Oklahoma State University – Oklahoma City
American Government POLS1113-20470
Lecture Note
Spring 2022
Lecture 5
Contents: cover materials in Chapter 5 – Civil Rights
American Government
Lecture Notes #5
During tumultuous times of the civil rights movement wondered why I couldn’t eat at my choice
restaurants. Mother would take my siblings and me to John A. Brown’s department store in downtown
Oklahoma City on Saturday. This particular Saturday, we were getting new shoes, and we were excited
about being downtown because we lived in rural Oklahoma in a small town called Spencer. Kip’s Big Boy
Burger restaurant caught my eye with its plumb mascot in a chef outfit carrying a hamburger over his
head while smiling. After shopping with mom and my siblings, I was staving, and I wanted one of those
burgers that mascot displayed on his tray. When I asked mom if we could go and get a burger, she
gently replied we could go to Al’s Hamburgers joint on the northeast side. In the black section of
Oklahoma City, she did not refer to why I couldn’t eat at Kip’s. I wondered why I could have a burger
and fries at Kip’s. Until one day, a local television program answered my question. A lunch counter sit-
in at Kip was unfolding with Clara Luper, and her youth squad staged at the countertop in Kip’s
restaurant. I wanted to eat a hamburger at the same burger joint after completing our shopping that
Saturday. My first indirect encounter with discrimination and an abrupt introduction to the civil rights
movement in Oklahoma.
The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment gives all people and groups in the United
States the right to be treated equally regardless of individual attributes. That logic has been expanded in
the twenty-first century to cover attributes such as race, color, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation,
religion, and disability. People may still be treated unequally by the government, but only if there is at
least a rational basis for it , such as a disability that makes a person unable to perform the essential
functions required by a job, or if a person is too young to be trusted with an important responsibility,
like driving safely. If the characteristic on which discrimination is based is related to sex, race, or
ethnicity, the reason for it must serve, respectively, an important government interest or a compelling
government interest.
Following the Civil War and the freeing of all laves by the Thirteenth Amendment, a Republican Congress
hoped to protect the freedmen from vengeful southern whites by passing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments, granting them citizenship and guaranteeing equal protection under the law and the right
to vote (for Black men). The end of Reconstruction, however allowed white Southerners to regain
control of the South’s political and legal system and institute openly discriminatory Jim Crow laws.
While some early efforts to secure civil right were successful, the greatest gains came after World War II.
Through a combination of lawsuits, Congressional act, and direct action (such a President Truman’s
executive order to desegregate the U.S. military), African American regained their voting rights and were
guaranteed protection against discrimination in employment. Schools and public accommodations were
desegregated. While much has been achieved, the struggle for equal treatment continues.
