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African Americans are currently the largest racial minority group in the United
States. They have been part of the country since the colonial times, but their history is filled
with struggle and hardships. However, their hardships arent a thing of the past, they
continue to struggle against racial injustice and oppression today. They were brought to
America as slaves to provide labor in farming and housework. Although there were efforts
to minimize slavery when the slave trade was banned in the early 1800s, the legalized
In ante-bellum Unites States, there were several events that would lead to the Civil
War. First, the Missouri Compromise banned slavery north of the southern line of Missouri.
Second, Nat Turner lead the biggest slave uprising and although it was quelled as quickly as
it began, the abolitionist movement began. Harriet Beecher Stow published Uncle Toms
Cabin and stirred anti-slavery sentiments. Then in 1857 in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case,
the Court denied African Americans citizenship and held that Congress was powerless to
restrict slavery in the federal territories (George). In April of 1861 the Civil War began and
the Union fought against the Southern states to end slavery and grant African Americans
freedom. After the war, three new amendments were added to the Constitution. The 13 th
amendment abolished slavery in the United States. The 14th amendment gave African
Americans citizenship rights and the 15th amendment allowed them to vote.
However, the Civil War did not grant African Americans equal rights as there were
still many legal ways to segregate. After reconstructing the South, although slavery was
abolished, segregation was very much alive. The Ku Klux Klan was formed almost
immediately following the end of the Civil War by ex-Confederates. As Greenberg and Page
explain, in 1896, the government turned the other cheek on discrimination in Plessy vs.
Ferguson in which the Court established that separate but equal was constitutional (530).
Finally, "separate but equal" was ruled unconstitutional in Brown vs. Board of
Education Topeka (Carey). Almost all public things were segregated, whether it was water
fountains, public restrooms or schools, everything was separated for white people and
colored people. The transportation system was also segregated, where blacks had to give
up their seats for white people and sit in the back. The Civil Rights movement began in the
50s when Emmett Till, a young African American boy was murdered for whistling at a white
woman. Another spur to the movement was when a now well know civil rights activist, Rosa
Parks, refused to give up her seat in the bus to a white person. Rosa Parks was arrested and
following the black boycott of buses, the transportation system was desegregated. The
National guard had to intervene and accompany nine African American students to Central
High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Those students became known as the Little Rock Nine.
Martin Luther King began anti-segregation protests and he was arrested in Birmingham
where he wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail. He continued to lead African
Americans through the hard times with the hope of a better future. Martin Luther King
leads the March on Washington where he delivers his I Have a Dream Speech. African
Americans were also discriminated when it came to voting, the states found loopholes
through the 15th amendment. There were often poll taxes or literacy tests enacted to
prevent African Americans from voting. Martin Luther King also lead a march on Selma to
After the death of President Kennedy, President Johnson was in a hurry to draft a Civil
Rights bill. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaw[ed] racial segregation in public places and
provided a strong equal-opportunities provision (National). Later, the Voting Rights Act
African Americans have certainly come far from the ante-Bellum era to the Civil Rights
movement and their current status. We had an African American president, Barack Obama
and over 40 African American members in the House of Representatives in the 114th
Congress. Although, racism has minimized today, unfortunately racial discrimination still
exists today. Law enforcement definitely doesn't side with African Americans. Young black
men are often accused of crimes and unreasonably succumbed to police violence simply on
a racial basis. The stop and frisk program is certainly a legal way for further racial
discrimination. African American neighborhoods are separated and schools are often
majority black or majority white. Thus, segregation is on a way happening again, but this
time not through legal methods. The best way to address discrimination and ensure
equality for African Americans is to work on integrating schools and teaching children the
concept of equality.
Works Cited
Greenberg, Edward S., and Benjamin I. Page. The Struggle for Democracy. N.p.: Pearson,
2012. Print.
George, Robert P. "U.S. Supreme Court Justices Should Not Practice Judicial Activism." The
U.S Supreme Court, edited by Margaret Haerens, Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing
Context, login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010665
Carey, Kevin. "The Next Affirmative Action." Minorities and the Law, edited by Nol Merino,
login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010942215/OVIC
"National Association for the Advancement of Colored People." Civil Rights in the United
States, edited by Waldo E. Martin, Jr. and Patricia Sullivan, Macmillan Reference USA,
2000. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context, login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/BT2338230