Leaning into Inclusive Excellence: Turning Points in History
During the past few years, inclusive excellence has become a politically charged issue, with some states banning initiatives focused on improving diversity, equity and inclusion. There have been holdouts however, such as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission. Taking into consideration feedback from members, the commission decided that dropping “DEI” language should be subject to further examination. Corporations such as Costco, Heineken, and IKEA have chosen to keep their DEI initiatives in place. Posting on X, Costco board member Jeff Raikes said, “Attacks on DEI aren’t just bad for business—they hurt our economy. A diverse workforce drives innovation, expands markets, and fuels growth. Let’s focus on building a future where all talent thrives.” Raikes has also been supportive of DEI in pieces he has authored on the Forbes website.
It should be remembered, too, that through civil rights legislation, amendments, and Supreme Court decisions our nation has been made more inclusive throughout history. We are a nation of laws and these laws have shaped our nation and what it means to be an American.
Here we discuss crucial points, where legislation, amendments, and Supreme Court decisions have had bipartisan support, have defined inclusive excellence and the rights afforded by those amendments and legislation as a public good.
The First Amendment
Our forefathers rebuked the rules of heresy and religious persecution at a time when religious tolerance could mean death. The First Amendment charged “we the people” with forming a more perfect union. We were and are the ones to promote general welfare, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, and provide for the common defense. Importantly, the first clause of the First Amendment guarantees us all our religious freedom and free exercise thereof which in essence prohibits governmental interference of our worship. Nor should we forget Article VI of the First Amendment which states that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust.
The First Amendment also guarantees:
- Freedom of speech,
- Freedom of the press,
- The right to peacefully assemble, and
- The right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
The Amendment remains more important than ever as grievances are made on media outlets and investigative reporters, as individuals’ rights to protest are debated, and there is increased surveillance of activist groups and organizers.
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth. and Fifteenth Amendments
These amendments made possible the amendments, legislation and SCOTUS decisions that have fundamentally shaped our democracy. We would be remiss not to mention them here.
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States.
The Fourteenth Amendment decreed that those born in the U.S. or became naturalized are citizens of this country. It also provided “equal protection of the laws” to all people, not just citizens. The amendment expanded federal authority over states as well to help ensure that states would not violate the rights of individuals. This amendment has served as the basis for much of modern law such as Brown v. The Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, and Obergefell v. Hodges and many, many other instances (see https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-14/06-equal-protection-of-the-laws.html).
Ratified in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment stated “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” It also gave Congress the power to enforce voting rights legislation. As we know, this did not prevent states from establishing barriers to voting such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and White-only primaries.
The Nineteenth Amendment Gives Women the Right to Vote
Another crucial point in history where diversity, equity and inclusion were codified was the 19th Amendment – Women’s Right to Vote. It was ratified on August 18, 1920, more than 70 years after the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, NY, where white women began organizing for their rights. Notably, they did not invite Black women to the Seneca Falls convention although the movement was rooted in the abolitionist movement. Nor did the 19th amendment include Black women. Though technically the 19th Amendment meant that Black women could not be prevented from voting on the basis of sex, they faced the same barriers to voting that Black men faced following the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments. These barriers included poll taxes, literacy tests, and physical intimidation (Monopoli, p. 2).
The amendment enfranchised 26 million women to vote in the 1920 presidential election, although only an estimated 8-10 million voted that year—about 36 percent of the electorate. The women voted in patterns much like those of the men in their communities.
Women would go on to play prominent roles in the abolitionist and later civil rights movements and temperance movements for the Republican Party, which was especially effective in mobilizing the women voters through the 1920s. One year after passage of the 19th amendment, with pressure from women, Congress passed the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act that provided funding for health education and nutrition services for mothers and babies. A1922 petition from the International Uplift League urged Federal action against lynching—signed by both men and women. The passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill was ultimately blocked by a filibuster in Congress.
Supreme Court Decision: Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka
This landmark 1954 Civil Rights case ruled segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. The NACCP had been championing the issue for years, filing suits on behalf of plaintiffs in four states and Washington, D.C. But it was plaintiff Oliver Brown, who filed a class action suit in 1951 when his daughter was denied entrance to Topeka’s all-white elementary schools. Thurgood Marshall was the lead attorney, at the time the head of NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
In the unanimous decision, issued on May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” as segregated schools are “inherently unequal.” As a result, the Court ruled that the plaintiffs were being “deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.”
One year later the Court issued a second opinion in the case (known as Brown v. Board of Education II), which remanded future desegregation cases to lower federal courts and directed district courts and school boards to proceed with desegregation “with all deliberate speed.”
The Brown decision had far-reaching effects beyond education. Not only did it provide a legal framework for segregation in other areas of American society, but it served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement and fostered grassroots activism. The next year, Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus.
1964 Civil Rights Acts
Though it took nearly a decade following the Brown decision, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation in public spaces, banned discriminatory practices in hiring and employment through Title VII, and provided some voter rights protections which were later expanded in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act 0f 1968 also expanded civil rights protections, and notably provided new protections against racially motivated violence.
Just two hours after President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, the luxurious Heart of Atlanta Motel filed a suit against the United States “asking for the court to enjoin Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy from enforcing Title II desegregation and for $11 million in damages for denial of liberty and property rights” (Hersch & Shinall, p. 440). Soon after, the owner of Ollie’s Barbecue in Birmingham filed a similar suit. The Supreme Court acted quickly—by August they had agreed to hear the cases and on Dec. 15, 1964, struck down both challenges. With their action, the Supreme Court proved that all three branches of government would “throw their weight behind Title II of the 1964 Act” (Hersch & Shinall, p. 440). Surprisingly many other Southern businesses complied with the act and desegregated immediately, causing President Johnson to note five months after the law passed “encouraging widespread compliance” with the law.
The Civil Rights Act opened career paths for women and people of color that had been previously closed; it allowed for significant growth of a Black middle class and prohibited “whites only” businesses. It influenced the UK and Australia to pass their own racial discrimination acts and helped shape international human rights standards.
1965 Voting Rights Act
Sometimes referred to as the most important Civil Rights act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act eliminated barriers like literacy tests, property requirements, White primaries and poll taxes that prevented African Americans from voting in every southern state—even though all citizens had been given the right to vote in the 15th Amendment passed after the Civil War. Technically voting was permitted for African Americans in Northern and Western states, but discriminatory practices existed in those areas as well. The actions included gerrymandering or redrawing district lines to dilute Black voting power, unwelcoming atmosphere at polls, complex residency requirements that affected poorer Blacks who had to move often, and threats of job loss for political participation.
The effects of the Voting Rights Act were immediate. Black voter registration skyrocketed in the South. For example, fewer than 7 percent of African Americans in Mississippi were registered prior to the Act; it rose to 69 percent by 1967. The act also led to an increase in the number of African Americans who ran for elected office and won. Prior to the act, there were 72 elected officials in the 13 traditionally Southern states; by 1970 there were 711 and by 1989, 4,265.
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination to obtain “preclearance” from the federal government before changing voting procedures. Considered the most important tool for enforcement of the act, Section 5 was struck down as unconstitutional in the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, seriously eroding the Voting Rights Act.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
The fourth point in our history was the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 also known as the 1965 Immigration Act or the Hart-Celler Act. It is the legislation responsible for changing the face of America. It abolished the national quota system passed in the 1920s that assigned each nationality a quota based on past representation in the U.S. Census. The 1965 act represented an updated policy focused on reuniting families and attracting skilled labor—it had preferences for skilled immigrants. This bill has been recognized as the legislation which has changed the face of America.
During the first five years after the bill’s passage, Cambodians and Vietnamese fleeing the war in Southeast Asia more than quadrupled in population in the United States; millions from Cuba and Eastern Europe would enter the US as well. The immigration of Eastern Europeans had been greatly restricted in comparison to Northern Europeans. As of January 2023, the foreign-born population in the U.S. is 14.3%, still lower than America’s high of 14.7% in 1910.
The law has been vilified by many as making the U.S. more divided and the cause of job insecurities for Americans, as demonstrated by national discussion the past eight years. Many still see an upside to immigration, however. As historian and professor at Northwestern University Geraldo L. Cadava has written, “We might also see it as a law that made possible the continuation of a kind of pluralism that has defined America from the beginning.”
Americans with Disabilities Act
Finally, we come to 1990, when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, again due to the grassroots efforts of a committed group of people. It prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. It ensured that persons with disabilities would receive equal pay for their work.
The ADA helped change the way Americans viewed those with disabilities and has changed the workplace, our infrastructure and transportation system—all for the better. Similar to the Civil Rights Act, the ADA led other nations to pass laws that addressed disability rights and discrimination.
In Closing
These junctures in history should uplift us—they are moments in time that helped shape our society for the better and others around the globe. Yet, it is understandable that we may become discouraged when history is not on the side which we view as just and right, and when there is so much turmoil in the world.
I will turn to Dr. Martin Luther King, as he said in February 1968, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” Society’s challenges that weigh on us should not prohibit us from looking for and acting for a better future. He wrote, “I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
References
“The Federalist No. 84, [28 May 1788],” Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved Dec. 4, 2024 from https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0247. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 4, January 1787 – May 1788, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, pp. 702–714.]
Hersch, Joni and Jennifer Bennett Shinall (March 2015). The Legacy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 34(2): 424-456.
Justia Law. Equal protection of the laws. https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-14/06-equal-protection-of-the-laws.html. Downloaded December 19, 2024.
Monopoli, Paula. (2020). Constitutional Orphan: Gender Equality and the Nineteenth Amendment. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Obama, Barack. ( 2014, April 10). Remarks by the President at LBJ Presidential Library Civil Rights Summit. White House Press Release. Retrieved Dec. 3, 2024, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/10/remarks-president-lbj-presidential-library-civil-rights-summit
Raikes, Jeff. (August 2023). Companies Should Champion Diversity Because It Is Good for Business. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffraikes/2023/08/28/companies-should-champion-diversity-because-its-good-for-business/