The Challenges African Americans Faced in America

The 13th amendment abolished slavery. However the states made their own laws that still affected African Americans in a negative way. This caused for the making of the 14th amendment to be made. The 14th amendment gave a further blow on the fact that all persons born in the United States have The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This allowed for African Americans to get more rights within the states. However the states still made ways to retard the rights of the African American people. This can be seen in elections during reconstruction. The southern states found ways to block African Americans from voting. The 15th amendment is the amendment that allows for any citizen to vote and that this right can't be taken away By the federal government or the state

Though social problems affect a wide variety of people from all races, classes, and cultures; minorities, specifically African Americans, encounter social problems on a multi-dimensional basis. Poverty, employment rates, discrimination, and other social problems strike African Americans in such a way that it is nearly impossible to separate them; each individual has different background, socially and physically, that would determine in which order his or her social problems need to be solved. Impoverished blacks in the inner city may have difficulty finding or keeping jobs, while others may have jobs, but face troubles with work discrimination that prevent them from moving upward .Underemployment, workplace inequalities, and unbalanced

The African-American people have suffered great hardships since slavery. During the 15 and 19th century many Africans were taken and forced into slavery. Some slaves

The life of African Americans in the 1800 was so harsh and unfair. Their owners would treat them cruelly and made them work long hours. They were not fed and had no sanitation which led to malnutrition and disease. Many young girls also went through sexual abuse and owners wouldn’t even get prosecuted because they were the ones who ruled everything. They separated many families from husbands, wife’s, and children. Those who were not prepared suffered every day because they were not with their families. Many of them never saw their family again.

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,

The 13th Amendment says 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." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. This amendment was unique and different from the other amendments which are the 14th and 15th. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, but the 14th was unique also because it overturned the Dred Scott decision, and it counted all citizens, including slaves, as citizens in the US. The 15th amendment gave African Americans the right to vote.

The black codes, written on July 3, 1865, were “a series of discriminatory state laws” (Open Stax page 458) which made it illegal for African American men to be in town limits unless they had a written document from their employer saying that they were allowed, (Document B). These documents aimed to maintain the social and economic structure of the previous slave society in the absence of slavery itself. The black codes made strict regulations on when African American men were allowed to be in town without a white employer, including not letting them “be on the streets after 10 pm” and that they could not “live within the town limits” (Document B). The black codes aimed to reverse the effects of the 14th amendment by allowing them to own land but only under strict guidelines. In Document C, it states that “you all are not free yet and will not be until Congress sits” meaning that African Americans were not viewed as freedmen by Southerners, but still as their slaves because Congress did not enforce the 13th and 14th amendments. The black codes also influenced white men to beat and shoot any black men or women that tried to escape the South. This was cause because white plantation owners did not want to lose their workers because then they would have to pay a significantly higher wage to any other workers. The black codes also forced freedmen and women to sign contracts saying that they would only work for one employer, making it difficult for any man to raise enough money to buy their own land. As the book states. “blacks could not positively influence wages and conditions by choosing to work for the employer who gave them the best terms” (Openstax pg 459). These contracts lowered the competition between plantation owners so they were not influenced to raise wages based on other owners. The black codes deprived African Americans of their rights to vote, serve on juries, carry or

These laws were passed between 1865 and 1866. Black Codes were “laws passed by Southern state legislatures that restricted African American’s rights to testify against whites, serve on juries or in state militias, or vote” (Class Notes, 9/18/17). This gave African Americans no freedom to accuse whether a white person did a crime and no right to vote. On some states, these laws also prevented blacks to own their land (Class Notes, 9/20/17). Having no freedom of owning a land prevented African Americans on having a stable and prosperous life.

The 13th amendment abolished slavery for African Americans. The 14th amendment gave citizenship rights and equal protection of laws to African Americans. The 15th amendment gave African Americans to have the right to vote. There was a free school for colored kids where they would be able to learn and have an education. There’s a source that says that all people born in the United States are citizens of every race and color. Source 4 says, “That all persons born in the United States are declared to be citizens … slavery or involuntary servitude.” All have the same rights if someone does a crime, they get punished as same as the others, they all treated equal. Source 4 says, “... equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person … like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law.” This just explains that everybody should be treated equal, no matter by their skin color or

The Thirteenth Amendment, which was passed by the Senate on April 1864 and by the House on January 1865, permanently made slavery illegal in the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment, which was passed on April 1866, secures citizenship on every individual who was born in the United States. This amendment also ensures that slaves will be recognized as citizens and will receive equal protection by the same laws as the whites. Finally, the Fifteenth Amendment, passed on February 1869, gave African American men the opportunity to participate equally in government by giving them the right to vote. All three amendments were passed in order to grant African Americans citizenship and to welcome them into the United States as free

In 1865, Louisiana created “Black Codes”, a set of rules that controlled the lifestyle of African Americans. It sounded very similar to slavery, going to extremes such as that every African American had to be of regular service to a white person. The historical significance of these codes is that although they were soon demolished with the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment, Jim Crow laws were soon established after(Document 6). All the states and territories of the

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

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.

The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude and was the first grant of civil rights given to African Americans (“Thirteenth Amendment: January 31, 1865”). The 14th Amendment was passed into law and protects the rights against state infringements, defines citizenship, prohibits states from interfering with privileges and immunities, requires due process and equal protection, punishes states for denying vote, and disqualifies Confederate officials and debts (“Fourteenth Amendment: June 16, 1866”). For the first time the word “equal” was established into the Constitution.

The Black Codes in the Southern society which had many provisions of orders was published in 1865 and 1866 to restrict the freedom of black people (African Americans) and to reinforce strength of white people. In a deeper meaning, this law was created to be like a way to preserve the slavery system.