General Discussion [Of the Civil Rights Mini-Unit]
1. Compare and contrast the situations outlined in the following documents with the guarantees of the 14th Amendment. What can you conclude about the relationship between interpretation of the Constitution and prevailing social attitudes at the time?
2. Discuss the roles of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Government in the regulation of our lives and social customs. Consider such areas of involvement as education, rights of the accused, abortion, death with dignity, voting practices, and privacy.
3. Discuss the nature of the relationship between State and Federal Governments as revealed in the documents. Consider how citizenship has come to be defined.
4. Discuss the role of precedents and landmark cases in lawmaking.
5. Compare and contrast the impact of a constitutional amendment and that of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Why are women seeking a constitutional amendment to protect their rights?
6. What are the rights of minorities in a nation of immigrants, such as the United States? What have these rights been in the past and how might they evolve in the future? To what extent should minority rights be protected? How do the rights of minorities impinge upon rights of the majority?
7. Discrimination is often built into our institutional practices: for example, Jim Crow laws, voting restrictions, and housing patterns. What is the role of legislation with respect to institutional discrimination? What is the relationship between institutional discrimination and the practices of individuals toward members of minority groups?
8. Is there such a thing as a bad law? How might you define "bad" in the context of these documents? How do opinions vary among your students on the nature of a bad law? Is civil disobedience justified?
9. What constraints and limitations exist in carrying out constitutional guarantees?
10. What is affirmative action?
11. List several Federal policies directed at minority groups or women that you would classify as affirmative action programs. Consider each program in view of the following:
a. At what group(s) was the policy directed?
b. Why was the policy initiated?
c. What were the goals or objectives of the program?
d. To what extent were those goals achieved?
12. To obtain a basis for understanding the need for affirmative action programs directly related to education, students might research the history of minority education in the United States and might consider groups such as blacks, American Indians, and Mexican Americans.
13. Review the time line. What does it indicate about the status of blacks from 1865 to the present? Does it seem adequate as an overview of the status of blacks, other minorities, or women? Why, or why not? Does there appear to be repetition in the laws or policies included?