.
b. The Movement for Womens Rights: The Black civil rights

movement did help provide a model for liberatory movements of

other groups. Women, however, had been struggling for a long

time. The first well organized attempt to promote womens

rights came in Seneca falls, in 1848. This culminated in the 19 th

amendment, Equal Pay act of 1963, Title 9 of the education

amendment, and Title 7 of the Civil Rights act of 1964

c. Hispanic Americans and the Farm Workers Strikes: Cesar

Chavez led a series of workers strikes that protested long hours,

low pay, and poor housing for migrant workers. Chavez was

ultimately successful in his fight, but Patterson believes his

movement failed
d. Native Americans and Their Long-Delayed Rights: Native

Americans have basically been colonized, murdered, and

genocided by settlers in the US. They never received full rights,

and only recently (1973) have had better control over their

reservations.
e. Asian Americans and Immigration: The Coolie trade was

largely ignored by those in the US, and Patterson also ignores

the struggles of Asian Americans.

3. The Voting Rights Act of 1965: African Americans were

discriminated throughout the US in elections, enduring poll taxes, and

rigged literacy tests. The Voting Rights act protects against

discrimination in these elections.

 4. The Civil Rights act of 1968: This legislation prevented housing

discrimination and tried to promote diversity. Although it did prevent

discrimination, housing is still highly segregated, and the redline still

exists.
5. Affirmative Action: This is a highly contested issue in the US,

especially in colleges. It has generally been defended in colleges, but

not in public funding of minority projects.

2) The Continuing Struggle for Equality

1. African Americans: Post-Civil Rights movement there is still

discrimination in the US. Specifically, Black people are faced with mass

incarceration, higher rates of poverty, and the aftermath of red-lining.

Patterson is kind of racist here, and he attributes these issues to the

stereotype of an absent father, citing no statistics whatsoever.