The Importance Of Equal Rights For African Americans

During Reconstruction, African Americans’ freedoms were very restricted. There were strict regulations on voting, relationships, employment, firearms, and other freedoms that white people had. African American faced disenfranchisement for years after being freed and becoming citizens. In What a Black Man Wants by Frederick Douglass, Douglass angrily demands the freedom to vote that every American deserved. He assesses the black man’s contribution to society and wonders why this contribution has not led to more rights. Those who were supposed to be fighting for the rights of freed slaves were not speaking up. Even the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was not fighting for the rights of the freed slaves. Because of the restrictions on voting, African Americans did not have the same power over their own lives that white people had. Disenfranchisement is just one way white people limited freedoms of freed slaves.

specific civil liberties such as those, African Americans also fought for equality between both races. Without the drive of these forerunners in the fight for equality, many slaves would not have the

The emancipation proclamation was what seemed like the beginning of freedom for African Americans. African Americans fought hard and valiantly in the American Civil war and with the Unions win freedom and peace for blacks seemed to be assured. As most people would quote," Freedom isn 't free." It almost always has a cost. Africans Americans since the origin of this country have literally laid down their lives for the cost of freedom and opportunity in the US. One of the most coveted freedom 's both past and present is the right to suffrage. My paper discusses the many factors leading to and the trials and tribulations involving black 's right to vote. In this paper, I will discuss the constitutional amendments as well as the landmark supreme court cases that affected both the lives and voting rights of African Americans during the time period of 1865 through 1900.

To what extent can it be argued that De Jure (legal) segregation was the main obstacle preventing blacks from achieving equality in the 1920s – 1930s?

There have been many of times in the history of American where people have been treated unfairly. After the Civil War the 13th amendment was passed and black southerners were no longer slaves. Yet they were not really free. These people were unable to accesses the things that were necessary to sustain life. During this time African Americans had no idea what the “American Dream” was like. There African Americas of the south wanted freedom. They wanted the freedom of owing land, the freedom of marriage and bringing their families together once again. These people were willing to do whatever it took to be free, no longer having some telling them what to do or how to live. They intend to work and gain respect as any one American.

Once the civil war came to an end, of course this ended slavery and provided African Americans freedom, but it didn’t provide them security or equality. African Americans had to still be dependent on the white man for things that they weren’t able to just provide to themselves. At first, the states were supposed to be providing and protection the rights of individuals. But, by being able to have these amendments, they provide political equality and equal treatment for all American’s within the United States regardless of their

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.

Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution were historical milestones in which the ever controversial topic of racial equality was first challenged. In theory, these two movements laid the groundwork for a racially equal United States of America. A country in which every member, regardless of skin color, or race were to be treated equally under the eyes of the law and to one day be treated as equals within all realms of society. As historic and powerful as these movements were, they did

Civil rights has been an important issue in American history, dating even before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, it was one of the primary causes of the American Revolution, as seen with the famous phrase “no taxation without representation.” The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment further sparked a heated debate during the Reconstruction Era over the civil protections of free blacks. These disputes led to additional legislation, such as the implementation of the Fourteenth Amendment, to protect these citizens of the United States.

During the 20th century, male and females were not being treated equally a lot of women started getting mad because they weren’t getting jobs or the right to vote as men, so it led to the Civil Rights Movement, the Equal Rights Amendment was involved, because women weren’t treated equally or given the same rights as males. The Civil RIghts Movement was when there was a lot of racism and black and white people weren’t given the same rights, it was unfair to the black because they couldn’t do so many things like vote and also there was sex discrimination. In 1923, Alice Paul, leader and founder of the National Woman’s Party, considered that ERA should be the next step in the 19th Amendment in granting equal justice under the law to both sexes, male and female, in the U.S. Alice Paul said “ We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote.” A text from the amendment said “Equal of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

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

African Americans have been treated unfairly for many years since slavery. Although slavery had ended in the U.S., whites were still being disrespectful and racist toward the African Americans. They still treated them like they were lower than all the whites. Just because of the color of their skin, African Americans were being mistreated. They did all they could possibly do to get equality for blacks, but they did them nonviolently. They never even once used violence. They did events like boycotts, sit-ins, school integration, and marches.

For example, at a time in our country, it was illegal for a person of African decent to read or write. The punishment of this action was death. Because laws cannot stop action, the African American people continued to learn to read and write, BUT they had to do so in secret. The African American person had to risk their life to receive a education which was defined by Horace Man, as the "greatest equalizer of men". These laws were overturned and found unconstitutional. Today we find these laws bizarre but they are a very real party of our history. When the basic rights of people are taken away people still find a way to be in control of their futures.

With regard to civil rights, the government is supposed to ensure that all United States citizens have equal rights and are fairly represented across multiple areas, including politics, the economy, court hearing, and government programs. Since the Bill of Rights and the Constitution were devised, the government has conducted enacted many changes in an effort to protect the civil rights of American citizens. In particular, civil rights have undergone the most changes with regard to the plight of African Americans and minorities, women, the disabled, and gays and lesbians. Nevertheless, there remain certain areas in which civil rights must improve in order to truly ensure the equality of all American citizens.

Protest against injustice is deeply rooted in the African American experience. The origins of the civil rights movement date much further back than the 1954 Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which said, "separate but equal" schools violated the Constitution. From the earliest slave revolts in this country over 400 years ago, African Americans strove to gain full participation in every aspect of political, economic and social life in the United States.