Documentary

1990s

The 1990s brought both good and bad times for the civil rights movement. Douglas Wilder became the first elected African-American governor (Virginia), and Clarence Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 strengthened existing civil rights laws. However, the acquittal of the white police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King triggered the largest and most violent race riots in many years. In 1995, in Hopwood v. Univ. of Texas Law School, the 5th Circuit held that “educational diversity is not recognized as a compelling state interest.” At the end of the decade, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools ended 30 years of court-supervised desegregation. Affirmative action underwent legislative challenges as well. Initiatives in California and Washington banned state affirmative action, and California also passed Proposition 227, which mandated English only education.

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