The Fight For Equality Throughout America

There were a lot of struggles for equal rights in America, and we have come a long way. In the past, slaves and women of our country were not given very many rights. Slavery was officially abolished in 1865, due to the thirteenth amendment.. Since this amendment, there has still been numerous racial issues, but people are willing to stand up strongly for what they believe in. Adding the nineteenth amendment also brought Americans a sense of equality, because if allowed women the right to vote. Women had been fighting for their rights since our country began for their equality. Along with these movements, there have been several including equality of gender, race, and religious beliefs. To this day, America is still taking steps to insure all people have equal rights. Recently, in 2010 our country passed the Equality Act which prohibits discrimination of those undergoing gender reassignment. Equality between people does not necessarily mean having the same opinions, but having the same opportunities. Throughout history America has provided equality to all issues brought up, which gives us hope that we will continue to live in a country where freedom is most definitely

Though the conclusion of the American Civil War in 1965 marked the end of slavery in the United States, African-Americans would not see anything resembling true freedom from the segregation and isolation imposed by slavery until very recently, and only after decades of difficult struggle. Some of the most important achievements occurred during the 1960s, when a generation of African-American leaders and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and the Freedom Riders, fought against some of the last vestiges of explicit, institutionalized segregation, discrimination, and isolation in order to attain equality and civil rights. Only by examining the treatment of African-Americans throughout America's history can one begin to understand how the the ending of slavery, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and the contemporary issues facing the African-American community are inextricably linked. In turn this allows one to see how rather than existing as a single, identifiable turning point in the history of civil rights, African American's struggle for equality and an end to isolation must be considered as an ongoing project.

Equality is something Americans strive to provide and maintain. It has become an integral and necessary part of our mosaic culture. Even now to the point that when people think of America, they naturally think of freedom and equality. People of many different races, disabilities and creeds have come to the United States seeking the impartiality upon which this country was founded. The institutions of this country have relied upon it, just as it was the created by the events in the laying of moral foundations. The expression of America's citizens plays an extremely significant role in the history of equality in American society. In the pursuit of equality and the "American Dream," people have authored inspiring

In America, the land of the free, people believe that it’s the greatest place to be. And America would probably be what everyone believes, but it has a very serious problem that could eventually destroy the country as whole. America is built upon Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but it has a strong equality issue that has to be taken care of. Equality is a social contract in America and unfortunately it is a broken one. A social contract is an agreement amongst the members of a society, but equality is a serious issue. Equality poses the biggest problem to America simply because in any country the people make the country, and if the people can’t get along either internal conflicts occur, or people eventually leave. Throughout America everyone regardless of race, color, or sexual orientation has experienced inequality in some part of America. Words are exchanged, fists are thrown, and in serious cases lives are lost because people are racists to one another. Equality is a broken social contract in America that will eventually be its demise if not attended to.

The formation of segregated barrios and the development of a wealth of community-provided services showed that Mexican-Americans were not content to be marginalized by the United States. Instead, they were embracing an empowering new sense of self-determination and referring to themselves as “Mexicanos or as members of a larger, pan-Hispanic community of La Raza.” At this time La Raza referenced individuals of the Mexican “race”, whether they were in Mexico or in the United States, and was particularly important in the United States, where race was more important than citizenship. In the late 19th and early 20th century United States, race was determined by purity of blood, and there were only two races—white and black. White meant the individual had “pure blood” (European blood); black meant that the individual’s blood included indigenous or African influences. Being white meant being able to exercise one’s constitutional rights and being treated as a normal member of society’s dominant group. Being black meant that, regardless of whether he or she was a citizen, the individual would face discrimination similar to that which I described earlier. When the Spanish conquerors mixed with the people of Latin America, forming the mestizo, or mixed race, population that now composes most of the region, they removed themselves from a “white” classification in the United States. Thus, by engaging with the concept of La Raza, which connotes a mestizo race and population, Mexican-Americans rejected the binary nature of race in the United States and embraced what made them different—their indigenous-mixed blood and the cultural heritage that accompanied it. While the abuse directed towards Mexican-Americans may have

Throughout American history, the fight for racial equality amongst society has had it’s ups and downs especially during the Civil Rights Movement. John Lewis, a civil rights leader, delivered “Speech at the March on Washington” in occurred during the 1960s America where racial discrimination was at it’s highest. This mostly caught the attention of the younger generation of the 1960s and the black community, which had a more vigilant tone. Lewis’ purpose for this speech is to inform the American citizens that African Americans want reform to protect themselves from harm. Lewis’ main claims he wanted his speech to symbolize is that all races should have the right to hold equal laws and freedom like any other white citizen had.

Equality is the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity,degree, value, rank, or ability. Everyone, despite the color of your skin, age, religion, or gender should be considered equal. However, based on your background can debate how you see it. According to Anika Chaganti equality is “Equality is everyone having the same fundamental rights, no matter the circumstance. Equality is everyone having the same worth.”. Equality is a lofty goal our country still strives for. For African Americans, equality would simply be to be treated like every white person in America, treated fairly, given the same opportunities, and to be looked at like a regular human being, not as someone who is “different” or “strange”.

Throughout history, there has been discrimination against race, religion, gender, orientation, age, among many other things. From the British preventing the colonists’ rights to the “separate but equal” doctrine people used to justify discrimination against African Americans, America has had its fair share of it. After years of the mockery of equality that African Americans had, change was needed. Out of the thousands of voices who brought the winds of change, that were heard the most were: Martin Luther King Jr., for convincing people to join their cause; Thurgood Marshall, who used the law to get people to listen to their voices; and the Silent Majority, for without them, freedom would never truly ring from every mountainside.

Civil Rights is still as prevalent an issue today as it was fifty years ago. Civil rights is defined as “the rights of individuals to receive equal treatment and to be free from unfair treatment or discrimination in a number of settings and based on certain legally-protected characteristics (What Are Civil Rights). The fight for equality is a very tough task to accomplish. Racism (“poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race or the belief that some races of people are better than others”) has been a pressing issue in the United States for a long time now (Racism). Along the Civil Rights journey there has been many influential people that have aided toward this common goal. One of these people is James Meredith. He led an influential walk dubbed the March Against Fear. A question that can be asked is: Was the March Against Fear successful? I believe it was a successful movement because it surpassed the expectations Meredith had for the march and succeeded in the mission it set out to accomplish.

The war of equality for the African American was fought on many battlefields. Whether on American soil or the trenches of other countries, black men and women gave their every breath to be known as equal human beings. The white man of the south, on the other hand, rich or poor and uneducated alike wanted to insinuate their façade of superiority and hold the black community to their haven of slavery. Being put through unimaginable trials such as lynching, Jim crow laws, sharecropping did not stop African Americans from their endeavors, in reality, it gave them a reason to strive for their constitutional rights that have been forsaken for too long. Because going back to the days of slavery -although it seemed like they were treated that way

The struggle for equal rights has been an ongoing issue in the United States. For most of the twentieth century Americans worked toward equality. Through demonstrations, protests, riots, and parades citizens have made demands and voiced their concerns for equal rights. For the first time minority groups were banding together to achieve the American dream of liberty and justice for all. Whether it was equality for women, politics, minorities, or the economy the battle was usually well worth the outcome. I have chosen articles that discuss some of the struggles, voyages, and triumphs that have occurred. The people discussed in the following articles represent only a portion of those who suffered.

The Civil Rights movement was extremely important to our history. The fight for equality started long before the 1960’s for African Americans. Tennesseans fought to keep blacks and whites separated. Freedom was hard to come by in Tennessee and many whites opposed the “freedman.” Black Tennesseans fought for their right to vote back in 1867 and won. However, this was not the end; soon the Klu Klux Klan came into play as well. These years were just the beginning in the fight for equality in Tennessee. Tennessee was very much involved in the Civil Rights movement. Dr. Cynthia Fleming makes this clear in her article, ‘"We Shall Overcome": Tennessee and the Civil Rights Movement,’ where she discussed the involvement and impact

As the United States flag Pledge of Allegiance states “I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, One nation under God, …with liberty and justice for all” did people really believe in this pledge? Liberty means freedom, liberation, right, and justice means fairness or impartiality for all Americans whether they were, African American, White, Mexican, Indians, Japanese…etc. The government maybe needed to revisit this pledge just to remind them of what our county was built on which is equal opportunity. During this time the county was still divided by races even though the government used some of its power to help African Americans.

In a country driven by competition and a will to be the best, there are many who are not given the same opportunities as others. My focus is on the systematic oppression of minorities (including LGBTQ people, women, people of color, and any other identifiable minorities), and how that affects equality as a whole. As a start, there has always been a wide divide between males and females due to repeated and reinforced social stereotypes. These stereotypes are inhibiting and create the gender binary which restricts all genders. These bogus social roles create a template that humanity has followed.

Across all nations and cultures, the enduring pursuit of equality in life seems global and timeless. Some would believe that their own country has achieved a true democracy with no residual inequalities of which to speak, while others know they are at the other end of the spectrum, enduring unjust laws that should not be bestowed on any human. Through the course of history many countries have fought for that democracy and all the equality that it implies. While some believe they have reached that goal, others continue to fight for the most basic human rights, even in this time of enlightenment. The journey each country takes on its road to that place may vary by origination, length, severity and outcome, but the goal seems to be the