After The Civil War

The win for the Union in the Civil War had caused hope to arise for the newly freed slaves. The slaves had hoped to be able to join society as equal to the white man, but because of the efforts of the many racists who had lived in this time, blacks were kept separate and inferior, and became second rate citizens.

Engraving of the resolution of Congress of The Thirteenth Resolution

This Cover of a Newspaper depicts an African American man voting

Political cartoon mocking the Plessy Decision

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments

To ensure slaves more rights, three more amendments were written, ratified and passed by the United States Government. In 1895, the Thirteenth Amendment put an end to all slavery. Both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment promoted stronger legal rights for freed slaves. The Fourteenth Amendments was the Equal Protection Clause, which stated that every person was entitled to the same rights. To promote citizenship of black people, the Fifteenth Amendment stated that every person had the right to vote, regardless of race

Blacks Voting

The idea was that the right to vote, a very important part of citizenship in USA, would better protect the newly freed slaves’ rights. However, later on, the right for blacks to vote would soon be taken away. Frederick Douglas, an abolitionist once said that, “Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot” Even though these amendments were passed and ratified, black people were still treated differently and unfairly when compared to white people. This unfair treatment was most common in the South, and because so many state governments created laws that mistreated African Americans, a whole new set of laws were created that legally separated public facilities based on race. These laws were known as the Jim Crow Laws.

Plessy V. Ferguson

The Jim Crown laws were finally challenged in the 1890s, when Homer Plessy, a black man, was arrested for not giving up his seat to a white man, even though the Louisiana state law required that a black person should always give up their seat for someone who is white. He fought in court until his case was taken to the United States Supreme Court. Homer Plessy claimed that the state law went against the “Equal Protection Clause” of the Fourteenth Amendment. The United States Supreme Court had voted against Homer Plessy in a vote of 8 to 1. This decision ended up strengthening the Jim Crow Laws, and the ‘Separate but equal” doctrine.