African American Civil Rights Obstacles

Although the roots of this movement date as far back as the 1900s, the legacy of the African American’s role in World War II sparked the catalyst needed to promote the legislation that eventually led to their equality. “On May 17, 1954, The Supreme Court announced its decision in the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka” (Brinkley 772). This regulation overturned the Supreme Court’s earlier decision in the Plessy V Ferguson case. The separate but equal doctrine was a prime example of domestic policy that did not uphold the government’s constitutional promise to promote the general welfare of society-to include all that fall under the definition of an American citizen. The affliction put on children who had to travel to segregated public schools placed an unequal burden and damage done to those who it pertained to.

Mr. Marcus Garvey argued there was no-other purpose for Africans in America. Marcus felt there was no way for black to ever achieve real peace in a land that where they are the poorest group, the least influential group and one of the smallest groups. He realized however that some black minds had accepted the inferiority complex imposed on them by their slave masters; he calls these weak minded men vagabonds that cannot contribute to his cause. “I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa; there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there.” (Marcus Garvey 1920).

Ashley Miller HIST 202B Timothy Paynich 3/7/16 HUMAN Rights How much of history would change if African Americans never went through adversity? Between 1877 (End of Reconstruction) and the 1950’s (Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement) African Americans went through immense hardships. They had to fight numerous times in order to gain their rights and even be counted as “human”. During the Harlem Renaissance many African Americans arose and found ways to create and show what they were going through.

There was one student at the University of Oklahoma that was treated with disrespect and inferiority because of how he looked and how he acted. The poor conditions for blacks in schools under the “Separate but equal” doctrine caused the NAACP to file 5 different cases that took out segregation from schools and the Supreme Court’s decision created history. The conditions for black students were horrible and unsanitary. The ¨Separate but Equal¨ doctrine was created in 1896 to keep blacks and whites away from each other (Somervill 28).

For hundreds of years historians have debated about the most significant factor for the advancement of civil rights for African-Americans from 1880-1980. Prior to this, African-Americans were largely only slaves, particularly in the South as nearly 4 million black slaves were forced to do extensive labour there allowing them to have no freedom whatsoever. However, during the Civil War, President Lincoln stated all slaves “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” as he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This abolished slave trade in the US and attempted to bring an end to the Civil War. Nevertheless, the protracted journey for the African-Americans to achieve equality was far from over. At the end of the Civil War, the Southern states passed “Black Codes” in 1865, restricting the lives of freed slaves and forcing them to work in low wage jobs. It was undoubtedly a slow process but was further hindered by the actions of such groups as the KKK who were involved in lynching

With the rise of white supremacist groups and the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) the persecution of black Americans increased as their freedom was seen as a threat to white Americans. When ex-slaves would try to flee plantations and set up their own farms, they would be lynched or murdered. In 1867, a former slave owner in Tennessee said that they continued to whip, maim and kill black Americans as if slavery still existed. The amendments and acts did not make the perception of black Americans change, by law they were regarded as equal individuals who deserved equal treatment everywhere, but in society they were still regarded as inferior and animalistic, and laws and legislation in southern states were set up to continue that ideology. The ‘Plessy vs. Ferguson’ Supreme Court case approved the ‘separate but equal’ legal segregation.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a large portion of Americans were restricted from civil and political rights. In American government in Black and White (Second ed.), Paula D. McClain and Steven C. Tauber and Vanna Gonzales’s power point slides, the politics of race and ethnicity is described by explaining the history of discrimination and civil rights progress for selective groups. Civil rights were retracted from African Americans and Asian Americans due to group designation, forms of inequality, and segregation. These restrictions were combatted by reforms such as the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifteenth amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, etc. Although civil and political

With the beginning of the Jim Crow Laws in the 1900s to their abolishment in 1965, and even today, America has yet to resolve the issue of “separate but equal.” Throughout the late 1800s, and late 1900’s the “Jim Crow Laws” were a form of enforced segregation against black people in many states all across America. Black segregation was heavy in the southern states especially Alabama, where slavery had been very prevalent. These laws made it legal for people to abuse and punish blacks for consorting with another race.

The ruling thus lent high judicial support to racial and ethnic discrimination and led to wider spread of the segregation between Whites and Blacks in the Southern United States. The great oppressive consequence from this was discrimination against African American minority from the socio-political opportunity to share the same facilities with the mainstream Whites, which in most of the cases the separate facilities for African Americans were inferior to those for Whites in actuality. The doctrine of “separate but equal” hence encourages two-tiered pluralism in U.S. as it privileged the non-Hispanic Whites over other racial and ethnic minority

After the Civil War, between the years, 1865 through 1870 the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments was adopted by the United States. The United States abolished slavery, providing equal protection for freed slaves, and prohibited discrimination of colored voters. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments granted former slaves the freedom to pursue happiness, but in 1868, the “separate but equal” doctrine kept these amendments from bearing fruit. For nearly a century the “separate but equal” doctrine promoted segregation, and the Supreme Court it was constitutional to keep blacks and whites separate as long as they had equal rights to education, public transportation, and restrooms. However, the definition of equality in the south was very vague and ambiguous.

But racial tensions across the country were incredibly high, and African-Americans continued to experience oppression even though they were no longer slaves.” This shows that while the Civil War truly split the country, the ending and aftermath of it did not end unfair treatment to blacks but the idea of slavery. On the same note, this provides a proper explanation of how, even though African-Americans were set free from slavery, they were still not truly set free as American citizens. In summary, slavery divided the country, but segregation did the same without the drawing of

Before, during, and long after the Civil War blacks were discriminated against in almost every form of life. They had to fight and be patient to be accepted as equals among their white counterparts; this process took form over a long period of time, and after many failures, blacks were truly equal in the eyes of the government. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments which were passed in the late 1860’s were supposed to bring political, social, and economic equality for the blacks; however, this was not the case, while in some facets of life blacks obtained more freedoms they had to wait many years after these amendments were passed to be fully equal to whites. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery in the United States.

Annabelle Wintson Bower History 8A March 12, 2018 Title Although the slavery was abolished in 1865, the rights given to African Americans were not nearly equal to those of white Americans. After slavery was abolished, inequality in American society ran high, and many laws were put in place to restrict the rights and abilities of African Americans. Some laws include the Jim Crow Laws (1870 to 1950s) and the Supreme Court Ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that ruled that there could be “separate but equal” facilities and services for people of color and white Americans.

In the 19th century, slavery and the Reconstruction was a sore subject for the South. Reconstruction forged civil rights for African-Americans, but once the North’s influenced waned in the South, the South terrorized African-Americans and blocked them from accessing their newfound rights. While Reconstruction may have brought civil rights, those rights were quickly squashed by the South’s racism. Even after certain freedoms were securely gained, every new attempt to make African-Americans equal to the white populace was contested. A large group of people were happy to see slavery ended and civil rights rise.

Local and state governments enacted laws that mandated separation between Blacks and Whites. Such separateness was almost always unequal, despite the Supreme Court’s 1896 “separate but equal” ruling in Plessy vs. Ferguson. Blacks were confined to substandard bathrooms, parks, water fountains, restaurants, schools, and hospitals. They generally received a poor education, which hindered their ability to advance. White Southerners subjugated African-Americans whose work options were limited and whose pay lagged behind that of Whites.