Minority Rights Revolution: Women, Latinos, and Civil Rights

Introduction: Civil Rights Beyond African-Americans

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s brought about several concordant social changes in the United States. What began as primarily an attempt to liberate African-Americans from continued systematic oppression — in the form of school segregation and Jim Crow laws — turned out to be as much of a boon to American women and minority groups other than blacks, especially Latinos. Among the issues shared in common by all oppressed groups were voting rights, equal access to education, and equal employment opportunities. Creating social programs and institutions to provide especially for the needs of all minority groups was a logical extension of the Civil Rights movement, which appealed to women and Latinos as well as to African-Americans.

The design of blanket institutions and legislation was certainly a step in the right direction, as oppressed groups do suffer from similar forms and consequences of discrimination. However, as John D. Skrentny points out in his book Minority Rights Revolution, the needs and experiences of women and Latinos differed in some significant ways from the needs and experiences of African-Americans. As the author states in the book's introduction, "Being analogous to blacks served as an initial classification, but groups retained distinctiveness. Equal opportunity meant different things depending on the group in question" (Skrentny 13). Moreover, not all minorities are visible minorities: in most cases it is easy to distinguish a woman from a man, or a black person from a white person, but especially within the Latino community, skin color is not necessarily a defining feature of the minority group. Latinos in particular have had to contend with different types of discrimination based on language, while women have faced deeply rooted social prejudices and stereotypes against their entire gender — prejudices that transcend race or ethnicity. Therefore, the creation and evolution of social programs and legislation protecting women and non-black minorities both draws from and diverges from similar initiatives for African-Americans.

Bilingualism and Latino Educational Rights

Skrentny addresses linguistic discrimination and bilingualism in depth in Chapter Seven, "'Learn, Amigo, Learn!' Bilingual Education and Language Rights in the Schools." The author begins the chapter by noting, "Since the mid-1970s, bilingual education has been at the center of a storm over what it means to be an American, the proper role of government, and the nature of American culture" (179). Bilingualism remains at the heart of the minority rights debate and the current quandary over immigration laws. Although many African-Americans are bilingual, bilingualism and linguistic discrimination remain largely outside the experiences of the majority of African-Americans. Therefore, programs and initiatives related to bilingualism had to evolve separately from those that pertained to broader civil rights issues.

In some cases, civil rights policies for blacks "also had legacies that were crucial in providing opportunity for advocates of bilingual education" (Skrentny 181). Among the direct contributions of the African-American civil rights movement to bilingualism was the clarification of the role of government and the place of public policy. Like blacks, Latinos could be classified as a minority group and could therefore be treated by the government similarly to African-Americans in terms of the creation of policy initiatives. Second, Skrentny notes that the "black civil rights movement left a legacy for education policy for the disadvantaged," especially after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision (181). Not only did Brown v. Board of Education set the legal precedent for the elimination of overt discrimination in public schools, but the decision also helped change social norms and general American views of minority rights. Finally, the author states that the "most important" impact of the African-American Civil Rights movement on Latino bilingual rights was Title VI of the Civil Rights Act itself (Skrentny 181). Thus, the push for equal education for African-Americans in many ways mirrored the push for equal education for Latino-Americans.

From Brown v. Board of Education to Bilingual Education

Once Latinos were defined as official minorities — as blacks were — they became eligible for the same treatment in matters of educational public policy. Of special interest to the pro-bilingual Latino community was the inclusion of Spanish-language materials in schools. Although bilingualism was not included in the original Brown v. Board of Education decision and was not a major part of African-American civil rights campaigns, it became a significant minority rights issue with similar goals of equal access to public education. Like African-Americans, Latinos demonstrated lower scores on standardized tests in schools. Bilingualism therefore became one way for Latinos to gain equal access to the educational opportunities that their white counterparts enjoyed. Just as schools could no longer legally segregate black and white classrooms, neither could schools neglect to provide instruction for students for whom English was not a first language.

Women and the Civil Rights Framework

Along with the public policies pertaining to African-Americans and Latinos, policy initiatives addressing women were also a part of the overall Civil Rights movement. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 was drafted "to grant equality to women in education" (Skrentny 230). The author describes the pre-civil rights situation in American institutions of higher education: "Many universities had openly discriminatory policies toward women in key areas" (230). In some ways, the gains that African-Americans and Latinos would make in the early years of the civil rights movement would be enjoyed only by males. Women of all colors and ethnic backgrounds had to fight their own battles for equality.

In terms of education, equality for women demanded a revamping of admissions policies as well as the mandatory inclusion of women in athletic activities. Skrentny points out that the African-American struggle for equal rights set the stage for, and was a necessary precursor of, equal rights for women in education. Women might not constitute a numerical minority in the American census as blacks did, but women were like blacks in terms of their social status, access to education, access to jobs, and access to equal pay. It took a long time for public policy to reflect the equation of women with minority groups, even though feminism and civil rights went hand in hand.

Conclusion

While the African-American Civil Rights movement helped to jump-start activism for other oppressed groups in the United States, and while women greatly benefited from their association with the civil rights issues championed by African-Americans, females had a whole set of concerns unique to their gender. Similarly, Latino Americans leveraged the legal and institutional frameworks established by the African-American civil rights movement — particularly Title VI and the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education — but required distinct policy solutions to address linguistic discrimination and unequal access to bilingual education. As Skrentny's analysis makes clear, shared oppression can provide common cause, but effective policy must ultimately reckon with the particular circumstances of each group seeking equality.