Aftermath of the Civil War

• At the end of the

Civil War, slavery
was abolished by
the 13th
Amendment.
• A few years later,
the 14th & 15th
Amendments were
passed.
Due Process, Equality & Voting
• The 14th Amendment defined
citizenship; guaranteed due process of
law and equal protection to all
citizens; and established the
incorporation doctrine.
• The 15th Amendment extended voting
rights to African Americans.
 Black Codes
• Many in the South did not like the new
amendments.
• They enacted laws to restrict the
freedoms of African-Americans called
Black Codes.
• These evolved into Jim Crow laws –
laws that mandated segregation
(separation) of the races.
 Plessy vs Ferguson
• Jim Crow laws were
challenged by the case
Plessy v. Ferguson.
• In 1896, a man named
Homer Plessy, who
was one-eighth black,
was arrested for
sitting in the white
section of the train.
Plessy vs Ferguson
• He claimed the arrest
violated the 13th and
14th Amendment and
took his case to the
Supreme Court.
• The Court said that
“separate but equal”
facilities were
allowed.
• This ruling led to a
dramatic increase in
Jim Crow laws.
Jim Crow Examples
Poll Taxes: Inequality in voting
• Other Jim Crow
Laws, such as Poll
Taxes - charging
people to vote;
Literacy Tests; &
“grandfather
clauses” (you could
vote if your
grandfather did)
kept blacks from
voting.
Brown vs Board
• Even schools were
segregated.
• In 1954, the family
of Linda Brown
sued the school
board of Topeka,
Kansas to allow her
to attend a white
only school that was
closer to her home.
 Brown v. Board
• The case went to the
Supreme Court, who in
a unanimous
decision, overturned
the earlier verdict in
Plessy Vs. Ferguson.
• “Separate but Equal”
found to be a violation
of the equal protection
clause of the 14th
Amendment and was
no longer
constitutional.
Brown vs. Board of Ed.
• The modern Civil
Rights movement
was born with the
success of Thurgood
Marshall (center) in
arguing the Brown
case. - He later
became the first
black justice on the
Supreme Court.
 Civil Rights Movement
• Brown v. Board of Education became
the springboard for the Civil Rights
movement.
• Some major milestones in the
movement included: Rosa Parks & the
Montgomery bus boycott; SNCC & lunch
counter sit-ins; Martin Luther King &
protest marches and the Freedom
Rides.
Little Rock
Little Rock
• In 1957, in Little
Rock Ark., schools
were to be
desegregated.
• But the Governor,
Orval Faubus,
ordered the National
Guard to block the
entry of Black
students
 Little Rock
• President
Eisenhower issued
an executive order
for the schools
re-opened.
• He sent the 101st
Airborne Division
to guard the Black
students
Little Rock
• 9 Students started
school at Central
High that year under
extreme pressure
from the White
community to go
back to the all black
school.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• In response to the Civil
Rights Movement, the
Civil Rights Act was
finally passed in 1964.
• Banned discrimination in
many areas including
public accommodation,
federally funded
programs & private
employment .
• In 1968, the
protection was
extended to include
housing.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Banned Jim Crow
voting practices
including
Grandfather Clauses
& Literacy Tests.
• The 24th
Amendment
abolished poll
taxes.