The Civil Rights movement began with the the 13th Amendment as decreed by Abraham Lincoln,  Emancipation Proclamation.  Before this legislation, African Americans were denied simple freedoms under the slave codes.  Not completely revoking the discrimination of these codes,  the 13th Amendment did not provide citizenship for this group of people.  The Radical Republicans pushed for legislation "reconstructing" the union; however, this legislation did not prove to advance citizenship rights.   The 14th amendment was created to provide every born or naturalized citizen due process and equal protection under the law.  However,  Jim Crow laws and Black Codes efficiently deterred these rights.  The 15th amendment guranteed the right to vote; however, literacy laws, poll taxes and grandfather clauses were all examples of getting around the law.

 
 

"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.  Other civil rights leaders like W.E.B Dubois did not believe in segregrated education.  Plessy vs. Ferguson had set a precedent for "seperate but equal."  Thus the question of whether seperate is equal begins.  How do you feel about the statement made by Malcolm X?  Do you believe Marcus Garvey's preaching to be realistic for the time period in which he lived?

 

    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.