5676771 “U.S History Paper”
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Nov 24, 2024
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Most Significant Change in the US from 1865 to 2000
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Course
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2
Introduction
The United States has experienced a myriad of changes over the centuries. These changes are
occasioned by various factors, including social, economic, and political. Some changes are
insignificant in that their effects might not have been far-reaching. However, other changes
had significant implications that can be felt to date. As such, it is important to study such
changes to gain deeper insights into their role in shaping modern America. Therefore, the
change in civil rights among the people of color from oppression to liberty was the most
important in U.S. history from 1865 to 2000 because it enhanced social equality and ensured
that the welfare of the people of colour in the United States was guaranteed in the
constitution.
Critical Analysis
1865 is considered a major turning point for the United States concerning civil rights
issues, as it was when the Northern victory established an indivisible nation and ended
slavery. Nonetheless, examining the events that led to this declaration is important. Pre-1865,
civil rights in the United States were not robust as no legal provisions ensured this. As such,
practices that violated the civil rights of certain populations were prevalent. One such practice
was slavery, where millions of individuals of African descent were held by their masters as
slaves and were deprived of any form of rights and freedom
[1]
. The government also
contributed to this lack of civil rights in several ways. The first way is through the judiciary,
where rulings such as the Dred Scott decision further deprived African American slaves of
their potential citizenship status. Also, legislative processes culminated in the enactment of
laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act resulted in
the violation of the African American’s civil rights. The passing of the Black Codes by
numerous southern states after the civil war further exacerbated this situation.
However, the period after 1865 was characterized by changes that saw changes in
relation to civil rights among African Americans and other people of color in the United
States. After years of failing to be recognized and deemed to be property of their owners,
African Americans taht had wallowed in slavery were finally hopeful of a better life due to
the enactment of the 13th amendment that sought to end slavery. This was a significant
moment as this law was passed despite the sharp criticism it faced from the Republicans and
the majority of the Southern Whites. Nonetheless, the continued pressure and advocacy for
the end of slavery through the enactment of this law by various bodies such as the Women’s
National Loyal League resulted in its eventiak enactment
1
.
1 Ken Drexler, “Research Guides: 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary Documents in American
History: Introduction,” guides.loc.gov, 2020,
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment
.
3
The period between 1867 and 1877 is considered to be one of radical reconstruction.
There were various measures that the givernmant introduced with the intention of addressing
the implications of slavery and the civil war. For instance, in 1867, Congress passed the
Reconstruction Act and also required states to ratify the 14th amendment in order to grant
every individual born or naturalized in the United States citizenship and equal protection
under tha law. As such, this law rendered the Dred Scott decision and the Fugitive Slave Act
null and void. Moreover, ratification of the 15th amendemnt whic guaranteed the right to vote
regardless of one’s color was another significant progress for people of color in the United
States. Also, the passing of the civil rights act of 1875 contributed to the social welfare of this
population as it prohibited discrimination in public places. Nonetheless, this progress would
face challenges ocassioned by the White backlash, including the rise of the Ku Klux Clan – a
white supremacist group that oversaw the capturing and killing of thousands of black
Americans in the South.
The period between 1890 and 1945 was filled with legal and political developments
that are also deemed important in facilitating the shift from oppression to enhanced rights and
liberties of this population. Yet, this period started with a setback as many southern states
started implementing segregation laws – a move that was deemed to be a step back from the
progress made with the civil rights act of 1875. The freedom and liberty of people of color
was further curbed after the Supreme Court, in
Plessy v. Ferguson,
ruled in favor of the
constitutionality of the the segregation laws. Also, there were numeorus court cases pitting
white Americans against African Americans where the rulings were openly against the latter,
despite there being evidence supporting their innocence
2
. At the turn of the 1900s, millions of
African Americans that had been oppressed by the segregation laws in the Southern states
started shifting to the northern and western states in seacrh of better economic opportunities.
2 Ida B Wells,
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases
(Commonlit, 1892).
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4
This move saw the rapid rise of Black communities in numerous cities such as New York and
Chicago.
Another significant move that contributed to the change in civil rights among this
population is the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) in 1909. This body was important as it fought for the acknolwdgement of
the civil rights of African Americans. Its main contributuon was challenging the policies that
facilitated discrimination and segregation and it accomplished this objective through
advocacy and legal procedures. The formation of this body was important especially during
this period as there were widespread accounts of segregation and discrimination despite the
presence of laws barring the same. Evidence for this segregation is seen in the account of
Mary Church Terrell - an African American woman living in Washington, who stated, “As a
colored woman I may walk from the Capitol to the White House, ravenously hungry and
abundantly supplied with money…without finding a single restaurant in which I would be
permitted to take a morsel of food”
3
. The events of 1945 when people of color also faced
segregation in the armed forces during World War II also inspired more aggressive activism
as people fought for equal rights.
Consequently, the period between 1945 and 2000 also contributed significantly to this
change and this is seen in a number of areas such as politics, the law, and culture. Political
developments underpinning this change included the civil rights movement of the 1950s and
1960s which culminated in an increased push for the representation of the minority
population in the political arena
4
. Among the most notable events included the March on
Washington and the Montgomery Bus Boycott incidents. The legal elements characterizing
this period included the legal declaration of the uncostitutionality of segregation in public
3 BlackPast, “(1906) Mary Church Terrell, ‘What It Means to Be Colored in the Capital of the U.S.’ •,” Blackpast,
September 22, 2008,
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1906-mary-church-terrell-what-it-
means-be-colored-capital-u-s/
.
4 Eric Foner,
Give Me Liberty! : An American History
, 6th ed., vol. 2 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2020).
5
schools after the ruling of
Brown v. Board of Education.
Also, the rise of notable black
figures such as Martin Luther King Jr, Maya Angelou, and Malcolm X shaped the cultural
scene of the African American population and this further impacted the civil rights change.
Significantly, the period between 1970 and 1990 also contributed in making this change the
most important as more policies were passed, including the school busing system and the full
implementation of the civil rights act of 1964. These events have proven instrumental in
furtjher helping to promote the enhancement of civil rights in the contemporary society.
Conclusion
The push for civil rights among the African Americans has been a long process. This
process might be traced to as early as the 1800s when efforts to ablolish slavery were
established and the subsequent measures to acknowledge African Americans as rightful
citizens of the United States. Over time, this population has faecd numerous challenges in the
quest for seeking equal rights with the rest of tha majority population. This paper has been
instrumental in helping gain a better comprhension of this topic by looking at this change
across three periods and from a perspective of numerous disciplines including legal, political,
and cultural. It is logical to conclude that the current rights and freedoms that this population
is enjoying are a culmination of centuries of hardwork by may people.
6
References
BlackPast. “(1906) Mary Church Terrell, ‘What It Means to Be Colored in the Capital of the
U.S.’ •.” Blackpast, September 22, 2008. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-
history/1906-mary-church-terrell-what-it-means-be-colored-capital-u-s/.
Drexler, Ken. “Research Guides: 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary
Documents in American History: Introduction.” guides.loc.gov, 2020.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.
Foner, Eric.
Give Me Liberty! : An American History
. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, 2020.
Massey, Douglas S. “The Past & Future of American Civil Rights.”
Daedalus
140, no. 2
(2011): 37–54. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23047450.
Wells, Ida B.
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases
. Commonlit, 1892.
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