Emancipation, History_Other, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - History Other

Emancipation

Emancipation After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, former slaves took on a new role in American society. This role was one of more significance and self worth than in slavery, but this class of freedmen was anything but appreciated. Without the manpower of the slaves, the south's agricultural society would fail, and without the agriculture there would be little money or food in the south. Since civil war times, African Americans have faced many circumstances of prejudice, racism and segregation in the United States. This poor treatment made it difficult for blacks to achieve political, economic and social equality. The civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s provided the dramatic change needed in order to consummate equal rights for blacks. Certain tactics initiated by such people as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, led to events like the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act 1965 which collectively helped there cause. Civil Disobedience, the use of the court system and peaceful protests were some of the strategies used to acquire equality. The march in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965, is a perfect example of how equal rights protestors used Civil Disobedience to get what they wanted. Civil disobedience was often a popular tactic used at this time, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. had faith in his beliefs of equality, and that all people, regardless of race should be free and governed under the same laws. he chose to fight in a non-traditional way. Rather than giving the white people the pleasure of participating in violent confrontations, King believed if they fought without violence for their rights, they would have a faster success rateHe gathered together his group of supporters and volunteers. They were trained daily before they began to protest, not on how to fight back to the physical attacks they would receive, but to be prepared for the physical abuse they would have to endure. The violence against the demonstrators was obscene, and their only drive was for the success they would receive after they faced the pain of their fight. King encouraged people not look at this fight as a request for the right to vote, but rather as a demand for the freedom of choice. After protests and non-violent action, Martin Luther King Jr. met with President Johnson to discuss a new Voting Rights Act. An act allowing blacks to vote for the first time ever. That day in 1965 was the high point of the entire civil rights movement. It was achieved because an oppressed people saw the indignity they were facing and banded together to stop it.. They did not fight or use vicious warfare. They gave their demands and protested peacefully until their desires were recognised and acted upon. Martin Luther King Jr. knew how to get his ideas across, and knew what would be the most effective way of doing so. In each of the cases, minors of the Negro race, through their legal representatives, seek the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their community on a nonsegregated basis. In each instance, they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race. This segregation was alleged to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment. In each of the cases other than the Delaware case, a three-judge federal district court denied relief to the plaintiffs on the so-called "separate but equal" doctrine announced by this Court in Plessy v. Fergson, 163 U.S. 537. Under that doctrine, equality of treatment is accorded when the races are provided substantially equal facilities, even though these facilities be separate. In the Delaware case, the Supreme Court of Delaware adhered to that doctrine, but ordered that the plaintiffs be admitted to the white schools because of their superiority to the Negro schools. The plaintiffs contend that segregated public schools are not "equal" and cannot be made "equal," and that hence they are deprived of the equal protection of the laws. Because of the obvious importance of the question presented, the Court took jurisdiction. Argument was heard in the 1952 Term, and reargument was heard this Term on certain questions propounded by the Court. Reargument was largely devoted to the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. It covered exhaustively consideration of the Amendment in Congress, ratification by the states, then-existing practices in racial segregation, and the views of proponents and opponents of the Amendment. This discussion and our own investigation convince us that, although these sources cast some light, it is not enough to resolve the problem with which we are faced. At best, they are inconclusive. In 1896 the Supreme Court had held in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation was permissible as long as equal facilities were provided for both races. Although that decision involved only passenger accommodations on a rail road, the principle of "separate but equal" was applied thereafter to all aspects of public life in states with large black populations. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decided on May 17, 1954, was one of the most important cases in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Linda Brown had been denied admission to an elementary school in Topeka because she was black. Brought together under the Brown designation were companion cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware, all of which involved the same basic question: Does the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment prohibit racial segregation in the public schools? It was not until the late 1940's that the Court began to insist on equality of treatment, but it did not squarely face the constitutionality of the "separate but equal" doctrine until it decided the Brown case. In a brief, unanimous opinion delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court declared that: "separate education facilities are inherently unequal" and that racial segregation violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. While vast improvements of the social rights of blacks were made, most political rights were still restricted. Blacks took two steps forward while being pushed back one. However, they gained their basic freedom and became educated. They would no longer be inferior in their own eyes to whites and would make strives in forward progression throughout the next century. Meanwhile Black Americans took President Kennedy at his word and pressed for civil rights against racial discrimination. On 20 May, 1963 , "400 federal marshals (government policemen) had to be sent to Montgomery, Alabama, after a peaceful demonstration by black people had been attacked by a mob of 1500 whites." Local police had refused to act, even though this was the third attack on blacks in a week. "On 21 May, 1963, 100 whites attacked the church where the black leader, Martin Luther King, was preaching. The demonstrators continued despite this when black Freedom Riders, calling for civil rights for blacks, marched through Alabama and Mississippi to New Orleans. 27 Black freedom Riders were arrested when they arrived in Jackson Mississippi." On 12 June 1964, the President Kennedy sent a Civil Rights Bill to Congress, which, if passed, would make equality a legal right. "On 28 August, 1964, between 100,000 and 200,000 black people, led by Martin Luther King," marched in Washington in support of the Civil Rights Bill. But the violence still did not stop. In September, 1964, a black man was shot dead in Alabama, four blacks were killed when a church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed, Medger Evers of the Advancement of Colored People was murdered, and six black children were killed when a house was burnt down. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1285