Civil War to Civil Rights Although neither was very “civil” they both were hard fought “battles”. This is a brief look at why African American rights took so long to materialize. We will examine some Supreme Court cases and Constitutional Amendments that made it difficult for African Americans.

Civil War to Civil Rights Dred Scott v. Sandford: 1857 Dred Scott was a slave who traveled to free states with his owner. Since he set foot on free land, Dred Scott argued that he was a free man. Supreme Court ruled that Scott was “property” and that his owner had complete control over his destiny.

Civil War to Civil Rights Supreme Court also ruled that since Scott wasn’t a citizen of the U.S. he couldn’t sue. Civil War – 1861 – 1865 Emancipation Proclamation – 1863: Changed the attitude of the Civil War – became a crusade against slavery.

Civil War to Civil Rights Reduced the likelihood of Great Britain helping the South – Great Britain was against slavery. Never freed any slaves – merely changed the attitude of the war for the Union.

Civil War to Civil Rights 13 th Amendment – 1865: Ended Slavery 14 th Amendment – 1868: Defined citizenship 15 th Amendment – 1870: Gave African American males the right to vote.

Civil War to Civil Rights Reconstruction – 1863 – 1877: Attempt by the North to make the South comply with federal rules regarding African Americans. The South was carved up into military districts headed by the North.

Civil War to Civil Rights Growth of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan showed southern opposition to African American equality. Hard to change a “culture” in just few years.

Civil War to Civil Rights Compromise of 1877: In the election of 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes “R” lost the popular vote to Samuel Tilden “D”. A special commission was established to resolve any voting discrepancy.

Civil War to Civil Rights Rutherford B Hayes said that if he were elected president he would remove all federal troops from the South. Democrats accepted this compromise and Hayes became president. Southern democrats regained control of the “South”.

Civil War to Civil Rights With the Compromise of 1877, reconstruction ended and African Americans gained little. Plessy v. Ferguson – 1896: Homer Plessy was 1/8 th Black and tried to ride a “White” train. Plessy was arrested and the case went to the Supreme Court.

Civil War to Civil Rights The Supreme Court ruled that “Separate Facilities are Equal”. This ruling solidified discrimination – as long as you had two separate trains, schools, restaurants, etc… it was legal to discriminate.

Civil War to Civil Rights Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas – 1954: Oliver Brown argued that his daughter Linda should be able to attend the “White” school that was located close to their home. By law Linda had to go the “Black” school which was further from the home.

Civil War to Civil Rights Supreme Court ruled that “Separate Facilities are Unequal”. The process of Desegregation had begun. Montgomery Bus Boycott – 1955: Rosa Parks refused to give her seat on a bus to a white man.

Civil War to Civil Rights Rosa Parks was arrested – Civil Rights started to gain a lot of momentum after this event. This is the introduction of Martin Luther King Jr. to the Civil Rights movement. African Americans boycotted the busing system in Montgomery for over a year.

Civil War to Civil Rights The federal government finally ruled that busing, like schools had to be Desegregated. March on Washington – 1963: African Americans wanted JFK to pass Civil Rights legislation to guarantee equality.

Civil War to Civil Rights Thousands gathered in Wash. D.C. to hear MLK Jr. give his “I have a dream speech”. JFK was assassinated a few months later and the torch was passed to LBJ, who got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed.

Civil War to Civil Rights Civil Rights Act – 1964: Outlawed discrimination in public places. 24 th Amendment – 1964: Made it illegal to charge a “poll tax” to vote.

Civil War to Civil Rights The 15 th amendment gave African American males the right to vote and the 19 th amendment gave all women the right to vote. Southern states would charge a “poll tax” before African Americans could vote.

Civil War to Civil Rights Were the southern states violating the 15 th or 19 th amendments? They would let African Americans vote if they could pay the tax. The 24 th amendment made sure that African Americans were treated fairly when it came to voting – ninety four years after the guarantee to vote.