I feel that Africans Americans individuals started to stick together and stand up themselves and become as one in order to fight the laws on discrimination in the South and other parts of the United States.
The Pre- War and World War 11 offered all individuals of color an opportunity to get out of the cycle of rural poverty, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment gave all persons born or naturalized citizen rights of the United States, these individuals could not be deprive of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Furthermore; the 15th Amendment allowed all citizens the right to vote regardless of their race, color, or prior history as a slave could not stop individuals from voting. The landmark verdict reversed the “separate but equal” doctrine the court had established with Plessy v. Ferguson in which it determined that equal protection was not violated as long as reasonably equal conditions were provided to both groups. In the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, another landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for African American and white students and denying African American children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional.
The Pre- War and World War 11 offered all individuals of color an opportunity to get out of the cycle of rural poverty, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment gave all persons born or naturalized citizen rights of the United States, these individuals could not be deprive of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Furthermore; the 15th Amendment allowed all citizens the right to vote regardless of their race, color, or prior history as a slave could not stop individuals from voting. The landmark verdict reversed the “separate but equal” doctrine the court had established with Plessy v. Ferguson in which it determined that equal protection was not violated as long as reasonably equal conditions were provided to both groups. In the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, another landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for African American and white students and denying African American children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional.
Many groups were formed to help the people of color fight the Government against unconstitutional laws. W.E.B.Du Bois started the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), A Philip Randolph fought for African Americans against discrimination in defense plant jobs, and he started the Brother hoods of Sleeping Car Porters in 1935, which was the first labor organization. and a campaign to bring Africans Americans workers into the union by employing African Americans who demanded equal pay, regardless of race. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sought to end discrimination and improve race relations through direct action, membership for this organization was granted to all people who believe all people are created equal, they also had white students from the North to travel to Mississippi, where they helped register African Americans voters staged a sit-in at a coffee shop in Chicago. The Jim Crows laws banned African Americans and other people of color from associating with whites in a host of instructions and public places; schools, hospitals, drinking fountains restrooms, forms of public transportation, hotels, restaurants, lunch counters, movie theaters, and parks.
When Africans Americans, soldiers returned to the United States they found the country that did not grant them full rights, and the Civil Rights Movement was reborn. These individual soldiers were not afraid to confronted white supremacies, which lead to many riots. The leaders in the African Americans churches also press for racial changes. The passing of the Federal Civil Rights legislation in 1964 did not address all the problems of African Americans they were still unemployed, facing police brutality, and unsafe housing conditions. The freedom Riders were Civil Rights activists that rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the United States Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia (of 1960). Boynton v. Virginia had outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting rooms in terminals serving buses that crossed state lines. The Freedom Riders set out to challenge this status quo by riding various forms of public transportation in the South to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation. The Riders were arrested for trespassing, unlawful assembly, and violating state and local Jim Crow laws, along with other alleged offenses. Most of the subsequent rides were sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), while others belonged to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (Snick). The Freedom Rides followed on the heels of dramatic sit-ins against segregated lunch counters conducted by students and youth throughout the South and boycotts beginning in 1960.The boycott in Montgomery Alabama where Rosa Parks refused to obey bus driver order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks' action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted 343 days.
On July 2, 1964 the Africans Americans had won the battle of discrimination when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Right Act. The Act outlawed segregation in businesses, and also banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places.
You are right Nettie but I think that the fight still isn't over. Although racism isn't as blantant like the days of old, it is still going on but in sutttle ways. The loudest form that I see everyday is the treatment of our President. I still beleive that he is not given the respect that this office demands. Every decsion that he makes here come the naysayers whispering to the press and leaking derogatory statements about him and later smiling in his face doing the pat on the back. We still have a long way to go before the fight for civil rights will be complete.
ReplyDeleteNettie, as I was reading your blog, I noticed something that I must have just not focused on and that is all of the laws that were written and Supreme Court decisions that were supposed to give us rights and still they didn't. It's almost like putting a band-aid over a bullet wound. While the intention was there when making the laws,it really didn't do any good if no one was forcing those in power to enforce the laws. I think about the documentary and how JFK just really didn't want to be actively involved with integrating Ole Miss and that was just one student. In Little Rock the decision had come down and look how long it took and the violence that occured before the government decided to take action. Laws are important and they provided a foundation, but unless they are enforced, they really don't serve their purpose.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to add that even in politics I understand that its each man for himself and there is a certain way to "play the game" however I feel that even the progressive Kennedy family did not fully evaluate the entire racism system, during the stuggle to integrate Ol Miss, because JFK was hesitant to stand alone in fear of being ostracized by other people. This is just an example of white privilege
ReplyDeleteThe important thing about this time was how peopl of color started to band together and fight unified battles to get what the deserved. As large groups, they forced people to listen to them and acknowledge them.
ReplyDeleteI honestly didnt notice or I guess going to an all white school in Perrysburg, Ohio we were only taught very little about African Americans. And now that I have taken this class, I very ashamed of my ancestors. And what is rediculous about it the most, is that we still are faced with racism today, mostly for African Americans, but I as a white woman that really only communicates with African Americans am faced with racism a lot and mostly from my family.
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