Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


osu1305652946.pdf (1.8 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Revising Constitutions: Race and Sex Discrimination in Jury Service, 1868-1979

Clark-Wiltz, Meredith
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1305652946

Abstract Details

2011, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, History.
This dissertation examines the relationship between the Reconstruction-era civil rights revolution and the rights revolution of the 1960s and 1970s by tracing the history of sex and race discrimination in jury service policy and the social activism it prompted. It argues that the federal government created a bifurcated policy that simultaneously condemned race discrimination and condoned sex discrimination during Reconstruction, and that initial policy had a controlling effect on the development of twentieth-century jury service campaigns. While dividing civil rights activists’ campaigns for defendants’ and jury rights from white feminists’ struggle for equal civic obligations, the policy also removed black women from the forefront of either campaign. Not until the 1960s did women of color emerge as central to both of these campaigns, focusing on equal civic membership and the achievement of equitable justice. Relying on activists’ papers, organizational records, and court cases, this project merges the legal and political narrative with a history of social to reveal the complex and mutually shaping relationship between policy and social activism. This dissertation reveals the distinctive, yet interwoven paths of white women, black women, and black men toward a more complete attainment of citizenship rights and more equitable access to justice.
Paula Baker, PhD (Advisor)
Susan M. Hartmann, PhD (Committee Member)
David Stebenne, PhD (Committee Member)
332 p.
African Americans; American History; Gender; History; Legal Studies; Womens Studies
women's rights; civil rights; jury service; citizenship; League of Women Voters; NAACP; National Woman's Party; ACLU

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Clark-Wiltz, M. (2011). Revising Constitutions: Race and Sex Discrimination in Jury Service, 1868-1979 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1305652946

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Clark-Wiltz, Meredith. Revising Constitutions: Race and Sex Discrimination in Jury Service, 1868-1979. 2011. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1305652946.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Clark-Wiltz, Meredith. "Revising Constitutions: Race and Sex Discrimination in Jury Service, 1868-1979." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1305652946

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1305652946
890
© 2011, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.