civil rights dates back to 1857 when the Supreme Court ruled to deny the Dred Scott the citizenship and constitutional rights to all black people. It had far reaching effects such legally establishing the black race as "subordinate, inferior beings. Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln freed slaves. Then there was another amendment in 1865 which abolished slavery and reprieve among the slaves. However the southern states managed to reset the slavery era codes making it hard for the blacks to live, work of be part of any activity in the society.
After all male, regardless to race, were guaranteed the right to vote by the 15th Amendment, white Southerners started to create ways in which they could oppress blacks and disempower their newly found privileges. The disfranchisement of blacks started with literacy tests, poll taxes and the grandfather clause. In other words, the ability to read or pay taxes has to be proven before people could vote. However, most black people grew up without a good educational background and were therefore excluded from the voting system. In 1877, when the Reconstruction era ended, inequality and injustice towards black people was present more than ever.
All is good in the country and African Americans will finally be looked at as first-class citizens. Right? “The Mississippi Black Codes of 1865” demonstrates that white southerners were not on board with this “New America” and would do anything possible, legal or not, to prevent the advancement of African Americans in the United States, the so-called Land of opportunity. During reconstruction, white southerners passed legislation to prevent African Americans from having true equal rights with white U.S citizens. The state of Mississippi passed controversial laws in 1865 to assure that whites were a step up from African Americans.
In the midst of the war, over 179,000 African American soldiers served in the Union’s branches such as the navy, army, and support (Freeman and Jean). Many served as they believed this was a way to repay the Union in setting them free and possibly in the future could grant citizenship to them. Before the enlistment of African American soldiers, many laws prohibited the enlistment of African Americans (Freeman and Elise). This is surprising as many African American soldiers served in previous wars such as the American Revolution. Soon after President Lincoln gave his speech on the Emancipation Proclamation, he allowed many slaves to enlist in the Union military (Freeman and Elise).
Schurz said the “blacks would need federal protection, land of their own, and voting rights until whites can lose their past”. The 14th amendment was put into place because it granted all persons born in the U.S naturalization. Which also dealt with voting rights. This brought about the 15th Amendment which prohibiting states from depriving any citizen of the right to vote because of their race, color or previous conduction of servitude. Later manifest destiny became into place it is the belief that the United States had a “God-given” right to aggressively spread the values of white civilization and expand the nation from ocean to ocean.
The Jim Crow Laws made a system for segregation using legal laws (Carson and Bonk). The segregation started out as something called the Black Codes, which was similar to the Jim Crow Laws but was not as enforced. The Jim Crow Laws were later created and enforced throughout the United States, mostly in the south. The Black Laws made it easier for police to arrest blacks, but the Jim Crow Laws created segregation in everyday life. Blacks did not have the full privilege of an American citizen until a century after the civil war ended (Sharp).
Although slavery had been outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment, it continued in many southern states. In an effort to get around laws passed by Congress, southern states created black codes, which were discriminatory state laws which aimed to keep white supremacy in place. While the codes granted certain freedoms to African Americans, their primary purpose was to fulfill an important economic need in the postwar South. To maintain agricultural production, the South had relied on slaves to work the land. Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their ties to the land.
was an African American man who fought to change unjust laws, such as the Jim Crow laws, using passive resistance. Martin had grown up during a time of segregation and racism, in 1929. The Jim Crow laws enforced segregation in the Southern parts of the United States. Buses, restaurants, schools, and even drinking fountains were segregated. There was always a new, better place for the whites to go to, and an ugly, old place for colored people to go to.
It continued to pass nineteen more laws from then until 1955: six educational laws with the sole purpose to separate colored children from the white children in all school houses, four marriage laws restricting any and all interracial marriages, three railroad laws that required cars meant for only blacks and another for only whites, two that required separate public facilities and services, and finally one that segregated street cars (Tennessee). These laws undoubtedly prove that although african americans were “free” in America they were still slaves in a way. The Jim Crow Laws were a very illusive and mocking way of imprisoning the African Americans, they may have been free but they still weren’t allowed to make decisions by themselves. The Jim Crow Laws gave the impression of equality and freedom but how can someone be
With this Proclamation Lincoln and his Administration believed that making the abolition of slavery a war aim, they could stop Great Britain or France from recognizing the Confederacy because it had been a long time since these countries had abolished slavery and would not support a country fighting a war to defend it, and so they would help the Union or stay neutral Furthermore, emancipation would indirectly allow the North to undercut the South's war effort, which had and was supported by the slave labor. During that period until our days the Emancipation Proclamation has been admired by some citizens but criticized by others because it did not actually free all slaves in the United States, rather it declared free only those slaves living in states not under Union control. As stated before, this proclamation did not free all the slaves because it was actually set up as a double-face strategy by Lincoln. Lincoln made it clear with an entire paragraph the states or parts of states which were in that moment in rebellion with the United States and in which this executive order would be