100 PART onE • THE AmERiCAn sYsTEm
willing to vote for an African American as president, only
38 percent of the public said yes. By 2008, this number
had reached 94 percent. This high figure may have been
attained, at least in part, because of the emergence of
African Americans of presidential caliber. Of course, Barack
Obama, first elected president in 2008 on the Democratic
ticket, is African American. Two Republican African
Americans were also mentioned in the past as presidential
possibilities: Colin Powell, formerly chair of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and later secretary of state under President George
W. Bush, and Condoleezza Rice, who succeeded Powell at
the State Department.Political Participation by other minorities. The civil
rights movement focused primarily on the rights of African
Americans. Yet the legislation resulting from the move-
ment ultimately benefited almost all minority groups. The
Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example, prohibits discrimina-
tion against any person because of race, color, or national
origin. Subsequent amendments to the Voting Rights
Act of 1965 extended its protections to other minorities,
including Hispanic Americans (or Latinos), Asian Americans,
Native Americans, and Native Alaskans.
The political participation of non–African American
minority groups has increased in recent years. Hispanics,
for example, have gained political power in several states.
The Latino vote in national elections has grown, and it was
important in Barack Obama’s two victories. Hispanics do not vote at the same rate as
African Americans, in large part because many Hispanics are immigrants who are not yet
citizens. Still, there are now about five thousand Hispanic elected officials in the United
States. After the 2012 elections, thirty Latinos had seats in the U.S. House and Senate.
Nine members were Asian American.WomEn’s sTRugglE
FoR EquAl RigHTs
Like African Americans and other minorities, women have had to struggle for equality.
During the first phase of this struggle, the primary goal of women was to obtain suffrage,
or the right to vote.Early Women’s Political movements
In 1848, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first women’s rights
convention in Seneca Falls, New York. The three hundred people who attended approved
a Declaration of Sentiments: “We hold these truths to be self- evident: that all men and
women are created equal.” In the following twelve years, groups that supported women’s
rights held seven conventions in different cities in the Midwest and East.
In 1869, after the Civil War, Susan B. Anthony and Stanton formed the National
Woman Suffrage Association. In their view, women’s suffrage was a means to achievesouth Carolina Republican Tim Scott, formerly
a member of the U.S. House, was appointed to fill a vacant
U.S. Senate seat in December 2012. African Americans can be
found today holding high offices at all levels of government.
(Tim Dominick/The State/MCT via Getty Images)LO2: Contrast the goals of the
women’s suffrage movement with
the goals of modern feminism.
Suffrage
The right to vote. A
vote given in favor of
a proposed measure,
candidate, or the like.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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