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Civil Rights Dbq

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i. Many believe that the Civil Rights movement started in the 1940s and 1950s, however the Civil Rights movement really started before the Civil War even began. The first Supreme Court case to involve the rights of human beings in America occurred in 1857 with Dred Scott v. Sanford. After being a slave in a free state, Dred Scott sued for his freedom, he later got his freedom but not by way of the Court decision. The Supreme Court found that “np black, free or slave, could claim U.S. citizenship, and therefore blacks are unable to petition the court for their freedom” (History). This decision not only enraged abolitionists, it heightened tensions between the North and the South, with eventually erupted in war. The real end to the Civil War …show more content…

The 13th amendment, which was passed in 1865, abolished slavery but did not give blacks equality, the first written law to protect African Americans came about when Congresses passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 proclaimed that all people born in the United States is a citizen, specifically defines the rights of citizenship, and states that it is unlawful to deprive anyone of these rights (Encyclopedia). This act would later be replaced with the 14th amendment, which granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and slaves who were emancipated after the Civil War, known today as the “life, liberty, and property” amendment …show more content…

The last major legislative attempt of the century came in the form of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which protected all Americans, regardless of race, in their access to public accommodations and protected their right to serve on Juries. However, it was never enforced because the Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional in 1883 (PBS). This is start of the judicial fight for civil rights. In 1896, the Supreme Court made a monumental decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that declared separated facilities are constitutional as long as they were “equal,” which later became known as the famous “separate, but equal” doctrine that stood until 1954. While Plessy was a setback it was not an

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