The Long Struggle for Civil Rights Essay

Black codes were one of many ways the states got around the federal government's amendments. These codes were laws that applied to African American people in the state. All of these codes were very restrictive and demining. They stopped African Americans from doing a lot of things such as owning or renting a house or apartment in the town of Opelousas. Many other towns had such laws that stopped African americans from living in town, coming into town, and even having meetings in town.

The purpose of the black codes was to keep black people from voting. The result was the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which prohibited using race as a reason to prevent people from voting. The emancipation of black slaves in post Civil War America did not run smoothly. Though the slaves had been freed in name, many did not feel secure about giving black people rights. The black codes prevented black Americans from voting and restricted their

Jim Crow Laws was caused due to many unhappy white southerners who weren’t happy about the ending of slavery. In addition, many white people also didn’t agree/like the fact that they would have to work with African Americans. Later on, there were “Black Codes,” which was a law in the southern states declaring that many African Americans wouldn’t have as much freedom. Also, “black codes” would make them not get paid the same amount as white southerners, and they would get paid lower wages and debts as well. For instance, the black codes also restricted civil and political rights for African Americans: a limit of freedom of employment, freedom of movement, the right to own land, and their freedom to testify in court.

The Constitution of the United States and the amendments that follow established the principles of our country. After the north won the civil war, reconstruction began in the south and several new laws were passed to support African American equality. In 1865, the 13th amendment was passed, which resulted in slavery being abolished. These newly freed men were made many promises. Among them were the promises of political, social, and economic justice. It seemed as though these promises would be kept as violating them was deemed unconstitutional. For example, the 14th amendment granted 3 rights to all men: the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, states cannot pass laws to abridge these rights, and the right that all men were seen equal before the law. Also, the 15th amendment was passed, which established the right to vote for all men, and thereby gave African Americans political power. In reality, however, these newly freed African Americans were still treated as inferior members of society. Reconstruction did not provide political, social, or economic justice to freed slaves.

There were still acts in place to limit rights and a corrupt government. Some southern states set up black codes to restrict rights against the African Americans. Under these laws, no African American can own or rent a home, carry a weapon, and all must work for white (document A). These laws go around the 13th and 14th amendment of abolishing slavery and all have citizenship. White Americans believe that African Americans will bring disarray to the government. The freedoms of the African Americans were still confined during the reconstruction. African Americans are apparent to argue and be aggressive in the picture (document G). This shows that African Americans were unfit for government and were not capable to be a part of it. Restricting the

One of the main goals of Reconstruction was to create equality for African Americans, but the rules and laws that were created, were not enforced by the government. Soon after the 13th Amendment was passed, most Southern states started to enforce Black Codes. These codes, as described in St. Landry’s Parish’s Black Codes, required African Americans to work under a white man, not to have a house or land, and to receive permission for meetings, preaching, carrying weapons, and selling items (Document 6). The purpose of the St. Landry’s Black Codes, and Black Codes in general, was to inform the public about the rules African Americans have to follow, but also to maintain the social order of whites coming before blacks, and to limit African American’s rights. Southern whites continued to take away African Americans rights throughout Reconstruction.

These developments included the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. During the Civil War African Americans were allowed to fight for the union and were paid; however, they were not paid as much as the white soldiers. This lead to the Emancipation Proclamation, which caused the 13th amendment to fall into place. The thirteenth amendment stated that slaves were now free. It is true that African Americans were considered to be free but because of elements such as, sharecropping, they were stuck in this economic slavery. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were ratified together. The fourteenth amendment stated that former slaves or African Americans were now considered to be citizens. The issue of African Americans being citizens could be traced back to the Dred Scott vs. Sandford trial in 1857. This case directly involved, the requirements for being a citizen. While it is true that African Americans were technically citizens, they were still not treated as if they were. However it is not completely true that they had citizenship because, “the courts will not receive negro testimony…. Is this the fruit of freedom, and the reward of our services in the field? …" as stated in a Petition from American citizens of African descent to the Union convention of Tennessee. The fifteenth amendment stated that African Americans could now vote. This played out nicely compared to the

Black Codes enforced in the South severely restricted African Americans rights. Black Codes made harsh labor contracts and made it so blacks could only practice being a farmer or a servant. When an African American committed a crime the penalties were much more severe than whites. These penalties often ended in death. Any white farmer could force a black man under 21 or a woman under 18 into an apprenticeship. No colored person could carry any firearms or make and sell liquor.(Doc,K)

In the same way, the issue of racism was more opposed to people and was more openly abused in the past compare to present. African Americans were mistreated, and were slaved for a long time, and they did not have any rights until the 18th century. In 1865 and 1866 Southern states passed a laws called "black codes" which was meant to limit the rights of black and segregate them from whites; however, during the 1865 African American believed that the process of reconstruction would bring equality. The main object of reconstruction was to help African Americans become equal citizens, but reconstruction failed to help them, because the Southerners were not willing to accept the laws that were placed to give rights to the African Americans.

The African American population in the United States have always seemed to have been oppressed and persecuted throughout the history of the country. They have been targeted and put down using emotional, physical and sometimes, extremely violent methods. The time period from 1865 to 1905 was a particularly bad period for Southern African Americans. Huge hurdles had to be crossed for the people that were newly allowed to participate in the United States as citizens.

The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. “The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated.”(1) A vast majority of the Southern States agreed upon the Jim Crow Laws, which were slave states. That left some of the Northern States free states which didn’t pass the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws prevented African Americans from doing a lot of things that white americans could do.

In December of 1865, Congress passed the 13th amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. By July of 1868, the 14th amendment was passed to grant citizenship to anyone, regardless of race, born in the United States and prohibiting states from depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or rejecting to any person, within their jurisdiction, the equal protection of the laws (Jim Crow Stories). Immediately following the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and Republicans were trying to give equal rights to African Americans and set rules that would allow the Southern states back into the Union. At the same time, the Radical Republicans were working to minimize African Americans’ rights; this era is known as

The south wanted everything to be separate, but people did not approve of segregation. The Jim Crow Laws was created to make segregation legal. The laws was created to keep the blacks from being able to get better jobs and stay in the fields. Plessy vs. Ferguson was a courting ruling stated the Jim Crow Laws were not disobeying the Fourteenth Amendment. The Jim Crow Laws segregated everywhere people

After the Civil War, the southern United States was in pieces. The land had been demolished, the economy was in the gutter, and plantation owners no longer had a source of cheap labor. In order to keep the newly freed African-Americans socially below white people, Jim Crow Laws were made. Jim Crow Laws were laws that segregated people of color and whites. These laws prevented African-Americans from using the same facilities as whites, completing daily tasks, and limited the exchange between African-Americans and whites. Jim Crow laws were in place for about 100 years. From the end of the Civil War, to the end of the Civil Rights Movement these laws had an effect on the

The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobedience to revolt against racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states but quickly rose to national prominence. It is of popular belief that the civil rights movement was organized by small groups of people, with notable leaders like—Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and even John F. Kennedy—driving the ship. That is partly correct. The Civil Rights Movement, in its truest form, was hundreds of thousands of people organizing events and protests,