Social Sciences - American Institutions 1700:
American Civilizations
To satisfy the American Institutions General Education requirement, I took Chris Case's American Institutions 1700 course in the Fall semester of 2016. Why I chose American Institutions 1700 over any other qualifying course, was the fact that I desired to learn more about American history and events at the college level, and gain the ability to think critically about history. My thoughts going into the course were that it would probably be one of the most interesting, insightful and fun classes I would take in the Fall semester. I had this impression, because I have always loved learning about History, and the teacher is such a free-spirited, unconventional, and friendly guy that you can't help but enjoy the class. Also, because his lectures are interactive, and you can tell he cares about what he teaches the students and wants to make us think critically about history. Challenges I faced were mostly speaking up in debates, and actively participating in the class by answering and asking questions. For this course, I am submitting my Historical Reflection Essay on The Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the signature assignment.
Signature Assignment: Historical Event Position Paper on The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Historical Event Position Paper Reflection
How the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are still relevant today is that through these two legislative acts, we now have our modern day diversified world, where everyone regardless of race or ethnic heritage can use public accommodations freely and vote in elections. Additionally, it has lead to the United States becoming greater as a nation since we now foster a more inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds can receive an education, and exchange unique ideas and opinions, leading to new perspectives in the workplace and society being explored and adopted. This gain is because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred discrimination in education and employment based on gender, race, and religion, which were all factors that had been used to suppress meaningful employment and career opportunities from specific groups in the past. Through the act women and minorities started to enter the professional workforce, and demand that they receive the same advancement opportunities as anyone else, which has lead to some CEOs and business professionals being of a minority race or gender. Nevertheless, the United States does still have work to do on the front of more women and minorities being CEO’s or top executives, since according to fortune.com, only 4.2 percent of CEO positions in America’s 500 biggest companies are held by women, and minorities hold only 4 percent.
Another reason the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are still relevant in the modern era is the fact that they set a precedent for subsequent legislation to come including the Equality Act of 2016. The Equality Act hopes to remedy the fact that thirty-two states still lack fully-inclusive non-discrimination protections for those in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community according to the Human Rights Campaign website. Meaning that despite the prior marriage equality ruling of June 26, 2015, these individuals can still face discrimination or termination from their job simply for exercising their right to marry their significant other or projecting outwardly what gender they truly identify as in the case of transgender persons.
The Equality Act of 2016, would include sexual orientation and gender identity into the categories prohibited from workplace discrimination, in addition to amending the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and jury selection standards to add sexual orientation and gender identity as classes protected against discrimination under such laws. It would also protect individuals in the gay community from discrimination in public accommodations just like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did for African-American citizens, along with protection from being denied admission to, or expulsion from a public college or university based on sexual orientation or gender identity. As one can see The Equality Act has several of the same protections built into it to protect the gay community from discrimination as were incorporated into the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Regardless of one’s opinion about the gay community or gay/transgender people in general, it is clear that the fight for everyone to be safe from discrimination in the workplace and public accommodations based on characteristics they cannot change is not over.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is related to a section of my Essentials of College Study course (Edu-1020) on diversity since the Act is what integrated our public school systems and public accommodations, leading these areas to become more diverse in population when it comes to racial and ethnic groups. Furthermore, it also relates to a section of the same class on privilege since the same gender, race, and religious classes have been subject to discrimination throughout history. Leading to them having less innate unearned opportunities than other categories of people, which is what made the ban on employment discrimination based on gender, race, and religion so significant and critical to our growth as a country. Additionally, in my English 1010 course, we briefly went over the Black Lives Matter movement as a topic we could cover for our Independent Exploration Project, which relates back to ensuring that African-American citizens of the United States are afforded their constitutional rights under the law and are not treated as inferior or inherently dangerous in society.
References
The Percentage of Female CEOs in the Fortune 500 Drops to 4%. Written by Valentina Zarya. June 6, 2016. (n.p.). Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2016/06/06/women-ceos-fortune-500-2016/.
Why the Equality Act? 2016. (n.p.) Retrieved from http://www.hrc.org/resources/why-the-equality-act.
H.R.3185 - 114th Congress (2015-2016): Equality Act (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3185.