Viewing Health Equity through a Legal Lens: Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. 2017

Sara Rosenbaum, and Sara Schmucker
George Washington University.

Enacted as part of the watershed Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI prohibits discrimination by federally assisted entities on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Indeed, the law is as broad as federal funding across the full range of programs and services that affect health. Over the years, governmental enforcement efforts have waxed and waned, and private litigants have confronted barriers to directly invoking its protections. But Title VI endures as the formal mechanism by which the nation rejects discrimination within federally funded programs and services. Enforcement efforts confront problems of proof, remedies whose effectiveness may be blunted by underlying residential segregation patterns, and a judiciary closed to legal challenges focusing on discriminatory impact rather than intentional discrimination. But Title VI enforcement has experienced a resurgence, with strategies that seek to use the law as a basic compliance tool across the range of federally assisted programs. This resurgence reflects an enduring commitment to more equitable outcomes in federally funded programs that bear directly on community health, and it stands as a testament to the vital importance of a legal framework designed to move the nation toward greater health equity.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D002961 Civil Rights Legal guarantee protecting the individual from attack on personal liberties, right to fair trial, right to vote, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. (from http://www.usccr.gov/ accessed 1/31/2003) Due Process,Minority Rights,Equal Protection,Legal Rights,Voting Rights,Civil Right,Legal Right,Minority Right,Protection, Equal,Right, Civil,Right, Legal,Right, Minority,Right, Voting,Rights, Civil,Rights, Legal,Rights, Minority,Rights, Voting,Voting Right
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000069576 Health Equity Opportunity to attain full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of their social position or other socially determined circumstance. Equity, Health
D014481 United States A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D044469 Racial Groups Groups of individuals with similar physical appearances often reinforced by cultural, social and/or linguistic similarities. Continental Population Groups,Race,Racial Stocks,Continental Population Group,Group, Continental Population,Group, Racial,Groups, Continental Population,Groups, Racial,Population Group, Continental,Population Groups, Continental,Races,Racial Group,Racial Stock,Stock, Racial,Stocks, Racial

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