Active Citizens 101 - National Service Inclusion Project

Equality and Liberty, cont.
HANDOUT 4.1 (C)-CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
Civil Rights Laws
What are some places in your community
where you see people of different races
together
The Fourteenth Amendment forbids race
discrimination by state and local governments.
But before the 1960s, privately
owned facilities like factories, hotels, and
restaurants did not have to serve or hire
blacks if they didn't want to. Discrimination
was not against the law if it occured on
“private property.”
African Americans wanted new laws to
stop all discrimination. They wanted the
right to have jobs that paid well, to live in
any community, and to go to any hotel or
restaurant. Other Americans agreed and
worked with blacks to fight racism. Together
they asked people to sign petitions and
write letters to Congress. They organized
protest marches of thousands of people.
Often the marchers were attacked by police
or by white people who didn't want
blacks to have equal rights.
Sometimes people wouldn't follow segregation
rules that they thought were unjust.
For example, blacks would sit down in a
restaurant for whites only and ask to be
THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF
TODAY'S FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS:
1. Equal pay for equal work for men and women.
2. No discrimination by race, color, religion or national origin in public places (hotels, restaurants, theaters,
etc.).
3. Disabled people have the right to jobs, education, and business services.
4. No discrimination by race, color, religion, sex or national origin by state and local governments, public
schools, and universities.
5. No discrimination by race, color, sex or national origin in programs that receive money from the federal
government.
6. No discrimination by race, color, religion or national origin in selling or renting most houses and
apartments.
7. Disabled children have a right to a good education.
8. No discrimination against people over 40 years old by businesses with 20 or more employees.
9. No discrimination by sex in schools (sports, teachers, college loans, etc.).
10. No discrimination by race, color, sex, religion or national origin in employment by businesses with
more than 15 employees or by labor unions. If these laws are not obeyed, people can complain to a
government agency or some-times take a case to court.
DRAFT
37