Ostracism in and of itself is a condition no human wants to experience but compounded with disrespect and abuse, it describes the condition of the African Americans prior to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth , and Fifteenth Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment supposedly outlawed slavery; however, whites still found ways around the law in order to keep blacks below them. The Fourteenth Amendment granted blacks citizenship, but they were still denied basic rights. The Fifteenth Amendment granted blacks the right to vote; however, most blacks were incapable of voting due to specific obstacles. Jim Crow Laws were an extreme obstacle in the integration of African Americans. Hate Groups were another attempt to restrain blacks from integrating into society. Although the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were designed to provide freedom for the slaves, they were still denied their freedom by specific obstacles.
From the founding of the United States of America, the American people agreed upon essential ideas to live by including unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. All American citizens were guaranteed these rights, except for the racially discriminated upon black Americans. After the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1864, former slaves were proclaimed free; yet they were exposed to significant discrimination in education, the workplace, and public accommodations. The civil rights movement began in an attempt to end racial discrimination and create a nation in which black Americans had the same opportunities as white Americans. The overall goals of the African American civil rights movement did not change during the 1960s. Instead, the strategies to employ change evolved. In addition, the progressive increase in support received from the federal government and non-black community further advanced the civil rights movement towards its goals.
In the 1940s, African Americans were facing the problem of discrimination. They fought to receive the rights that all Americans were given through the United States Constitution. They were being treated unfairly in society. Their education, jobs, transportation, and more were inferior to a white citizen’s. With the end of slavery and the creation of the Fourteenth Amendment, African Americans were theoretically given their freedom like every other American. The way they were treated denied them these rights that they thought they would obtain. Through the efforts of white bigots and the biased government, African Americans were segregated from the free lives of the white civilian. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans faced discrimination
...dom and right to vote established by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, blacks were still oppressed by strong black codes and Jim Crow laws. The federal government created strong legislation for blacks to be helped and educated, but it was ineffective due to strong opposition. Although blacks cried out to agencies, such as the Freemen's Bureau, declaring that they were "in a more unpleasant condition than our former" (Document E), their cries were often overshadowed by violence.
In the place of slavery came racial segregation. “The Jim Crow laws governed almost every aspect of life for African Americans living below the Mason-Dixon Line.” (Carson and Bonk) Slavery made an African American’s life controlled by his/her owner. The Jim Crow laws make the government their owner; therefore, the government controlled the African Americans. “Jim Crow laws allowed African Americans to be legally segregated. From that point on, African Americans were treated worse than ever before.” Some historians say that African Americans were treated better in slavery (in the 1800’s) than under the Jim Crow laws. Before the Jim Crow laws, there was slavery. They were both backed by the idea of black inferiority; both were also dominated mainly by the belief of white superiority. But not everyone believed in white superiority, but in equality.
After the Civil War the Reconstruction Era occurred in the southern United States. The Reconstruction Era deeply impacted the south in a negative way for minority. African American were unjustly treated by the white Americans, their rights were limited and or taken away. As a result, they fought hard to obtain equal treatment as citizens. Blacks tried to fight segregation in many ways like at the ballot boxes, in the courtrooms, and through organizations like the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Beginning in 1873, a series of Supreme Court decisions limited the scope of Reconstruction-era laws and federal support for the Reconstruction Amendments, particularly the 14th and 15th, which gave African Americans the status
In 1863 to 1877 Reconstruction brought an end to slavery, it paved the way for the former slaves to become citizens. The African Americans wanted complete freedom. However, that right became a setback and were seen as second class citizens. Before the end of the Reconstruction, a legislation was passed called the Jim Crow law. The law enforced the segregation of people of African descent. The legislation was a system to ensure the exclusion of racial groups in the Southern States. For example, separate transportation law, school division, different waiting rooms both at the bus terminals and hospitals, separate accommodations, marriage law and voting rights. The Jim Crow law was supposed to help in racial segregation in the South. Instead,
History has a way of repeating itself. We are part of a world where equal rights are still being debated today. During the Reconstruction era from 1865-1877, there were many attempts made to rebuild and restore the remnants left by the Civil War. At the forefront of Reconstruction was the main priority of eradicating slavery. This was accomplished initially by the 13th Amendment, with the 14th Amendment naturalizing all citizens, regardless of race and the 15th Amendment extending the right to vote to all African Americans. This amendment gave all African Americans a political platform and allowed them the ability to vote for fellow African Americans into political office. They also had some amount of social services that were provided by the
African Americans gained rights after the civil war and there were people who supported them having the same rights as everyone else. Others opposed and laws were put into place to prevent the idea of equality to spread. One of the Jim Crow Laws states, “Any person...who shall be guilty of… presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine…” (Mississippi). These laws discouraged the acceptance that blacks should be viewed as equal thus hindering their attempt in achieving
The 13th amendment said “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States”.The Emancipation Proclamation was also passed to free slaves, yet not a single slave gained freedom. After the 13th amendment was passed the 14th amendment came, allowing colored males to vote. To stop them from voting many whites forced them away from the voting booths using fear, and literacy tests that don’t allow colored males to vote unless they can read and write, but at the time they didn’t have opportunities to learn how to, so they couldn't vote.
After hundreds of years of slavery in the western world, the end of the American Civil War brought forth a new age of questions which debated what rights qualifed as unalienable civil and human rights, and who should be afforded them. Whether it be the right to marry, the right to own land, the right to work, the right to vote, or the right to be a citizen, African Americans had to fight for and prove that these were rights that could not be denied to them as freedmen in America. After the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery, there was a great split in opinion between white and black Americans about what American freedom entailed and whether or not African Americans had fair access to it.
During the early 1900s post reconstruction era, African Americans faced extreme injustice and prejudice in society. By being denied rights guaranteed in the Constitution, and being subject to outright racism, African Americans saw their democratic rights slowly being taken away from them. The Jim Crow laws were the facilitator of this democratic infringement through intimidation, as well as by the failings of our prized judicial system. By denying African Americans certain unalienable rights guaranteed to all American citizens, the Jim Crow laws were one of the greatest contractions of democracy in American history.
While this was a milestone in the progress for Black rights, this seemingly problem-solving legislation for former slaves did not prevent future hardships by any means. Efforts were made in the southern states to keep blacks from reaping the benefits given to them by the Fourteenth Amendment by maintaining blacks’ position at the bottom of the social hierarchy thus keeping the idea of slavery alive without actually keeping slavery alive. An example of this is the 1876 Jim Crow Laws which called for the organization of separate restrooms, waiting facilities, restaurants, prisons, schools and textbooks, militia, and transportation. It also denied intermarriage, among many other hindrances inflicted by this legislation. 2
The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments would provide freedom, citizenship, and suffrage to African Americans, but their civil and social rights would continue to be threatened. Almost one hundred years later when the civil rights movement of the 1950’s/1960’s was underway, not much had changed for African Americans in these respects of American society since the age of slavery. Though free citizens, people of color were still lacking social rights and equality. On numerous occasions, one being on the issue of integration of schools, the South continued their trend of ignoring the wishes of the federal government and instead going with what best fit their interests; in this case, keeping their schools “separate but equal.” Even one hundred years later, it is though nothing had changed. Civil rights leaders were fighting for the rights of African Americans the same way that abolitionists had in the 1850’s. The Southern states were prioritizing their own interests and choosing to go against the federal government, the same way that they had in 1860 when
The 13th Amendment was adopted in 1865 and it completely abolished slavery in the United States; however, ever since then discrimination has been one of the biggest issues in the United States, especially in the south, where Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana got the worst of the times. The 14th Amendment made the former slaves citizens and ever since then there has been continuous controversy. And the 15th Amendment proclaimed that no state can deny a persons right to vote. During Reconstruction, Congress passed many laws concerning the protection of African-American civil rights. (source 12)