Although it is a common thought nowadays that equal rights should be existent among all races, it was not always this way especially towards the African American community. Because of prejudice and racism in America, African Americans struggled throughout history to obtain equal rights even though the Constitution promised rights for all men. Since African Americans first entered the United States they have been treated as less than equal than that of a white man. There were multiple movements which helped change the way African Americans were seen in the United States and helped establish the right for African Americans to vote. Early in the United States history African Americans by law were listed as second-class citizens.
Racial violence and extreme prejudice followed the Civil War towards the African American community by white supremacist groups were wide spread and there were laws made African Americans “second-class” citizens were preventing them their promised rights guaranteed in the Constitution. The compromise of 1877 (A.K.A. The Bargain of 1877) was a disagreement between republicans and democrats where the republicans would not accept defeat in the election and claimed that “Democratic supporters of intimidating and bribing African-American voters to prevent them from voting in three southern states–Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina.”1 Due to the disagreement multiple clashes had broken out which left both republican supporters and democratic supporters
Throughout history many groups have struggled to gain equal rights. A major group fighting for equality is the African Americans. Their long, hard fight had a huge spark in the 1950’s. African Americans have been denied equal rights, but found methods to deal with the inequality. The fight they face is called modern civil rights movement.
The United States is a immigrant country, which faces varieties of problems. The African American problem is one of the most serious one. Racial segregation is a deep-rooted social problem, which reflects in every field in the United States. For example, education, labor market and criminal justice system. In the aspect of education, most of black children were not permitted to enter the school, because the white children studied there. In the aspect of labor market, the black people 's average wages were lower than the whites. They did the manual work. In the aspect of criminal justice system, the blacks were easily in jail. Badly, their sentences were also more serious than the whites. In general, the blacks live in the bottom of the American society. Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream, ' ' I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ' ' (1) However, it was difficult for African American to get the freedom. The 1776 Declaration of Independence announced that everyone are equal and freedom.But black slavery still occurred in the southern states of America. Then the Civil War broke out, African American kept struggling for land and political rights.
Although African Americans continued to fight for equal rights into the 1960’s and in some parts of America are still fighting today. This movement was sparked in the 1950’s and stands as the most significant event of that time.
Because the northern military troops were taken out of the South, there was less supervision of the region. African-Americans as grateful Republicans saw the troops as protectors from the rest of the racist south. When Hayes removed the troops, it demonstrated the Republican party backing away from their commitment to racial equality. Once the troops were gone, more lynchings occurred to deal with African-Americans who violated the South’s racial code of conduct. The first few years after the Compromise, more whites than blacks were lynched (1882 - 64 whites to 49 blacks; 1885 - 110 whites to 74 blacks); however, in less than twenty years, the lynchings of blacks spiked to 113 in 1895 and 106 in 1900. African-Americans had no way to defend themselves after their defenders, the northern troops, left them essentially for dead.
In the history of the United States, African Americans have always been discriminated against. When Africans first came to America, they were taken against their will and forced to work as laborers. They became slaves to the rich, greedy, lazy Americans. They were given no pay and often badly whipped and beaten. African Americans fought for their freedom, and up until the Civil War it was never given to them. When the Civil War began, they wanted to take part in fighting to free all slaves. Their opportunity to be soldiers and fight along side white men equally did not come easily, but eventually African Americans proved themselves able to withstand the heat of battle and fight as true American heroes.
The role of African American has changed over the centuries. They were treated differently because of their skin color. They were treated like property for others uses however change happened. It was not a easy matter to change but one of the main reason it did change was because Martin Luther King and his speech “I have a Dream”.
The reconstruction amendments established in the 19th century made many believe that African Americans would finally reach equality. However, the abolishment never changed society’s view on African Americans and instead, barriers such as oppression and segregation came out of it. Despite the ceaseless barriers faced by African Americans in the South, they were able to utilize methods in which gave the movement strength in the 1950s and ultimately, led to their gained civil rights.
Before and during the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were severely discriminated against. Black people did not have equal rights as white people; this included the right to vote, schooling, employment, or the right to go to certain public places (Nguyen, n.d.). “Everything they did was limited and controlled,” states Amanda Nguyen in her article, Racism in North America, Then and Now (n.d.). Now though, all blacks have the same rights as whites do. They can vote, receive an education, get a job, and more. There are even organizations and laws that have been formed to work against discrimination against, and unequal treatment of, people of color (Nguyen, n.d.). According to Nguyen in Racism in North America, Then and Now, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Human Rights legislation, and hate laws are all evidence of this change
African Americans have been struggling for equality for many decades. It only seems that during the 1960?s is when there were actual significant advances made. This was about the same time that civil rights came into the political scene. Throughout the South, Blacks were still in the majority, but had no political power what so ever. The Civil Rights Movement gave African Americans a voice and a chance to make a difference. The 1960's helped open up hope and expectations for Black Americans.
After the Compromise of 1877, southern states were given back state control of the government. Consequently, white violence heightened in the south. In an article by Ida B. Wells, she discusses the unjust lynching of African Americans by white men. Wells continues in her article that the white men were not prosecuted for their actions due to their supposed need to oppress Africa Americas as result of “Negro Domination” during the Reconstruction Era (Documents in History I, 53-57). Not only was white violence a problem but so was segregation.
history, African Americans were given the right to vote. African American voice for equal rights was finally
Tracing back to the time period of the Triangular Trade, African-Americans were brought to America as slaves and were treated as the inferiors. Most of them were not granted for the basic human rights that they deserved. After the Civil Wars, the African- Americans were finally freed form the identity of slaves, but still treated unequally. During the 1950s and 1960s, the era of the Civil Rights Movement has occurred, which involved numerous movements that many of the Africans-Americans participated eagerly. Equal rights, educational opportunities, prohibit discriminations, and end of the segregations were the main focus of these movements. Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one of the most important acts that marked the end of the unequal application of voter registration requirement and racial segregation. The most significant events that led to the Civil Rights Act of
African Americans throughout the road to gain racial equality exercised many methods in order to attain such liberties. We start our exploration by viewing the most paramount methods to acquire racial equality; these methods included lobbying public officials through the court system and through peaceful public protests. We'll lastly address the violent methods used to gain racial equality but see how they were mostly unavailing.
In the years following the Civil War, a majority of white Americans still continued to support white supremacy which lead to African Americans being denied of power, wealth and position (Gillette 191). Denial of equality for African Americans led to an improvement in government intervention. The Civil Rights Act of 1860 was enacted but failed to address big civil rights issues, such as segregation, for African Americans (Gillette 197). The main reason that the government failed in its efforts was due to the peoples unwavering feelings towards African Americans. People’s racist sentiments questioned if it was
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