Overcoming Racial Injustice: The Evolving Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.

Abstract

Essay 1: Race The evolvement of civil rights in the United States has eminently been advocated for in the Constitution. The Equal Protection clause in the 14th Amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to equal protection by the law. The 14th Amendment provides a shift in American constitutionalism after the eminent racial segregation witnessed in the united states' history. The African Americans were slaves in the land they were born and natured in. Slavery was the epitome of inequality before the civil war. They were denied voting rights, serving in juries, and holding public offices hence going against the 14th Amendment. The case of Brown v. Board of education in 1954 depicts the advice racial prejudice in schools after his daughter was deprived of school in a nearby school because she was black. The court ruled out that racial segregation in school was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment. Literacy tests in the 1860s were administered to minority groups to deny them suffrage rights. The officials exercised the test with discretion resulting in discrimination and signaling out of the African Americans. However, in the 1950s, the Act was still common in some states despite the Act being condemned. Martin Luther King regarded the Act as vicious and undemocratic since it was not applied to the illiterate whites. The 14th amendment terms literacy tests as unconstitutional. Voting according to equal protection forbids discrimination based on color, race, or previous condition of servitude. The grandfather clause originated during the era of the civil war to surpass the voting of African Americans. It meant that individuals who enjoyed voting rights before 1867 or were deemed to be lineal descendants of voters back then would be exempted from educational, property, or tax requirements for voting. Civil rights' evolution disregarded the grandfather clause as violating equal protection rights to vote in the 14th Amendment. Black codes deprived freedom for African Americans. The restrictive laws ensured the African Americans were available for cheap labor. They were also denied the right to marry, own property, and justice in courts. Failure to comply, they were subjected to arrest, fines, and forced unpaid labor. The black codes were invalidated after the civil rights activist's passing on equal protection in the Constitution's 14th Amendment. The white primary was applied in the Southern United States. The disenfranchisement of the African Americans from joining the Democratic party or participating in its primary elections since the party was dominant in the southern states. According to (Hine et al. 2003), the Texas Legislature passed a law in 1923 explicitly barring African Americans from participating in the Democratic Party primary. The white primary violated the equal protection clause on voting rights based on race. The voting Rights Act 1965 was a legislative measure to apply to the Constitution's 14th Amendment to prohibit racial discrimination in voting. The Act was a relief to the racial minorities, which included African Americans. The voting rights act brought limelight to the United States and is considered the most effective Act ever enacted in the U.S to uphold civil rights. Tired African Americans passed the civil rights movement on the adverse racism in institutions and racial segregation. It was a long struggle for freedom. The African Americans held protests and held campaigns advocating for equal rights for all Americans. The movement took a course in the 1960s, leading to the African Americans' revolution and enlightenment on their rights and freedoms. The civil rights movement advocated for the application of the 14th Amendment on equal rights protection. The Plessy v Ferguson case employed separate but equal doctrine. Plessy was convicted for boarding a white train. The supreme court decision fueled the Jim Crow laws, which deliberately promoted racial segregation for almost half a century (Tischause 2012). Jim crow discouraged intermarriages, announced forced and cheap labor to the African Americans, denial of voting rights, ownership of land, and property hence violating the 14th Amendment on equal protection clause. Reconstruction was a period after the civil war in 1877. It aimed to reinforce civil rights to the Americans by abolishing slavery and promoting equality for African Americans. It sought to uphold the African Americans' rights and validation of the 14th Amendment on equal protection. Lynching and mob violence was a common act in the 18th century. The atrocity was performed to enslaved blacks and intimidation of ethnic minorities through racial terrorism. The African Americans did not get justice following these incidences. This influenced the evolvement of federal civil rights "not to be lynched" in the 14th Amendment. The 1964 civil...