Civil Museum Of American History

Since the creation of our country, African Americans have dealt with prejudice. They have faced many challenges and obstacles, such as segregation. After all of the slaves were emancipated, most public facilities participated in the separation of colored and white people. One of the facilities that was segregated, included the bus system. African Americans had to sit in the back of the bus and, when necessary, had to give up their seat to any white bus rider. Document 1 and 4 show the segregation in schools, which invigorated children and parents, because this made many African Americans students feel inferior. The conclusion of “separate but equal” did not seem to be working in the education system. Restaurants were also segregated. White males and females were given much better service, and restaurants were often separated. Another way African Americans faced inequality, was through the denial of constitutional rights. In many instances, African Americans guaranteed rights were taken away from them. For example the 14th Amendment was violated, which guarantees equal protection of the law and it forbids any state from making laws that

Of the many social policies implemented in American history to regulate the function of society, segregation was an extreme contributor to producing social inequalities, specifically racial inequalities as it was

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that reinforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s (Urofsky). The laws mandated segregation of schools, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, and restaurants. In legal theory, blacks received “separate but equal” treatment under the law--in actuality, public facilities were nearly always inferior to those for whites, when they existed at all. In addition, blacks were systematically denied the right to vote in most of the rural South through the selective application of literacy tests and other racially motivated criteria (PBS). Despite Jim Crow laws being abolished in 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson

Starting in the 1890s, segregation laws known as the Jim Crow Laws dominated the United States, specifically in the South. These laws required schools, parks, libraries, forms of public transportation and even drinking fountains to be segregated into “Whites Only” and “Coloreds”. Although the Jim Crow Laws intended to treat blacks “separate but equal”, blacks received poorer conditions in their public facilities, were denied the right to vote and were treated with no respect from the whites (Jim Crow Laws). In Richard Wright’s essay, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch”, Wright describes his first-hand experience with these laws and the negative encounters he has faced just because of the color of his skin.

Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution were historical milestones in which the ever controversial topic of racial equality was first challenged. In theory, these two movements laid the groundwork for a racially equal United States of America. A country in which every member, regardless of skin color, or race were to be treated equally under the eyes of the law and to one day be treated as equals within all realms of society. As historic and powerful as these movements were, they did

In 1865, nearly ninety years after the founding of the United States, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, thereby abolishing the “peculiar institution” which had once threatened to end the Great Experiment of American Democracy. Two subsequent amendments, ratified in 1868 and 1870, guaranteed equal protection of the law to all citizens and prohibited the denial of voting rights on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Yet, close to one hundred years after these three Reconstruction Amendments became the law of the land, racial equality was still something confined to the dreams of visionaries and activists. Writing a letter from Birmingham Jail in Alabama, civil rights leader Martin Luther King

After the Civil War, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendment were added to our constitution in order to protect the civil rights of Americans. The thirteenth amendment ended slavery. The fourteenth tells us that all persons born here are natural citizens, as well as states the rights and protection of both citizens and non-citizens under the law. The fifteenth amendment protects a citizen’s right to vote. These were reinforced by the civil rights acts between 1865 and 1875. These acts allowed the President to enforce these acts with armed forces, criminal penalties to those who would interfere with the right to vote or any of these other rights, and penalties to those who would deny equal enjoyment to public accommodations. Unfortunately, many civil rights court cases, and barriers were put in place to undermine the legislation these amendments and acts were meant to create and the rights they were made to protect. This changed in 1954 when Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka stated that segregation of schools violates the equal protection act of the fourteenth amendment. This eventually led to several other civil rights movements during the 1950s and 60s. By this time, Congress was finally compelled to pass legislation to support the civil rights movement. This included the Civil rights act of 1964, which banned discrimination on the bases of color, race, religion, gender, and national origin. The Voting act of 1965, which outlawed tests discriminatory tests

On February 22nd, Dr. Andrew Torget presented the topic of segregation to desegregation and Civil Rights. During World War 2 white supremacy was a huge reason for the actions taken. However, after the war there is a movement for Civil Rights. Black soldiers who return to the south are surprised at the affects the Jim Crow Laws have put in place. These soldier went from fighting for their country, to being treated like a threat to the white Americans. As a result the NAACP set the double victory campaign that contradicted the effort of the Jim Crow Laws. To kick start this they brought legal cases to Texas. In 1944 the United States Supreme Court decided that the laws against blacks voting were illegal. However this only applies to Texas, but they used this case to shut down all Jim Crow Laws all over the United States.

Political change can take a long time. Sometimes it is so slow in coming that those who stand to gain from such change decide to help expedite the process of political decision-making. African Americans in the US, especially in the south were still at the receiving end of racial injustice. A “separate but equal” policy was enforced in 1886-97 when the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was not discrimination. Segregation was seen as a process that severely limited the opportunities of black people. In 1954 the “Separate but Equal” policy took a major hit in the Brown v. Board of Education Case of 1954. They stated that in the field of public education, the policy of “Separate but Equal” has no important place. By this time Black Americans were tired of waiting. After being so patient you will see the emergence

One of the biggest problems Africans Americans faced in America is Segregation, discrimination, racism, prejudice, rebellion, religion, resistance, and protest. These problems have helped shape the Black struggle for justice. Their fight for justice marks a long sequence of events towards their freedom. Provisions of the Constitution affect the operation of government agencies and/or the latitude chief executives and legislatures in the creation and implementation of policies today. The rights and passage of Amendments granted to African Americans in the Constitution serve as a source of “first principles” governing the actions and policies of elected and appointed public servants across the United States. The 15th Amendment Equal Rights: Rights

Ever feel that weird feeling when some Black and White people congregate? Well that is the endless but more subtle feel of segregation. In this paper we will address how segregation began. The time period in which segregation began in is one of many changes. With these changes came opinions. We will approach both the Whites perspective and the Blacks perspective on segregation.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States once said, “we have come a long way from the days where there was state-enforced segregation, but we still have a long way to go”. 1948, in Richmond California, African Americans worked in the plant during the World War II but were denied some privileges such as living in the white neighborhoods. In the first two chapters of the book the color of war, the reoccurring subject matter is the issue of De jure and De facto systems of racial segregation. In these two chapters, Rothstein explains and analyzes the racial segregation present in different states and how state and federal policies and laws put in place by the government plays a huge role when it comes to racial segregation in our society.

The fight for the abolition of slavery was a big battle but the one for racial segregation was a bitter one. “Race should not be a source of power or advantage or disadvantage for anyone in a free society” (Steele, page509). It is quite difficult to understand that America a nation of freedom, liberty and opportunities could have allowed some people to be oppressed. Even in the court of law the injustice persisted. “Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts” (Letter from a Birmingham Jail).

Eleanor Stein, a law professor described the US government policies “construction of an enemy.” It is no secret that the US government is the source of the many years of segregation that has occurred in this country. There have been many unfair policies that have stemmed from racism and greed such as the 3/5 Compromise. Racism has affected Americans from different cultures and this is shown through slavery, unfair healthcare system, and religious discrimination. Harold P. Freeman, James T. Patterson, and Eleanor Stein are all scholars that have spoken up on these matters and in an eloquent and effective matter.

The work of W.E.B. Du Bois and E.M. Forster, both add their voices to the U.S. Supreme Court’s debate on segregation. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation could be compatible with equality. Then, in 1954, the court reversed itself and declared that “separate is inherently unequal.” Forster defends separation as both equal and unequal but under different circumstances. He defends it as equal when they are separated in different countries and unequal when they are separated in the same country. Du Bois agrees that legal separation along one or more “color lines” contributes to inequality and he deplores laws such as Jim Crow but he also thinks it is important for different races to develop separately. Both authors are able to see separation in a positive and a negative light.