DOCSLIB.ORG

Race and Gender Discrimination: a Historical Case for Equal Treatment Under the Fourteenth Amendment

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Race and Gender Discrimination: a Historical Case for Equal Treatment Under the Fourteenth Amendment RACE AND GENDER DISCRIMINATION: A HISTORICAL CASE FOR EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT SANDRA L. RIERSON" It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citi- zens, but we, the whole people, who formed this Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people-women as well as men. -Susan B. Anthony' Under the common law of both England and the United States, a mar- ried woman enjoyed a legal status only slightly better than that of a slave. Until the mid-nineteenth century, in no state could a married American woman own property, make a will, inherit, sue or be sued, enter into a contract, or exercise any other of her most basic civil rights. Even single and widowed women, many of whom owned large amounts of property, were deprived of political rights: they could not vote, hold office, or sit on a jury. The gradual dissolution of women's inferior legal status began with the passage of married women's property laws, beginning before the Civil War and continuing throughout the twentieth century. In an even more brutal fashion, the institution of slavery stripped Black Americans of all their human, civil, political, and social rights.' In Dred Scott v. Sanford the Supreme Court determined that, even if Blacks were "free," they were not "citizens" of the United States.3 This Supreme Court ruling was superseded by the passage of the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Amendments in 1865 and 1868 respectively, in which Congress emancipated Blacks, expressly granted them citizenship status, and sought to protect their civil rights. * B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1989; J.D., Yale Law School, 1992; law clerk to Judge Richard A. Gadbois, United States District Court for the Central District of California, 1992; Associate, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Oliver, Los Angeles. 1. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, 2 HISTORY OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE: 1861-1876, at 632 (Amo Press ed., 1969) (1881). 2. In this Article, I have used the term "Black" when referring to persons of African heritage living in the United States, rather than "African-American". I realize that "African- American" more accurately describes such persons today, but given the historical context of this Article, the term did not seem appropriate. During much of the time period discussed in this Article, Blacks in the United States were enslaved. Even when they were technically "free", the Supreme Court refused to recognize their national citizenship. I therefore question whether Blacks in the United States would have considered themselves to be "African-Ameri- cans" during this time period. 3. 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393, 416 (1857). 90 DUKE JOURNAL OF GENDER LAW & POLICY Volume 1:89 1994 Congress did not extend the political rights of citizenship to Black males until it adopted the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. Until this development, advocates of women's rights in the nineteenth century considered Black males' legal status to be equal to their own-that of "second-class citi- zens"-citizens with some civil, but no political rights.' The Woman's Move- ment, led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, began as a counterpart to and an ally of the Abolition Movement. However, when Con- gress amended the Constitution to forbid discrimination in voting on the basis of race-but not on the basis of gender-the alliance abruptly ended. This Article does not argue that women of all races and Black men have experienced identical levels of oppression in American society, nor that the relationship between husband and wife in the nineteenth century was perfectly analogous to that of master and slave. In theory, a husband's love for his wife should have prevented him from abusing the legal superiority that he enjoyed over her.' Few would suggest that such a bond existed be- tween the slave and his master.6 Yet historically, women and Blacks in America have shared a common experience, especially in the context of those rights protected by the Four- teenth Amendment. Sexism and racism in American society have prevented women of all races and Black men from enjoying the rights-civil, social, and political-to which they are entitled under the Constitution. Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that all United States citizens are entitled to the "Privileges and Immunities" of that citizenship (civil rights), and that all persons are entitled to "Due Process" and "Equal Protection" of 4. Race and sex are clearly not mutually exclusive categories. It seems patently obvious that at least half of all Blacks are female. Yet although half of all slaves were women, the Fifteenth Amendment's protection against disenfranchisement on the grounds of "previous condition of servitude" only extended to those Blacks who were men. The Woman's Movement has historically failed adequately to address the needs of Black women. Angela P. Harris comments on modern feminists' tendency to perpetuate this failure. See Angela P. Harris, Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory, 42 STAN. L. REV. 581, 581- 616 (1990). These issues became particularly relevant recently in the context of Justice Clarence Thomas' Senate confirmation hearings and the role played in those hearings by Professor Anita Hill. See Christine Stansell, White Feminists and Black Realities: The Politics of Authenticity, in RACE-ING JUSTICE, EN-GENDERING POWER: ESSAYS ON ANITA HILL, CLARENCE THOMAS, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL REALITY 251-268 (Toni Morrison ed., 1992); Kimberle Crenshaw, Whose Story Is It Anyway-Feminist and Antiracist Appropriations of Anita Hill, in RACE-NG Jus- TICE, supra at 402, 403-406. 5. Nineteenth century women's rights advocates argued that it did not. They challenged the ideal vision of marriage and motherhood popularized in this era. With regard to the holy bond of matrimony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote, "lilt is folly to talk of the sacredness of marriage and maternity, while the wife is practically regarded as ... a slave." ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, The Arena, in EIGHTY YEARS AND MORE: REMINISCENCES 1815-1897, at 230 (Schoken Books ed., 1971) (1898) [hereinafter REMINISCENCES]. 6. Although the notion that a slave loved his master in the same way that a wife loved her husband is perverse and false, much of Southern literature and culture reflects that society's desire to indulge in this illusion and to romanticize slavery. Civil War scenes from GONE WITH THE WIND depicted loyal enslaved house servants fighting to protect their master, rather than joining forces with the "Damn Yankees." See MARGARET MITCHELL, GONE WITH THE WIND (1936). The silent film BIRTH OF A NATION (Hollywood Home Theater 1980) (1915), presented the Civil War in a similar fashion. RACE AND GENDER 91 the laws.7 In interpreting these clauses of the Constitution, courts have ac- knowledged the effects of racism on Blacks and all other racial minorities.8 However, the deleterious effects of sexism on women have been discounted. This Article argues that the judiciary should use strict scrutiny when reviewing discrimination based on sex as well as when reviewing discrimi- nation based on race. Sexism and racism are pervasive prejudices that have been nurtured and encouraged by our laws. Each has been manifested and maintained by the law in the past, hence the need for the law to rectify the effects of this discrimination in the present. I. THEORETICAL PARALLELS BETWEEN RACE AND SEX DISCRIMINATION In his essay, The Subjection of Women, John Stuart Mill constructs many theoretical parallels between the status of women and Blacks in Western society.' He notes that "[liaws and systems of polity always begin by recognising the relations they find already existing between individuals. They convert what was a mere physical fact into a legal right . "" Mill argues in this manner that the underpinnings of slavery advanced from the simple rule of "might makes right" to the level of legal right and contract, whereby one race subjugated another. By this same evolutionary process the common law of "Husband and Wife" codified man's rule over woman. An anonymous seventeenth-century English legal scholar made the following analogy: When a small brooke or little river incorporateth with Rhodanus, Humber, or the Thames, the poor rivulet looseth her name .... See here the rea- son ... that women have no voice in Parliament. They make no laws, they consent to none, they abrogate none. All of them are understood either mar- ried, or to be married, and their desires are to their husbands." For centuries the subordinate status of both slaves and women in America was considered to be the natural state of society predestined by Divine will, 2 and recognized as such by the United States Supreme Court. With respect to slavery, Chief Justice Taney observed in Dred Scott that, when the Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, the legitimacy of slavery "was ... fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white 7. U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, §1. 8. The Supreme Court extended strict scrutiny analysis to include minorities other than Blacks early in the history of its Equal Protection analysis. It provided little explanation for this expansion of Fourteenth Amendment protection. See, e.g., Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886) (applying strict scrutiny analysis to racial discrimination against Asians). 9. John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women, in ESSAYS ON SEx EQUALITY 125 (Alice S. Rossi ed., 1970). 10. Id. at 130. 11. The Lawoes Resolutions of Women's Rights, in ESSAYS ON SEX EQUALITY, supra note 9, at 53.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Legal Analysis
    Maya Hertig Randall Catherine Imbeck Professor Doctoral research Faculty of Law fellow University of Geneva Faculty of Law University of Geneva The IHRA working definition of antisemitism: a legal analysis 6 November 2020 Legal opinion provided at the request of the Service for Combating Racism at the Federal Department of Home Affairs This legal analysis expresses the personal opinions of the authors and does not reflect the position of any other person or organisation. Mandate and context ............................................................................................................................................ 2 I. Executive summary ........................................................................................................................................... 3 II. Analysis of the working definition .................................................................................................................. 6 A. Introductory remarks .......................................................................................................................... 6 B. Structure of the broad definition ............................................................................................................ 7 C Core definition ..................................................................................................................................... 8 D. Examples ...........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee
    Social Education 83(6), p. 356–360 ©2019 National Council for the Social Studies Teaching with Documents Suffrage, Activism, and Education in the Era of Chinese Exclusion: Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee Sara Lyons Davis The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, a year after being passed by ment, Mabel Lee settled with her fam- Congress. It extended the right to vote to many women, but not all. Excluded from ily in New York City. Her father, Lee this landmark constitutional victory were women like Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, who Too, founded the First Chinese Baptist was born in Guangzhou (then Canton), China, in 1896, but who immigrated to New Church and worked as an educator and York as a child. leader of the Chinese Christian Center on Pell Street, run by the New York City New York State had long been a restrictions on their ability to enter Baptist Mission Society.3 Lee Too’s pro- site of activism in support of women’s and exit the country, and were prohib- ficiency in English and connections with rights, dating from the 1848 Seneca ited from naturalizing. The Chinese the religious community, both acquired Falls Convention. In November 1917, Exclusion Act initially mandated a through his missionary school educa- New York extended the right to vote ten-year moratorium on Chinese immi- tion, advanced his family’s standing into to women. Lee, however, was excluded gration by laborers, but was ultimately what was considered the merchant class. from becoming a U.S. citizen under the extended by the Geary Act, and was later This offered additional opportunities restrictive Chinese Exclusion Act, and, made permanent, in 1902.1 By the 1920s, and somewhat fewer restrictions under as such, was not allowed to vote at either Congress adopted more comprehensive the Chinese Exclusion Act.4 the state or federal level, even when the immigration restrictions, including As a child, Mabel Lee attended public 19th Amendment was ratified.
    [Show full text]
  • ' Dangers and Delusions'?
    UCL LIBRARY SERVICES ‘ Dangers and Delusions’? Perspectives on the women’s suffrage movement An exhibition of material from UCL Special Collections February – December 2018 ‘Dangers and Delusions’? Perspectives on the women’s suffrage movement An exhibition of material from UCL Special Collections February – December 2018 #dangersanddelusions Preface The movement calling for women’s right to vote in the United Kingdom was drawn out over several decades and generated intense differences of opinion, not only between those for and against electoral equality, but also within pro- and anti-suffrage campaigns. This exhibition draws on items held in UCL Special Collections – satirical commentaries, campaign literature, personal notes and petitions – to examine the actions and reactions surrounding the case for universal suffrage, from the 1860s up to the fi rst legislative step towards equality for women: the Representation of the People Act, 1918. 4 | ‘Dangers and Delusions’? Introduction | 5 Introduction Coming in to force one hundred years ago, the Representation of rejected by a vote of 194 to 73. Right up to his death a few years later Mill remained the People Act, 1918 granted the vote in Britain to some women a strong supporter of women’s suffrage, as illustrated by a letter to UCL Professor over the age of 30. The long-running suffrage campaign that led George Croom Robertson. to this change has strong resonance and interest for us today, In 1865 the National Society for Women’s Suffrage was formed to bring together although when it first began in the 1860s ‘the Cause’ was of no local suffrage societies.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring Race and Privilege
    Exploring Race and Privilege Exploring Race and Privilege presents materials on culturally responsive supervision from the second of a three‐part series designed for supervisors in teacher education. This series was developed in partnership with Dr. Tanisha Brandon‐ Felder, a consultant in professional development on equity pedagogy. This document contains handouts, planning tools, readings, and other materials to provide field supervisors with a scaffolded experience to improve their ability for culturally responsive supervision. The following materials build on the trust and community developed through the first set of activities The Power of Identity. Exploration of race and concepts such as white privilege will necessitate shared understanding of language and norms for conversation. 1. Understanding the Language of Race and Diversity 2. Ground Rules for Conversation 3. Color Line Instructions 4. Color Line Handout 5. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh Understanding the Language of Race and Diversity Terms we all need to know: PREJUDICE Pre‐judgment, bias DISCRIMINATION Prejudice + action OPPRESSION Discrimination + systemic power. (Systemic advantage based on a particular social identity.) Racism = oppression based race‐ the socially constructed meaning attached to a variety of physical attributes including but not limited to skin and eye color, hair texture, and bone structure of people in the US and elsewhere. racism‐ the conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional, enactment of racial power, grounded in racial prejudice, by an individual or group against another individual or group perceived to have lower racial status. Types of racism: Internalized Racism Lies within individuals. Refers to private beliefs and biases about race and racism.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Exceptions to Universal Suffrage: Disability and the Right to Vote
    Making Exceptions to Universal Suffrage: Disability and the Right to Vote Kay Schriner, University of Arkansas Lisa Ochs, Arkansas State University In C.E. Faupel & P.M. Roman (Eds.), Encyclopedia of criminology and deviant behavior 179-183. London: Taylore & Francis. 2000. The history of Western representative democracies is marked by disputes over who constitutes the electorate. In the U.S., where states have the prerogative of establishing voter qualifications, categories such as race and gender have been used during various periods to disqualify millions of individuals from participating in elections. These restrictions have long been considered an infamous example of the failings of democratic theorists and practitioners to overcome the prejudices of their time. Less well-known is the common practice of disenfranchising other large numbers of adults. Indeed, very few American citizens are aware that there are still two groups who are routinely targeted for disenfranchisement - criminals and individuals with disabilities. These laws, which arguably perpetuate racial and disability discrimination, are vestiges of earlier attempts to cordon off from democracy those who were believed to be morally and intellectually inferior. This entry describes these disability-based disenfranchisements, and briefly discusses the political, economic, and social factors associated with their adoption. Disenfranchising People with Cognitive and Emotional Impairments Today, forty-four states disenfranchise some individuals with cognitive and emotional impairments. States use a variety of categories to identify such individuals, including idiot, insane, lunatic, mental incompetent, mental incapacitated, being of unsound mind, not quiet and peaceable, and under guardianship and/or conservatorship. Fifteen states disenfranchise individuals who are idiots, insane, and/or lunatics.
    [Show full text]
  • Soviet Democracy
    SOVIET DEMOCRACY by Harry E Ward SOVIET RUSSIA TODAY New York 1947 NOTE ON THE AUTHOR Dr. Harry F. Ward is Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary. He has spent considerable time in the Soviet Union and has writ- ten and lectured extensively on the Soviet Union. His books include In Place af Profit, Democracy and Social Change and The Soviet Spirit. The cover is by Lynd Ward, son of the author, dis- tinguished American artist who is known for his novels in pictures and for his book illustrations. - i 5.1 12.$fiW Photos, excem where otherwise in icated v cour- tesy of the ~xhibitsDepartment of the ~atiohai~oun- cil of American-Soviet Friendship. A PUB1,ICATION OF SOVIET RUSSIA TODAY 114 East ~2ndSt., New York i6, N. Y. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 209 CHAPTER I THE ECONOMIC BASE URING 1945 and 1946 the Soviet press carried on an extensive discussion of Soviet democracy-what it is D. and how it works. This discussion began as an edu- cational preparation for the election of the Supreme So- viet. It continued in response to much talk here about "dif- ferent ideas of democracy" that arose from disagreements in the United Nations and in the occupation of enemy coun- tries. Soviet writers point out that underneath such differ- ences over procedures is the historic fact that theirs is a so- cialist democracy. This, they tell their readers, makes it a higher form than capitalist democracy. They mean higher in the ongoing of the democratic process not merely as a form of government, but a cooperative way of life through which more and more of the people of the earth, by increas- ing their control over both nature and human society, emancipate themselves from famine, pestilence and war, as well as from tyranny.
    [Show full text]
  • ECRI Annual Report 2019
    Photos: Shutterstock @ECRI_CoE www.coe.int/ecri Strasbourg, March 2020 Preface ............................................................................5 Main trends ......................................................................7 ECRI's activities in 2019 ................................................ 16 1. Country-by-country approach .............................. 16 2. Work on general themes ..................................... 18 3. Relations with civil society .................................. 18 4. ECRI’s 25th Anniversary High-level Conference . 20 5. Cooperation with equality bodies to combat racism and racial discrimination ............................................ 22 6. Other activities .................................................... 22 7. Communication strategy ..................................... 23 Co-operation with relevant bodies of the Council of Europe and other international organisations ................ 25 Appendix I – Membership of ECRI ................................. 31 Appendix II – Secretariat of ECRI .................................. 39 Appendix III - Meetings held by ECRI in 2019 .............. 41 Appendix IV - List of publications ................................... 43 3 Preface The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is a mechanism which was established by the first Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe member states. The decision to establish ECRI is contained in the Vienna Declaration adopted by the first Summit on 9 October 1993. On
    [Show full text]
  • Reproductive Injustice Racial and Gender Discrimination in U.S
    REPRODUCTIVE INJUSTICE RACIAL AND GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN U.S. HEALTH CARE Cover photo credit: Jennifer Whitney, jennwhitney.com. Cover photo caption: Pilar could not afford surgery in the U.S. to remove a tumor that developed after the birth of her last child. A last minute trip to a doctor in Mexico saved her life, but she was forced to risk her life once again to cross the border and be reunited with her children. Center for Reproductive Rights ReproductiveRights.org NuestroTexas.org For 20 years, the Center for Reproductive Rights has used the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill. National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health LatinaInstitute.org NuestroTexas.org The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health is the only national reproductive justice organization dedicated to building Latina power to advance health, dignity, and justice for 25 million Latinas, their families, and communities in the United States through leadership development, REPRODUCTIVE INJUSTICE community mobilization, policy advocacy, and strategic communications. SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective SisterSong.net RACIAL AND GENDER DISCRIMINATION SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective formed in 1997 as a national membership organization to build an effective network of IN U.S. HEALTH CARE individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the lives of marginalized women. SisterSong’s mission is to A Shadow Report for the UN Committee on the Elimination of strengthen and amplify the collective voices of Indigenous women and women of color to achieve reproductive justice by eradicating reproductive Racial Discrimination oppression and securing human rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Universal Suffrage Does Not Exist: If You Are a Foreign National, You Cannot Vote
    CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS, VOTING RIGHTS, MIGRATION AND MOBILITY Universal suffrage does not exist: if you are a foreign national, you cannot vote Alba Cuevas A young migrant waiting to regularize his situation shows his passport of origin. Photography by Jordi Borràs Racism is a form of exclusion, segregation, discrimination and aggression on the basis of ethnic or national origin, skin colour, religious belief or cultural practices. It is not just an ideology: it is also a systematic and routine practice that seeks to maintain a power structure. Introduction Racism and denial of rights Racism manifests itself in institutional relationships and also in daily life; it is produced and reproduced constantly. It is structural, deeply rooted in a past of slavery, plunder, usurpation, domination and exploitation within the context of colonial modernity [1]. Racism is present in many aspects and areas of many people’s lives, and always constitutes the infringement and/or restriction of a right, including the right to be recognised as equal to others, the right to dignity, the right to access and/or exercise other rights such as PÀGINA 1 / 9 employment rights, the right to housing, the right to live with one’s family, and more. It is also an infringement of political and participatory rights, such as the right to vote and stand for elected office. Infringement of the political rights of the foreign population [2] Civil and political rights are fundamental rights, and therefore play a key role in the comprehensive personal development of the individual. They are also closely related to the development of a sense of belonging, of forming part of a political and social community, and have a political and transformative content, which, in turn, impacts on the individual’s willingness to involve themselves in collective activities.
    [Show full text]
  • Confronting & Critiquing White Privilege in Anti- Discrimination Enforcement
    Confronting & Critiquing White Privilege in Anti-Discrimination Enforcement CONFRONTING & CRITIQUING WHITE PRIVILEGE IN ANTI- DISCRIMINATION ENFORCEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….. 2 PART I: DEFINITIONS & FRAMEWORKS …………………………………………... 5 PART II: PERSONAL CONTEXT ……………………………………………………... 9 PART III: ANTI-DISCRIMINATION WORK & WHITE PRIVILEGE ……………... 13 Part III.A: Personal Obstacles ………………………………………………….. 13 Part III.B: Legal Obstacles ……………………………………………………... 16 PART IV: COMBATTING WHITE PRIVILEGE IN ANTI-DISCRIMINATION WORK……………………………………………………. 23 Part IV.A: Theoretical Techniques to Confronting White Privilege …………... 23 Part IV.B: The Importance of Confronting White Privilege …………………… 26 Part IV.C: Utilizing the MCAD & the ICHRC Techniques……………………. 29 PART V: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………… 3 1 Confronting & Critiquing White Privilege in Anti-Discrimination Enforcement INTRODUCTION Approximately three months after I started working as a full-time compliance officer for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (the MCAD), I found myself in a situation that I had only passingly considered as a White, 23-year old woman: my White 1 privilege. I was the investigator assigned to conduct intake that day, meaning that if an individual came into the office and wanted to discuss an issue or, more likely, file a complaint of discrimination with the Commission, he or she met with me. It was approximately 4:30 p.m. and, as the office closes at 5:00 p.m. and intakes require between 45 minutes to two hours to conduct, it was past the time investigators usually begin interviews. When I was called to the front desk to speak with the person who had arrived, I met a tall, middle-aged African American woman who was dressed in traditional business attire.
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons Learned from the Suffrage Movement
    University of Baltimore Law ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law All Faculty Scholarship Faculty Scholarship 6-3-2020 Lessons Learned From the Suffrage Movement Margaret E. Johnson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/all_fac Part of the Law Commons Johnson, Margaret 6/3/2020 For Educational Use Only LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT, 2 No. 1 Md. B.J. 115 2 No. 1 Md. B.J. 115 Maryland Bar Journal 2020 Margaret E. Johnsona1 PROFESSOR OF LAW, ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE SCHOOL OF LAW Copyright © 2020 by Maryland Bar Association; Margaret E. Johnson LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT “Aye.” And with that one word, Tennessee Delegate Harry Burn changed his vote to one in favor of ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment after receiving a note from his mother stating “‘Hurrah and vote for suffrage .... don’t forget to be a good boy ....”’1 *116 With Burn’s vote on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, paving the way for its adoption.2 The Nineteenth Amendment protects the female citizens’ constitutional right to vote.3 Prior to its passage, only a few states permitted women to vote in state and/or local elections.4 In 2020, we celebrate the Centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment’s passage. This anniversary provides a time to reflect upon lessons learned from the suffrage movement including that (1) voting rights matter; (2) inclusive movements matter; and (3) voting rights matter for, but cannot solely achieve, gender equality.
    [Show full text]
  • Expanding Voting Rights to All Citizens in the Era of Mass Incarceration
    Expanding Voting Rights to All Citizens in the Era of Mass Incarceration In order to strengthen democracy and address significant racial disparities, states must pass reforms establishing universal voting for people impacted by the criminal legal system. 5.2 million people in the United States are currently Disenfranchised People in U.S. Prisons, 2020 denied access to the vote because of a felony convic- tion. The number of people disenfranchised has grown, Total: 1.2 million from 1.2 million in 1976, as a product of mass incar- ceration and supervision. Of people denied the vote, 1 one in four (1,240,000) are currently incarcerated. While Latinx many states have expanded access to the vote for 17% people who have completed their sentences, only DC has joined Maine, Vermont, and Puerto Rico by granting Black full voting rights to people in prison. In order to strength- 39% en democracy and address significant racial disparities, All Others states must pass reforms establishing universal voting 44% for people impacted by the criminal legal system. The United States maintains far greater restrictions on voting while in prison than any other democratic country in the world. The Supreme Court of Canada has twice ruled in favor of protecting voting rights for people in As the United States maintains the highest incarceration prison, stating that the “denial of the right to vote on rate and largest prison population in the world, outdat- the basis of attributed moral unworthiness is inconsis- ed and undemocratic voting restrictions continue to tent with the respect for the dignity of every person that dilute political representation.
    [Show full text]