3.10

Standard 3C

Public policy promoting civil rights is influenced by citizen-state interactions and constitutional interpretation over time.

Learning Objective

Explain how constitutional provisions have supported and motivated social movements.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

Civil rights protect individuals from discrimination based on characteristics such as race, national origin, religion, and sex; these rights are guaranteed to all citizens under the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution, as well as acts of Congress.

The leadership and events associated with civil, women’s, and LGBT rights are evidence of how the equal protection clause can support and motivate social movements, as represented by

• Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and the civil rights movement of the 1960s

• The National Organization for Women and the women’s rights movement

• The pro-life (anti-abortion) movement