1865 To 1865 Research Paper

For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and

In Plessy v. Ferguson was a dispute between on Louisiana rail road act which made it illegal for whites and blacks to sit together in a rail car. Homer Plessy was a man who severed as the vice president for the Justice, Protective, Educational and Social Club in New Orleans. In 1892 Homer Plessy was able to buy a white person first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad boarded in the whites only car.

Reconstruction was a period in American history where the north and south worked together to rebuild the south both physically and economically. But did it work to stop the racism that was still lingering? Reconstruction started after the civil war ended and the south joined the union again. Many people made a living off of this and worked in the south to help with reconstruction. Reconstruction did not solve the issues of racial division in the United States though because Segregation was still a thing,many people were still violent toward blacks, there were many black codes, and many blacks were still in poverty.

African-American in the late 1800s and early in the 1900s were socially, politically and economically restricted from participating in the Southern state. Although, slaves were abolished in the 1865, even though they were free and escape the brutality in the South, their rights of human being were still taking away from them. They were given little right such as owning property in specific area. African-American could sue, be sued and testify in court only involving other African-Americans. They were given the right to get marry, however, they could not interact or have an relationship outside of race. They were not giving the right to vote, could not used or possessed alcohol or used firearm. African-American were economically at risk because

The nation was gridlocked on how to proceed, whether to declare a Civil War or not. The Fort Sumter conflict provided the answer; Fort Sumter was a garrison on the coast of SC that was being blocked by “Confederate” troops, therefore the Union could not provide military supplies and rations for the people inhabiting the fort. Later the confederates would fire upon fort and started the Civil war. The Civil War would last four years, concluding with the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House. However the time during the Civil War provided for many racial and slaveholding changes for America including: the Emancipation Proclamation, 13th, 14th , and 15th amendments. The famous Emancipation Proclamation said by Lincoln outlawed slavery in the Confederacy and started the path for the complete outlawing of the institution with the 13th amendment. Next would be the 14th amendment which provided citizenship for African Americans, now part of the nation with its regulations and laws. Lastly would be the 15th amendment which gave former slaves/ African Americans the right to vote in elections, in accordance though this decision would create tensions leading into the 1900’s

The Reconstruction Era was a period of time after the Civil War in which the U.S. Government took measures to “reconstruct” the South by readmitting the former Confederate States into the Union. During this period of time, the Radical Republicans, those who supported Congress’s active role of reconstruction in the South, in Congress passed amendments to help the newly freed slaves adjust to their new lives. Two of these amendments included the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted them the right to vote. However, these amendments were not entirely successful in “freeing” the slaves. Although, some improvements were made, the Thirteenth and Fifteenth

The South was completely reconstructed after the Civil War. The North had won the war, and now the south did not know what to do with the peace. Almost four million slaves were freed, politics were dominated by Republicans, transportation had been messed up due to the war, and the economy was in shambles. There are numerous significant moments and important matters of the time known as the reconstruction of the south, but there are four specific occurrences to be discussed in this paper. Those are The 13th Amendment, The Civil Rights Act of 1875, The Compromise of 1877, and The Plessy vs Ferguson case (1876).

Reconstruction created a new age of segregation with Black Americans’ political rights being affirmed by the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th constitutional amendments and black codes were passed by local and state lawmaker. The 13th amendment made slavery illegal in the United States, the14th Amendment guaranteed equal representation under the law for all Americans and finally, the 15th Amendment made is legal for Black men to vote. While these were all important steps in the years following the Civil War, racial discrimination was attacked on a particular broad front by the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This legislation made it a crime for an individual to deny “the full and equal enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities,

“Separate but equal” It was a phrase that haunts time as a decision that created

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

It wasn't until the year 1955 that segregational acts like having separate schools for blacks and whites was declared unconstitutional. In cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education segregation took a huge part in making these cases. In Plessy v. Ferguson the main idea of the case , the rulings, mad the precedents it set for the country will be explained. In the case of Brown v. Board of Education the main point of the case, the opinion, and how these two cases are similar will be explained. These cases set huge precedents for the whole country during this time period.

In 1892, even though slavery has ended but there are still racial discrimination in the society. Homer Plessy sat in the railroad car that for only for “white”. Even though he is not fully black but he has some ancestors from France and Spain, he was consider Creole and has to sit in the area for “colored”. He did not move when he was told too. Therefore, this was taken to court when the Judge John Howard Ferguson ruled him guilty of sitting at the seat in the railroad car. He later took the case to the Supreme court. Plessy argued that this violated the 13th and 14th Amendment, while the Supreme Court Judge argued that this did not go against the 14th Amendment, and that white and colored people are not suppose to be in the public places together. The impact of this court cases led to segregation, which is the idea that of “separate but equal”. For the next couple of years, public places like water fountains, schools, and bathrooms are split between the colored and whites.

The case involving Homer Plessy, who was brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court in New Orleans originated in 1892 as a challenge to Louisiana’s Separate Car Act of 1890. The law required that all railroads operating in the state of Louisiana provide equal but separate accommodations for white and African American passengers and prohibited passengers from entering accommodations other than those to which they had been assigned on the basis of their race. It banned whites from sitting in the black cars and blacks in white cars and penalized employees for violating its terms, with the exception of nurses caring children of the other race. However there was an exception to this law that the law could not be applied to interstate

Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet

Segregation was a huge controversy between the white and colored for many long years. Such as cases that will not allow blacks or whites to marry a different color than their own color, children not allowed to go to public schools with white children, or being able to sit in a white compartment. Many cases were lead up to segregation and the blacks wanted their freedom, equal rights, and being treated like a human being. They were not seen in white folks eyes as equal citizens, they wanted to change that. The Supreme Court has made many decisions to impact segregation: Plessy vs. Ferguson, Brown vs. Education, and Loving vs. Virginia