Equal Protection

Paper Summary:

This paper deals with the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, providing a brief history behind it and citing cases of disputes between a slave and a person claiming to be his owner that were brought to the Supreme Court. The author concludes the paper with the notion that while these decisions may have helped ensure actual Equal Protection, they can also help recreate the danger that true, oppressed minorities, in a country that still actively embraces racism, may once again be relegated to a secondary status in the social arena.

From the Paper:

"The Supreme Court has played a pivotal role in race relations in the United States. It began by supporting the institution of slavery, going so far as to invalidate an act of Congress that intended to limit the spread of slavery in the United States. The Court's support of racial oppression did not end with the end of slavery. On the contrary, even after the conclusion of the Civil War, when the laws clearly supported the equality of the races, the Supreme Court's decisions did not always support equal protection. However, by the time of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, the Court had begun to take an activist role in civil rights, which may be the only reason that there have been any meaningful advances in civil rights and race relations."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954).
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
• Civil Rights Act of 1875, 18 Stat. Part III, p. 335 (Act of Mar. 1, 1875).
• Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003).
• Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).

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