The information regarding the history of African Americans and voting is very interesting. You are correct regarding the hard time that African Americans went through to vote. Mississippi still have major problems in voting rights. Many organizations are still fighting with Mississippi Constitution. In Mississippi a person cannot vote if convicted of certain crimes, in 2008 the Attorney General added 11 additional crimes. You are correct that we should not let history repeat but it seem like it is. What surprise me African Americans and Latinos make up more than ½ of the population, why is the state still Republican dominated.
Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.
Prior to the establishment of this act, African Americans faced many legal restraints prohibiting many of them from voting- a right guaranteed to all citizens under the fifteenth amendment. When African Americans attended the polling booths, they were often asked to complete a literacy test or pay a poll fine to vote. These tests caused a vast demographic of African Americans to be exempt from the voting process, excluding and discrediting their voices. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally outlawed any discriminatory voting prerequisites used by many Southern states at the time. The development of this act is often seen as a crucial turning point for the Civil Rights Movement and one of the nation’s most significant accomplishments since Reconstruction.
African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.
Before the American Civil War happened close to four million African-Americans were slaves. At the turn of the century the Naturalization Act of 1970 allowed only white men to vote. After the Civil War the thirteenth (1865), fourteenth (1868) and fifteenth (1870) amendments were passed, allowing African-American males to vote and have citizenship, which also led to ending slavery. Even after the ending of slavery, there were still some white men who tried to keep white supremacy alive thereby dehumanizing and alienating African-Americans from the mainstream of people. Even after African-Americans were given all their rights, there were still problems with racial segregation.
the boundaries of American democracy, demanding their rights as American citizens, and assert their very humanity in ways both subtle and dramatic. Recognizing the significance of World War I is essential to developing a full understanding of modern African-American history and the struggle for black freedom. " Colored folks should be patriotic," the Richmond Planet insisted. "Do not let us be chargeable with being disloyal to the flag". African Americans saw the war as an opportunity to demonstrate their patriotism and their place as equal citizens in the nation.
During the early 1800’s, President Thomas Jefferson effectively doubled the size of the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. This set the way for Westward expansion, alongside an increase in industrialism and overall economic growth. In fact, many citizens were able to thrive and make a better living in the agricultural business than anywhere else. All seemed to be going well in this new and ever expanding country, except for one underlying issue; slavery. Many African Americans were treated as the lowest of the classes, even indistinguishable from livestock.
After the Civil War in 1865, Republicans in Congress introduced a series of Constitutional Amendments to secure civil and political rights for African Americans. The right that gave black men the privilege to vote provoked the greatest controversy, especially in the North. In 1867, Congress passed the law and African American men began voting in the South, but in the North, they kept denying them this basic right (“African Americans,” 2016). Republicans feared that they would eventually lose control of Congress on the Democrats and thought that their only solution was to include the black men votes. Republicans assumed that all African American votes would go to all the Republicans in the North, as they did in the South and by increasing the
The Union victory in the Civil War prompted the abolition of slavery and African American’s were granted freedom, along with rights that should have been there from the start, however, white supremacy overpowered in the South, forcing African Americans back into a state of slavery. The Reconstruction era, the postwar rebuilding of the South, proved to be an attempt towards change in the lives of African Americans but the opportunities were only available for a limited time. African Americans had hopes of a new South after the Civil War was fought yet that was only accomplished to a certain extent. African Americans have always faced discrimination in society, for that same reason they weren’t accepted into Congress. The graph shown in Document
Segregation and racism are only two of many things people of color have to go through. On top of segregation and racism, voting was something that really impacted the lives of African Americans. Voting rights were not fundamental human rights for African Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was only the beginning of the future acts of voting rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was crucial to history because it created opportunities for future acts.
In the Jim Crow context, the presidential election of 1912 was steeply slanted against the interests of black Americans. A majority of African Americans are still settling in the South, where they are currently facing stringent restrictions so they could not vote at all. While
Americans all around the nation were stunned by the executing of social liberties laborers and the ruthlessness they saw on their TVs. Freedom summer raised the cognizance of a large number of individuals to the predicament of African-Americans and the requirement for change. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed Congress to some extent in light of the fact that administrators ' constituents had been instructed about these issues amid Freedom
Have you ever imagined what it was like for an African American person back in the 1800’s when they were considered “free”? Back then, black people were used as slaves, and they didn’t gain their absolute freedom from slavery until 1865 when it was completely abolished. They gave Africans certain rights that weren’t completely fair. It really makes you question whether black people were really free in that time. When all blacks were released from slavery, what rights did they really have?
Although technically people of color had the right, white people were making it very difficult to register. When African Americans went to register they would be tested continuously, something white people never had to deal with. Only two percent of African Americans in the south could vote. Before the march from Selma to Montgomery there were many protests to try to gain fair voting rights. One man, Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed at a peaceful protest by a state trooper.
Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.
In the 1950s there were several laws that kept African American people separated from White Americans. African Americans were not allowed to do anything with White Americans or even be close to them. The White Americans were so harsh toward them that they established laws that said that African Americans could not vote, could not enter the same building of White Americans, they was not even allowed to drink out of the same water fountain. The people of the South were very strict to their beliefs and laws and if any African American was caught breaking any of the laws they were punished and sometimes killed. Some African Americans that were not familiar with the dangers of the south were few of the unfortunate ones to lose their life.