Foundations in Civil Rights

          Since the introduction of  African culture,  peoples of African descent never shared the same civil rights in  America as did  others.  In fact,  Africans (slaves) were counted as 3/5 of a person in the constitution  and even simple freedoms were denied under  slave code laws.   In 1863,  Abraham  Lincoln decreed the  Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves.   However,  only  Union states, the majority which did not allow slavery,  followed this proclamation.   Confederate states fighting ignored that statement.    
          As the Civil War ended,   Lincoln and his government knew the only way to ensure freed peoples' rights was to change the Constitution of the United States.   The 13th Amendment, 1865,  abolished slavery in America; however, it did not provide citizenship for this group of people.  The Radical Republicans pushed for legislation "reconstructing" the union and trying to improve  citizenship rights.   Finally in 1868, the 14th amendment   declared every born or naturalized citizen of America full citizenship rights and due process, equal protection under the law.  Still, many states created  Black Codes creating curfew laws and labor contracts.  The 15th amendment guranteed the right to vote.   However, the South continued creative means to limit the freed people rights with literacy laws, poll taxes and grandfather clauses.   Furthermore,  the South was challenged the law by  creating the Jim Crow Laws .  

 
 Early History in the Movement

"If a culture of people is unable to pull together and establish better living conditions and rights for their culture, the culture is politically sick, "  Malcolm X described the African American Civil Rights movement in hindsight.  His father followed the preaching of Marcus Garvey ,  (pictured left)  an early civil rights leader, who believed it was best for blacks to travel back to Africa where they would regain their freedom.   He began the UNIA . Other civil rights leaders like W.E.B Dubois did not believe in segregrated education.  Leaders like Dubois and Booker T. Washington committed their lives to the Civil Rights Movement in America.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples
(click here for historical background)
     Founded in 1909 the NAACP struggled to gain civil rights through non-violent protests and challenging court cases.  Leading founder W.E.B  DuBois  had worked to create previous organizations, Niagara Movement ,  to advance civil rights.  NAA   Other advocates like Rosa Parks and Medgar Edvers put their lives on the line for the civil rights fight.   Notorious NAACP lawyer  Thurgood Marshall strived to overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson.
Plessy vs. Ferguson  in 1896  set a precedent for "seperate but equal."   Separation of the races was legal, according to this court case, as long as this separation was equal.   Thus began the question of whether seperate is equal. 
   
A father requested a bus for his young student walk to school like the "white"  schools.    The NAACP took the court case,       Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas  and the case changed from a bus ride to  "is separate really equal?"    However, some members of the NAACP  worried that challenging SEGREGATION and demanding INTERGRATION might be too early and the Civil Rights movement could sacrifice too much.  The 1954  Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision REQUIRED SCHOOL TO INTEGRATE. Many blacks were not sure they wanted to send their children to integrated schools.  Just because laws had changed did not mean that attitudes had changed

    As the struggle for Civil Rights begins, it is easy to see that it does not have full support and for good reasons.  Although laws have changed, other discriminatory laws have been created, and people attitudes often remained the same.   As the civil rights struggle evolves, so does the philosophy of non-violence.
 
 

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