Although the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments in theory guaranteed equal protection and voting rights to every US citizen, regardless of race, in practice American society remained racially segregated both economically and socially throughout the early 1900s (Henretta 870). Poll taxes, literacy tests, fraud, coercive tactics, and "white primaries" in southern states eroded the Fifteenth Amendment's promise of equal democratic participation, leaving many African Americans without a political voice despite constituting a sizable portion of the population (Henretta 871). Similarly, Jim Crow segregation in the South-consisting of segregated public facilities, including bathrooms, restaurants, and transportation-condemned African Americans to …show more content…
Although President Truman did not personally believe in racial equality for African Americans, growing pressure from a collective of civil rights activists (including Asa Philip Randolph and Adam Clayton Powell), combined with his desire to maintain the black vote, incentivized him to organize the Presidential Committee on Civil Rights to investigate civil rights reforms. Pursuant to the committee's recommendations, Truman enacted executive orders to desegregate the armed forces and federal agencies, and sent the rest of the recommendations to Congress for approval (Henretta 875). Truman's bold and unprecedented calls for racial equality stemmed, in part, from the committee's admonishment that racial inequality posed a threat to national security. Advocating for democracy and human rights improvements abroad, the commission argued, could appear hypocritcal if America failed to address civil rights domestically. In a world increasingly torn apart by ideology-the Cold War largely remained a series of proxy conflicts between the Soviet Union, advocating communism, and the United States, advocating democratic capitalism-the committee and Truman believed America's global image would play a major role in international stability (Henretta 875). Similar to the television, however, Cold War fears …show more content…
Although the majority of historical literature documenting the Civil Rights era focuses on the African Americans' plight, Mexican and Japanese Americans also mobilized and pushed for reforms. Specifically, during the 1940s Mexican Americans remained segrgeated from the rest of the Southwestern population. They were forced to take the lowest-wage jobs and live in run-down "barrios," which often lacked water or modern infrastructure (Henretta 875). As the Mexican American middle class grew, after soldiers returned to the United States, they formed organizations such as the American GI Forum and Community Service Organization to protest the injustices in their communities (Henretta 877). These efforts ultimately culminated in the Ninth Circuit case Mendez v. Westminster School District, which ruled segregated schools for Mexican Americans unconstitutional (Henretta 877). Similarly, the Japanese American Citizens League also fought against racist policies, such as California's Alien Land Law, which barred Japanese Americans from obtaining land or citizenship (Henretta 877). One of the most significant legal activists of the period, however, was NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall. He advanced the legal principle of rights liberalism through his role in several crucial
Following President Truman's Executive Order, two boards were established to make recommendations about integration. A presidential commission chaired by Charles Fahy recommended an end to discrimination in jobs, schooling, assignment, and recruitment. In 1952 it was the Korean War that finally led to the desegregation of the previously all-white combat unit. The main goal of President Truman's Executive Order 9981 was to grant equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. “There shall be created in the National Military Establishment an advisory committee to be known as the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, which shall be composed of seven members to be designated by the President.” He also states that the Committee “shall confer and advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force”.
As they were trying to enroll the children, the school denied them and told them that the kids had to be enrolled in a Mexican school. This is not the first time that many different families from different countries had to deal with this kind of situation. However, after seeing how they were being treated that is when the Mendez family and other parents decided to organize a protest and demand an investigation to end segregation. At first it was not enough to try to end segregation, but when Gustavo and Felicitas Mendez, along with the League of United Latin American Citizens, contacted other Mexican American parents that had already hired attorneys and decided to file a class action lawsuit. The case officially got intense when David Marcus, A Los Angeles attorney was able to argue that other public facilities desegregation cases in Southern California, was able to present them. In 1945, the Mendez and four other families filed Mendez v. Westminster in federal court. Although, the Mendez family did not argue that schools were unconstitutional, instead they
While this was a milestone in the progress for Black rights, this seemingly problem-solving legislation for former slaves did not prevent future hardships by any means. Efforts were made in the southern states to keep blacks from reaping the benefits given to them by the Fourteenth Amendment by maintaining blacks’ position at the bottom of the social hierarchy thus keeping the idea of slavery alive without actually keeping slavery alive. An example of this is the 1876 Jim Crow Laws which called for the organization of separate restrooms, waiting facilities, restaurants, prisons, schools and textbooks, militia, and transportation. It also denied intermarriage, among many other hindrances inflicted by this legislation. 2
Thurgood Marshall was known in the NAACP’s Legal Defense as “Mr. Civil Rights,” because he fought many battles over segregation in the courts. Thurgood Marshall was surrounded by a team of brilliant lawyers, one in particular, Oliver Hill, from Virginia. Mr. Hill won many civil rights suits dealing with discrimination in education and wages. The civil rights movement included different groups with many priorities, all working toward the larger goal of social equality. The most highly educational law suit is Brown v. Board of Education. Oliver Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education to simply allow his own 8 year old daughter Linda attend a nearby school for whites only. Imagine every day walking by a school that have your grade level, riding a bus for miles to attend a school where only students of color must attend. On May 17, 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, and this is when the Supreme Court issued its historic ruling. It was Thurgood Marshall that spoke to reporters in New York City in 1955, after the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of public schools. Marshall later became the first African American Supreme Court
Lasting hatred from the civil war, and anger towards minorities because they took jobs in the north probably set the foundation for these laws, but it has become difficult to prove. In this essay, I will explain how the Separate but Equal Laws of twentieth century America crippled minorities of that time period forever. Separate but Equal doctrine existed long before the Supreme Court accepted it into law, and on multiple occasions it arose as an issue before then. In 1865, southern states passed laws called “Black Codes,” which created restrictions on the freed African Americans in the South. This became the start of legal segregation as juries couldn’t have African Americans, public schools became segregated, and African Americans had restrictions on testifying against majorities.
White southerners believed that black people should keep to themselves, socialize and go to church in different locations and work for white people in servile jobs and for low wages. After slavery was abolished Africans lost their shelters and white southerners lost their work force. In response to this, the white men became landlords that charged high rent to slave families who did not have the ability to pay with cash. The former slaves turned into indentured servants as they tried to pay off their debt through services, which was ultimately an unattainable task due to the high interest that was tacked on (Wiener). Due to the Fifteenth Amendment the Redeemers, who were southerners who wanted to prevent equality for slaves, had to sneak around to disfranchise blacks. The Redeemers developed voting rules for each state called “literacy tests,” even though they were impossible to pass and just created to get rid of African American voters. They also required a poll tax to be paid because they knew that most blacks would not have earned enough money to pay for voting. Proponents of the “New South” promoted the “Separate but Equal” motto and under this, segregation of blacks and whites became normal as long as each race had “equal” facilities (Literacy Test and Poll Tax). Even though blacks and whites
... many other things! “The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute quality of the two raves before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinction based upon color, or to enforce social as distinguished from political quality, or a commingling of the two raves upon terns unsatisfactory to either.” This is a quote from the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court thought that the two raves should be separate but equal. But even though the two races were separate, it was still not equal because there were much less public restrooms, restaurants, and other things for the blacks in America.
Although the Fourteenth Amendment, when adopted in 1868, gave certain rights to blacks, including citizenship, equal protection of law and other freedoms, African-Americans were considered inferior by whites in this country. In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson officially made segregation legal, and put “separate but equal” into effect. African-Americans were excluded from hotels, restaurants, theatres and schools. African-Americans had lower paying jobs than did whites. Accumulated frustration led blacks to call for dramatic social change. (Good, 8-10)
One of the basic rights African Americans struggled to obtain was the right to vote. In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified. The amendment stated that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” (U.S. Constitution). As this was thought as a victory, it was soon to be seen that it was anything but. White men in the nation saw this as a threat and improvised new ways to prevent African Americans to vote such as the installment of poll taxes, literacy test, and the “grandfather clause”. In Litwin’s book, Fighting for the Right to Vote, Litwin explains how Mississippi Delta activist, Fannie Lou Hamer assisted other African Americans in registering to vote and helping them gain a voice in the movement. Voting was not the only place where African Americans fell short of capabilities. Due to Jim Crow laws, African Americans could not do such basic things as ride first-class passenger on a primarily white train or a bus. A lady known as Rosa Parks in the neighboring state of Alabama found herself facing charges when she refused to give up her seat on the bus during the time of the movement. The Jim Crow laws were created to prevent African Americans from making any advancements that could potentially threaten white
African Americans have a history of struggles because of racism and prejudices. Ever since the end of the Civil War, they struggled to benefit from their full rights that the Constitution promised. The fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship, was passed in 1866. Even though African Americans were promised citizenship, they were still treated as if they were unequal. The South had an extremely difficult time accepting African Americans as equals, and did anything they could to prevent the desegregation of all races. During the Reconstruction Era, there were plans to end segregation; however, past prejudices and personal beliefs elongated the process.
After the American Civil War (1861-1865), the United States entered a stage of reconstruction where many southern states passed poll taxes that appeared to be merely another source of revenue, when in actuality, its purpose was to prevent African Americans from voting (Carson & Bonk, 15). In attempts of solving this issue, the fifteenth amendment was passed, which declared the right to vote to male citizens of any color. The fifteenth amendment, however, did not stop southern state legislators to find other ways to prevent African Americans as well as other minorities from voting. In addition to making citizens have to pay in order to vote, southern states also adapted literacy tests (Carson & Bonk, 15). In order to vote, citizens had to take literacy tests and obtain the results that identified them as “literate” enough to vote. Although the literacy tests gravely affected African Americans, it also affected woman and people of other ethnicities with poor education denying them the right to vote (Carson & Bonk, 15). By oppressing minorities and denying them the right to vote, the obvious outcome was that wealthy candidates who ran for
An event that I saw that was fitting to the Fourteenth Amendment was the elimination of black voting. Between the years of 1890 to 1906, the southern states enacted on laws and or the constitutional requirements that were meant to go and eliminate the blacks of any right to vote. During this time the Fifteenth Amendment was given so that no one should be denied the right to vote by the United States or any State on the description of their race, color, or previous circumstance of their servitude. Since Southerners didn’t like these laws and didn’t want to follow them so these Southerner’s were trying to find a way to end black voting. So what they went ahead and did was create what is known as the poll tax. What is the poll tax? You might be wondering. The poll tax is a tax that must be paid in order to be eligible to vote. Why the poll tax was created for was to make it so that people had to pay in order to vote which was disenfranchising to black citizens since this event took place after the Reconstruction. This meant that blacks wouldn’t be able to vote since they couldn’t afford the ballot to vote. With the poll tax being put into place what came along with it was a literacy test and a requirement that...
Though the issue of slavery was solved, racism continues and Southerners that stayed after the war passed Black Codes which subverted the ideas of freedom including the actions of state legislatures (Hakim 19). Black Codes were a set of laws that discriminated blacks and limited their freedom (Jordan 388). Such restrictions included: “No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish...No public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset…” (Louisiana Black Codes 1865). A solution to this was the 14th Amendment. It meant now all people born in America were citizens and it “Prohibited states from revoking one’s life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” This meant all states had to...
Due to their choices regarding civil rights, they ended up sacrificing popularity in the South in order to gain support from and protect the black voters in America. At first, Truman avoided civil rights issues for blacks, but soon found that he could not abstain entirely from involvement. In 1948, Truman “endorsed the findings of the report [of the Presidential Committee on Civil Rights] and called for an end to racial discrimination in federal hiring practices” (“Civil Rights Under Truman and Eisenhower”). Truman also issued an order to end segregation in the military, which was later completed by Eisenhower
In the latter half of the 18th century, freed slaves possessed the right to vote in all but three states. It was not until the 19th century that states began to pass laws to disenfranchise the black population. In 1850, only 6 out of the 31 states allowed blacks to vote. 1Following the civil war, three reconstruction amendments were passed. The first and second sought to end slavery and guarantee equal rights. The third, the 15th amendment, granted suffrage regardless of color, race, or previous position of servitude.2 The 15th Amendment monumentally changed the structure of American politics as it was no longer the privileged whites who could vote. For some it was as though hell had arrived on earth, but for others, it was freedom singing. However, the song was short lived. While many political cartoons from the period show the freedom that ex-slaves have for voting because of the 15th Amendment, they often neglect to include the fact that many African Americans were coerced into voting a certain way or simply had their rights stripped from them.