Race Discrimination
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Race discrimination was a very severe and difficult problem for certain groups of people, especially African Americans. Over time, especially during the Reconstruction period (1865- 1877), the North wanted change economically and socially. However, the South did not want change in terms of equal rights for African Americans, therefore the Jim Crow laws were created. Jim Crow laws were limits of discrimination against African Americans that did not allow and sometimes avoided rights for African Americans such as citizenship, voting, equal protection, and other rights stated in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The laws also segregated them from everyday society such as schools, railroad cars, public libraries, water fountains, restaurants, hotels, and other public places. Many of them were based off the idea of “separate but equal”. Although convinced “separate but equal” was fair and just, often the facilities for "colored" people were inferior and not of the quality as the facilities for white people. Jim Crow laws were only existent because the federal courts' made the constitutional and legal protections very broad and general. The Jim Crow laws lasted through the twentieth century.
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was the last civil rights act for almost a century. It prevented anyone from discriminating or segregating against any certain race or color from public places or places open to the public, however in 1883, the Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional because the 14th amendment prevents discrimination by the states, however does not include by individuals, therefore cannot technically enforce it.
In 1890, as a result of the Louisiana law requiring separate rail cars for different races, Homer Plessy, an educated man with a white complexion and black ancestor, tested the law by buying a ticket for the white car, then revealing his identity and ancestry once seated. He was arrested and started the litigation known as Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896). Once it reached the Supreme Court, it was a seven to one decision stating that separating society for two different races was not offensive or derogatory to a certain race.
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In 1954, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Brown vs. Board of Education ruled that segregation in public schools and the Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional. The case was a major step towards the abolition of race discrimination. African- American activism made the government extend the Civil Rights Movement and racial justice to other parts of society other than school (from Brown vs. Board). Protests also extended farther than school. Rosa Parks disobeyed the city law against bus rights between African Americans and white citizens, and started a large uprising that consisted of many protests and boycotts. As activists groups began to form and become stronger, like Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, racists groups also started to form and start terrorist campaigns.
Timeline of Important Events
1865- 1877- Jim Crow laws were in effect
1875- Civil Rights Act
1896- Plessy vs. Ferguson
1954- Brown vs. Board of Education
Timeline of Important Events
1865- 1877- Jim Crow laws were in effect
1875- Civil Rights Act
1896- Plessy vs. Ferguson
1954- Brown vs. Board of Education