Political+Perspective

=Intro=

African Americans didn't have rights for a long time until they fought and gauned some. By the end of the 1800's the had most of the rights everyone else got. Some brave, courageous, black and white people fought fo equality even though they were hated, bullied, robbed, threatened, jailed, and even killed. They gained the rights they wanted, but at the expense of a lot of great people's lives. = = =Black Right Fighters=

Robert McCullough was a student in the Friendship Junior College, at the age of 19. He made a pact with nine to serve time instead of getting bailed out. He and the nine nine students went into an all-whites store called McCrory's five-and-dime store, sat in the lunch counter area, and ordered some food. He was refused and asked to leave, but he refused too, and stayed. He and the other nine students got jailed. This was called the "Friendship 9 Protest" for those nine students who were from Friendship Junior College. [|Robert McCullough]was a brave and courageous man who fought his and his people's right under all kinds of pressure. He died at the age of 64 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

In Topeka, Kansas, Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railway switchyard to school, even though a Elementary school was seven blocks away. But it was an all white school and Linda couldn't go. Linda's dad, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in it, but he was rejected. He went to NAACP, (National Association Advancement for Colored People) the oldest civil rights organization today that helped improve treatment of African American and get their rights, asked for help and was accepted. NAACP took the case all the way to the Supreme Court in 1950 and argued that it wasn't fair for Linda to walk a mile to school and have to walk through a railway switchyard when there was a school seven blocks away. The students going to that school didn't have to walk a mile and go through a railway switchyard so it was also unequal. The judges started to agree with Oliver, but to agree they would have to contradict a decision they made a long time ago 1896 in fact, in the [|Plessy Vs. Ferguson] case, where they got the "Seperate but Equal" idea. In the end they struck down that idea and made schools across integrate. Three yearshttp://thesituationist.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/school-desegregation.jpg later, school segregation ended. They said that segregation of schools deprived of the equal protection of the laws gaurenteed by the 14th amendment.

[[image:Civil_right_protesters_at_a_lunch_counter_sit_in.gif]]
Civil Rights Protesters at a Sit-in Library of Congress

Rights Gained
NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization for colored people, played a huge role in the gaining of rights for African Americans. They helped people who wanted to make a case out of something, like Oliver Brown, who went to NAACP for help. SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) is made up of students from all black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. They organized sit-ins in segregated lunch counters. They kept fighting and fighting and it all paid off. The first two acts of the civil rights act gave black people the right to sue and be sued, and be treated as citizens in legal action. Another right they got was from the 14 and 15th amendments, which gave citizenship for former slaves (14th) and made it against the law to deprive any citizen of the right to vote (15th). In 1871, the civil rights act of 1871 was passed, which made it a crime to deny any citizen equal protection under law by means of force, intimidation, or threat. The Act of 1875 guaranteed blacks to use of public accommodations but it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883. In 1964, another Civil Rights Act was passed. This one prohibited discrimination in employment, banned discrimination in public accommodations connected with interstate commerce. Also in 1968 black people got guarantees to housing and real estate by the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In 1991, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 was passed, easing the burden on workers suing to improve job discrimination.

= Conclusion =

African Americans were brave and courageous, they kept fighting for their rights, even the kids, who got pelted with stones, jumped and bullied, on their way to school, had a part in the fight and didn't give up when things looked grim. And the results were as you see them today, even has the same rights, and nobody has to go to different schools. Everyone gets to have a choice in their life. From all this you should learn, to never give up, however situations look and seem. To keep fighting for what you believe in. Like [|Martin Luther King Jr],.

=Bibliography=

Marrison, Toni. __Remember the Journey to School Integration__. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004

"MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE." __MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE__. 1998. Sirs discoverer on the Web. 21/02/93 <[|http://discoverer.sirs.com>.]

"Black Americans, or African American." __Black Americans, or African American__. 2006. Sirs Discoverer on the Web. 19 February 2006 <[|http://discoverer.sir.com>.]

"Brown Vs. Board of Education." __Brown Vs. Board of Education__. 2006. Watson. 07 March 2008 <[|http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early_civilrights/brown.html>.] "African American History." __Grolier__. 2008. Grolier Online. 08 Mar 2008 [|http://go.grolier.gol.

This is a picture of a waiting room that has been segregated. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/ppmsc/00200/00209r.jpg&imgrefurl=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may18.html&h=495&w=600&sz=77&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=Kbq94jv12Kt2BM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSegregation%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

This is a picture of a group of people proesting against segregation. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/school%2520segregation.jpg&imgrefurl=http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/%3Fcat%3D6&h=1179&w=987&sz=402&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=JUwGxYlgS3XgnM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSegregation%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

**__Good legislation__** 

The African-Americans have had major improvements with legislation and equal rights and even though there has been [|bad legislation] too.

THE START OF RACIAL EQUALITY,

Racial equality began with a very important document called the [|Emancipation Proclamation]. This piece of legislation was created by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1864. This allowed the African Americans to be free from the slavery.

AMENDMENTS, starting off with the Thirteenth Amendment, which was also created by President Abraham Lincoln. This law was more of a back up of the Emancipation Proclamation. It states that Slavery is abolished which means that it is no longer legal. This was officially a law in 1865. The Fourteenth Amendment was another piece of legislation that tried to make the life of former slaves easier, by stating in the law, that the African-American could have citizenship. This law was not official until 1868. The President responsible for this law was Mr. Andrew Johnson. The next piece of legislation is the Fifteenth Amendment which gave the African-Americans the right to vote. This was not official until 1870. President Ulyssus S. Grant proposed of this law and it was passed in the same year.

[|The Civil Rights Acts]

The first Civil Rights Act was not passed by President Andrew Johnson. In fact President Andrew Johnson tried to veto this piece of legislation because he said that it was in favor of the African-Americans instead of the white people. The congress overrode his decision on April 4, 1865. This law was passed on March 13, 1866. The next Civil Rights Act was the Second most important Civil Rights Act. George W. Julian tried with all his power to get this law official. Even at his death bed he cried out ..."please don’t let my law fail she needs to be enforced, don’t let me down...” In 1675 this law was finally passed, and it gave the African-Americans the chance for equal and full enjoyment as a white person. The final Civil Rights Act was the one created by Lyndon B. Johnson. This was made official on July 2, 1964. This prohibited the government funding programs to discriminate. This also prohibited the discrimination in public places such as in hotels, businesses, theaters and also in employment situations.

THE FINAL ACTS RIGHT,

The final acts right was the Voting Acts Right of 1965. This provided greater protection to vote. This took out the extra laws that people added in. The Africans already had the right to vote but because other people adding extra laws in there, it made it nearly impossible to vote.

CONCLUSION Now today, there are more laws in place to help protect the law as citizens of any race. SOURCES 1. "desegregation/segregation after the war." __Wikipedia__. 2008. wiki. 04 Mar 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/Racial_Equality. 2. "Black Americans, or African Americans." __ProQuest__. 2008. wiki. 2 Feb 2008 <[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|[[|http://discoverer.prod.sirs.com/discoweb/do/article?urn=urn%Aus3BARTICE%B000022/073>.]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] 3. Landau, Elaine. __The Civil Movement in America__. 2. Canada: Scholastic, 2003. 4. Alvarez, Joseph. __From Reconstruction to Revolution__. 1. Hanover West: Halliday Lithograph, 1971.


 * __DESEGREGATION OF SCHOOLS

Plessy v. Ferguson__** The Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 involved a Louisiana law for seperation of rules made for white and black passengers on railroads in Louisiana. Homer Plessy was a Lousiana citizen who was arrested for disobeying to sit in the car only made for blacks. Plessy appealed to the Supreme Court claim. His lawyer Henry Brown delivered his opinion of holding the by law stating the 13th and 14th amendment which states Absolute Equality for both Black and White people. "Plessy v. Ferguson." __Plessy v. Ferguson__. 01 Mar 2008 <



Another court case circling around this time was when 8 year old Linda Brown an black girl in Topeka, Kansas wanted to go to a nearby school. Kansas' board of education, which had been segregated students refused the request Thurgood Marshall congressed the remaking as the Supreme Court found that African Americans should be able to go to schools in Topeka, Kansas. These were five lawsuits filed by the [|NAACP] these cases were known as Brown vs. Board of Education. "Plessy v. Ferguson." Wikimedia Foundation Inc.. 02 Mar 2008 .
 * __Brown v. Board of Education__**

[|Little Rock Nine] Another dramatic was had came upon in the summer of 1957, the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, made plans to not segregate it's public schools. Within a the first week of the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision came down to racial segregation in public schools, Arkansas was one of the two southern states to say it would begin to take steps to begin with the new "law of the land." Arkansas' law school had been integrated since 1949. By 1957, seven of the eight Arkansas universities were already desegregated. "Little Rock Central High 40th Anniversary." __Little Rock Central High 40th Anniversary__. Aristotle. 03 Mar 2008 . "Plessy v. Ferguson." __Plessy v. Ferguson__. 1 Mar 2008 < "Brown v. Board of Education." __Brown v. Board of Education__. 1 Mar 2008 .
 * Bibliography**

Bad Legislation There was bad legislation in places that allowed discrimination based on race. Jim Crow Laws Jim Crow Laws were in the southern states. They discriminated against African Americans. These laws were  originally called black codes, but they were too harsh and they stopped them. Then after a period of time they started them again and then stopped them. After they stopped, Jim Crow Laws came about. These laws separated the blacks from the whites. They could not use the same restrooms, schools, transportation, hotels or even water fountains. There was even a thing called, “white water” and “colored water”. Jim Crow Laws were awful, and they hurt many Black Americans. Thank goodness they ended Jim Crow Laws //__forever!__// Lynching Do you want to know the definition of lynching? Lynching is a cruel and awful punishment, such as a murder or beating that committed without a trial in court. Lynching is illegal. It sounds awful, but it gets worse. Many white police officers witnessed lynching but they were too scared to speak up about. This went on for a long time. Famous African American Famous African Americans such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther king Jr. were against slavery and Jim Crow Laws. The famous thing Martin Luther King Jr. did was give African Americans the right to play with and go to the same places as White Americans. Rosa Parks gave us the freedom to sit any where on the bus as we please. One hot day, in Montgomery, Alabama Ms. Parks was on a crowded city bus in when a white male boarded the bus. There weren’t anymore seats available, the bus driver tried to make Ms. Parks stand but she refused. After Ms. Parks refused, she was arrested and taken to jail. That was a brave thing Rosa Parks did. Aren’t you glad they were born, because I sure am? 
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 * Lynching 1930 **

A mob of 10,000 whites took sledgehammers to the county jailhouse doors to get at these two young blacks accused of raping a white girl; the girl’s uncle saved the life of a third by proclaiming the man’s innocence. Although this was Marion, Ind., most of the nearly 5,000 lynchings documented between Reconstruction and the late 1960s were perpetrated in the South. (Hangings, beatings and mutilations were called the sentence of “Judge Lynch.”) Some lynching photos were made into postcards designed to boost white supremacy, but the tortured bodies and grotesquely happy crowds ended up revolting as many as they scared. Today the images remind us that we have not come as far from barbarity as we’d like to think.


 * [|www.biographyonline.net/.../rosa-parks.html] **

Fremon, David. __The Jim Crow Laws ad Racism__. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers. Inc, 2000. Bibliography Fremon, David. __The Jim Crow Laws ad Racism__. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers. Inc, 2000.
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 * [|www.law.columbia.edu/focusareas/brownvboard/b...] **
 * [|www.biographyonline.net/.../rosa-parks.html] **
 * [|dumpendebat.net/.../] **