My Grandmother

Following the end of the Civil War and adoption of the 13th Amendment, white southerners were not happy with the end of slavery and the prospect of living or working equally with blacks whom they considered inferior. To keep-up, the majority of states and local communities passed Jim Crow laws that required “separate but equal” status for African Americans. These laws sanctioned legal punishments for associating with the opposite race. Jim Crow Laws were established between 1874 and 1975, an idea practice condemned black citizens to substandard treatment and facilities. Education was segregated as were public facilities such as hotels and restaurants under Jim Crow Laws. In reality, Jim Crow laws led to treatment and accommodations that were almost

At this, the federal government took control of the southern states not yet readmitted to the Union. In order for the states to get readmitted to the Union, they needed to agree to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. Amendment fourteen guaranteed all citizens the same rights without regard to color. Amendment fifteen made it illegal to discriminate against people based on race in voting rights. African Americans and northerners held a number of government positions during this time, and southern whites did not really accept these governments. Southern whites used legal and illegal means to fight the changes in the status of African Americans.(Royster 7,8)

According to the thirteenth amendment, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The purpose of the thirteenth amendment was to end slavery or any form of involuntary servitude everywhere among the United States. There was new hope for African Americans throughout the country but unfortunately their freedom had a limit and coincidentally, President Lincoln was assassinated shortly after. Jim Crow laws were established among the states and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the southern states of the United States up until 1965. This is how white southerners

When Confederate states wanted to join the Union after Civil war, they were required to undertake “Civil War” Amendments. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were developed, with each supporting equality within the states. However, these Amendments proved to be insufficient in the provision of equal rights to African American citizens (Medley,2003). In the late 19th Century, laws limiting civil rights of the Blacks swept through state legislatures. Segregation then became a requirement in both Southern and Northern states.

In Spite of the devastating history of segregation in the United States. A lot has changed in the past fifty years since segregation ended. The United States shifted from arresting African Americans for using “white only” facilities to integrated schools all over the country. Influential individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr helped pave the way for African Americans to live as equals to along with their white counterparts in the United States of America.

The Civil War and period of Reconstruction caused major social changes to occur throughout the nation. Document 1 speaks of the creation of the 14th Amendment, which says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property.” The Amendment was made for creating full equality for the freedmen and was speaking to all the people of the United States. Many whites still did not approve of the freedmen and continued to treat them as less than, regardless of the Amendment. Things such as the Black Codes arose, which were legal codes passed in Southern states that

In the wake of the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were ratified which abolished slavery and in theory granted people of all races the citizenship rights, equal protection, and suffrage that society owes them. However, that did not stop a wave of backlash policies from passing especially in Southern states that felt their way of life was threatened by the newfound independence of black Americans. These laws served to perpetuate racism and white privilege, and further divide the racist,

Followed by the Thirteenth Amendment are the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment giving colored people Civil rights and the rights to vote. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments are known as the Civil rights Amendments. Slaves are no longer called slaves, but now called Blacks. Blacks received a new life as American Citizens; however, their journey will not be smooth. The search for jobs, housing, and education are new challenges for Blacks along with facing racism and the prejudice brought by

The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 abolished slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 granted African Americans citizenship and equal protection under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 granted African Americans the right to vote. These amendments were passed in an effort to combat racism and reshape public perception of blacks, however, these laws were hard to enforce and Southern states developed their own laws like the Black Codes to control the newly freed slaves. Jim Crow-era laws in the South like the poll tax and literacy tests prevented many blacks in the South from voting. Anyone who tried to break Southern traditions was subject to violence and intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan.

It also allowed black men to join the Union Army and Navy, “enabling the liberated to become liberators.” (The Emancipation Proclamation) The big change in slavery and the fight for equality did not come until the Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. With this event, it was declared that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” (13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution) Although this Amendment did give slaves their freedom, it did not guarantee them the same rights nor the same treatment that other citizens of the United States had and took for granted. This was especially seen in the states that “enacted ‘black codes’ that were intended to limit the civil rights of the newly free slaves.” (Civil Rights) These “black codes” and the obvious difference in treatment were a large issue, and they were later addressed in the Constitution with the introduction of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868 and it made large changes for black individuals. This Amendment “granted citizenship to ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States,’ which included former slaves recently freed.” (14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution) It also “forbids states from denying

As a result of the Civil War the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution were ratified. The 14th Amendment conferred citizenship on formerly enslaved African Americans and granted equal protection under the law (Background Overview and Summary). The Fourteenth Amendment states;

The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed to protect feed people’s natural rights. This process of protecting was the whole concept of “reconstructing America”. At first a majority of the states did not agree with these new laws, but by 1870, all of the former Confederate states had accepted them and were admitted into the union once again. Once Reconstruction ended in 1877, society slowly went back to a strong racist background and former slaves were once again in servitude. This time, even harsher discrimination against the Blacks were introduced by enforcing state segregation. Reconstruction only caused the nation to become worse.

Subsequent to the ratification of the Civil War Amendments, a number of states, specifically Southern states, ratified a sequence of laws named Jim Crow Laws that limited the rights of African Americans. The Jim Crow laws required the division of African Americans and whites in

These were known as the "Black Codes" a law passed by Southern states during the same year if the 13th Amendment. These codes may have given African Americans the rights to be able to go to court, marry, and own their own home but not without a price. The price they paid is that they were not allowed to serve in the military and juries. But the most important is that they could not testify against white people. They had this law to limit the freedom of African Americans keeping them as near to slavery. Even with their new found freedom African Americans still lived in poverty due to their lack of education which they were denied of and had no choice but still work for white landowners to make a living. In 1868 the 14th Amendment passed giving the former slaves American citizenship and two years later the 15th Amendment also passed giving the African American men the right to vote. But this string of improvement to the lives of African American came to a halt with the Compromise of 1877. This compromise settled the wildly disputed presidential election between Republican Rutherford Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tiden. The compromise is that for Hayes to become president the Democrats wanted him to withdraw the federal troops from the South and give the South home rule of their area. This is important because with the federal troops gone there was no longer anyone in the South to enforce the 14th and the 15th Amendment. This compromise caused an end to the Reconstruction

Racial segregation disrupted the ability of many African Americans to receive a quality education, equitable to those received by other races. Separate schools,