Civics Chapter 12 Section 3 and 4 Mrs. Cox Paisley IB Year V

North Carolinians and the Vote When NC was first formed, only free male property owners over the age of 21 could vote. After the Civil War, the 14 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted U.S. citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the U.S.

North Carolinians and the Vote Equal protection under the law for all citizens is protected both under the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of N.C. The 15 th Amendment gave suffrage, or the right to vote, to all males citizens over 21.

North Carolinians and the Vote For 20 years following the passage of the 15 th Amendment, African Americans voted in elections in N.C. Over, 1,000 African Americans were elected to public office. However, some states tried to keep African Americans from voting.

North Carolinians and the Vote By 1900, N.C. used tests that kept most African Americans and Native Americans from being able to vote. N.C. also encouraged racial segregation, or separation of people based on race.

Woman Suffrage Women had few rights when the U.S. was formed. They could not control their own property or even vote. In, 1894, women in Asheville held the first public meeting for woman suffrage in N.C.

Woman Suffrage Twenty years later, the N.C. Equal Suffrage League held its first convention in Charlotte. Many people did not think that women should have the right to vote. They believed that women should not be involved with politics.

Woman Suffrage In 1915, the Equal Suffrage Bill went to the General Assembly but was defeated. Woman suffragists did not give up. They finally won the right to vote with the passage of the 19 th Amendment in 1920.

Woman Suffrage White women could vote, but in N.C. most African American and Native American women still could not. In the 1960s, federal laws began to allow all citizens to vote. N.C. did away with its discriminatory voting practices, and everyone over 21 was able to vote in the state.

Woman suffrage In 1971, more people gained the right to vote when the 26 th Amendment lowered the national voting age from 21 to 18. Today, most people 18 and older have the right to vote in N.C. Exceptions would be criminals, non- citizens and people who do not meet the state requirement for residency of one year.

The Civil Rights Movement According to the 14 th Amendment, all citizens must be treated equally under the law. This equal treatment is protected by Civil Rights. However, for nearly 100 years, African Americans were segregated, especially in the southern states.

The Civil Rights Movement Sometimes, segregation was established by law, and other times, by tradition. In 1875, the Constitution of N.C. barred white and African American children from attending the same schools.

The Civil Rights Movement The General Assembly made laws segregating people in other places as well. The Supreme Court upheld segregation in its 1896 Plessy V. Ferguson decision.

The Civil Rights Movement Sixty years later, the Supreme Court overturned segregation in public schools in Brown V Board of Education. Many people in N.C. were angered by the idea of integration. The Pearsall Commission found ways for parents to avoid having their child attend segregated schools.

The Civil Rights Movement African American students first began to attend previously segregated schools in In 1966, the Pearsall Plan was found unconstitutional. The Supreme Court decided that school districts could move district boundaries or bus students to fully integrate schools.

Moving Toward Integration Civil Rights supporters worked to end segregation in all public places in the 1960s. People held marches, demonstrations, and boycotts. In Greensboro, four African American college students began a sit-in at a local F.W. Woolworth’s store to protest that store’s practice of not serving African Americans at its lunch counter.

Moving Toward Integration This first sit-in attracted many supporters. Soon, people in many states had similar sit-ins to protest segregation. The movement inspired many activists, such as African American leader Jesse Jackson.