This activity asks students to read and compare the language of selected Civil Rights legislation.
Objectives
Rationale
By tracing the changes in language (from "handicapped" to "people with disabilities," for example) and the necessity of restating and reinforcing Constitutional rights, the analysis likewise asks them to think about prejudice, stigma and fundamental rights and freedoms.
While the Americans with Disabilities Act is only 15 years old, the Voting Rights Act is 40 years old this year. One interesting approach to studying the development of these laws is to begin with the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution, which theoretically should have guaranteed the rights outlined in legislation a century later.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, ratified by Lyndon B. Johnson after television news coverage of the Selma to Montgomery March [1] drew nationwide attention to the African American struggle, actually looks very much like the Civil Rights Act passed one year earlier. The 1990 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), likewise, rewrites and expands the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act.
Find the full text for all documents [2] (except the ADA [3]).
Process
Links:
[1] http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/al4.htm
[2] http://www.ourdocuments.gov/content.php?flash=true&page=milestone
[3] http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/disability/ada.htm
[4] https://web3.tolerance.org/images/teach/activities/October_upper_handout01.pdf