Separate…but equal

The journey to equal rights in America.

Terms to Know

• Discrimination: unfair treatment based on prejudice against a certain group.

• Segregation: social separation of races

• Civil Rights: Rights of full citizenship and equality under the law

What is the difference between Civil Liberties &

Civil Rights?• Civil Liberties are freedoms we have,

while Civil Rights are rights we are given.

• Ex. Civil Liberty: freedom of religion

• Ex. Civil Right: right to fair trial

Jamestown 1619

Tobacco leaf

“The transatlantic slave trade produced one of the largest forced migrations in history. From the early 16th to the mid-19th centuries, between 10 million and 11 million Africans were taken from their homes, herded onto ships where they were sometimes so tightly packed that they could barely move, and sent to a strange new land. Since others died before boarding the ships, Africa's loss of population was even greater.”

- “Slavery in the United States," Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia

Middle Passage

The Middle Passage typically took between 5-12 weeks.

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States… according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including…three fifths of all other Persons.”

-Constitution 1787

Slavery: 1800s

• Slavery continues to be an issue in America• In the South, an agrarian (farming) economy

encourages slavery• In the North, an industrial economy is less

reliant on slavery• Northerners are increasingly opposed to

slavery. Many feel that slaves undercut the working opportunities for free white men.

• When new states are admitted to the Union, slavery is a major issue

Missouri Compromise (1820)

• 11 free states/11 slave states represented in Congress

• Missouri admitted as a slave state; Maine admitted as a free state

• outlawed slavery above the 36th parallel

"...this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper. " – Thomas Jefferson letter (April 20, 1820)

Dred Scott Case (1857)

• Dred Scott, a slave, taken to Illinois, a free state

•He sues for freedom stating that his prolonged stay in Illinois gave him legal rights to freedom

•The Supreme Court ruled that all people of African ancestry could never become US citizens, and therefore, they could not sue in federal court

•The SC also ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional

Path to Civil War

• While southerners applauded the decision, which stated that the federal government could not regulate whether a state allowed slavery, the decision enraged Northerners

• Growing differences (such as election of Abraham Lincoln) would lead to the secession of the southern states

• April 1860: Fort Sumter is first battle of the Civil War

Emancipation Proclamationissued by Abraham Lincoln, 1863

Frees all slaves in the South.

Civil War Amendments

• 13th (1865) officially outlawed slavery • 14th (1868) all people born or

naturalized in the US were citizens & entitled to equal protection under the law

• 15th (1870) no state may take away a citizen’s right to vote based on their color, race or previous enslavement

Though the Civil War Amendments had given African Americans many freedoms that they had never had before, they still

experienced discrimination, or unfair treatment because of their race.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1897)

Established “separate, but equal”

Era of Jim CrowBuses All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races.

Railroads The conductor of each passenger train is authorized and required to assign each passenger to the car or the division of the car, when it is divided by a partition, designated for the race to which such passenger belongs.

Restaurants It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment.

Steps to ending segregation

• 1909 NAACP formed (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

• 1948 President Harry Truman orders end to segregation in the armed services

Era of Civil Rights

• Beginning in the 1950s, Americans, both black and white, began to fight against unfair treatment toward African Americans

• The struggle would continue through the 1960s

1954-Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas)

Supreme Court rules that racially separated schools are “inherently unequal.” Also, it violated the 14th amendment. This case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Sit-ins

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Strengthened 14th amendment (guaranteed equal protection under the law)

• Bans discrimination in employment, voting, education and public accommodations

Ongoing Challenges

Affirmative Action began in the 1970s• Programs intended to make up for

past discrimination• Help minorities and women gain

access to jobs and other opportunities (ex. College)