This project will highlight the legal rise of racially charged laws and conversely its legal demise in the United States, with a focus on the impact these decisions have on the African American demographic, and American people as a whole. Also covered are the methods groups on both sides used to alter the law for their own agenda, in either propagating the idea of disenfranchisement and white supremacy into American law or its removal. Historically, on both a state and federal level laws have been passed that work towards the detriment of African Americans This exhibition will document the different laws passed at each level that worked towards both sides of the struggle, and the influence this had on the country as a whole.
Beginning with the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 and concluding with its continued legal struggle in the 1980s, this project will cover the transformation of legal restrictions on both a state and federal level through the late nineteenth century and twentieth century. Particular attention will be paid to the constitutional restrictions imposed on African Americans, in addition to the restrictions imposed upon them in their daily life. The exhibition starts with Reconstruction and the expansion of rights for African Americans under constitutional provision, and the subsequent push back from states. Then the Compromise of 1877 which led to the Jim Crow era which lasted from 1877 through to the 1950s, under which African Americans experience extreme prejudice and oppression under the law. Leading into the Civil Rights movement which saw increased push back against racially charged laws due to incidents like Emmett Till [1] and support from organizations like SNCC [2]. Concluding with the legal success of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
African Americans following the Civil War, during Reconstruction, saw the first widespread alterations to the law in correcting racially biased laws to their benefit. This change primarily came in on the behalf of Radical Republican support. This came in the way of the 13th, 14th, and 15thamendments. Ratified on the 6thof December 1865 the 13thamendment freed all slaves in the Union and prevented any involuntary servitude unless it is sentencing for a crime [3]. Following this Radical Republicans gained a majority in both the house and senate in the 1866 election which allowed them to pass legislature promoting welfare for African Americans [4]. The Radical Republicans of this period championed themselves as providing equality for African Americans on all social planes, in what would be known as extreme Reconstruction. This would be tempered by Andrew Johnson, however, they still made strides most notably under the constitutional provision the 14thand 15thamendments. Additionally, these amendments were enforced by Union forces stationed throughout the south. However, this enforcement would be loosed by the Great Compromise of 1877 [5]. Furthermore, southern states held conventions which under Johnson could only be voted on by white men, which allowed laws such as the Black codes to be passed which forced African Americans into unfavorable labor contracts, and established vagrancy laws which acted to the detriment of this group [6].
Moving to the era of Jim Crow this project encapsulates the legal manner by which states subverted the constitutional provisions made by Radical Republicans, additionally how they passed laws in this period that infringed upon African Americans in all manners of life ranging from economic, social, and political aspects. However, this came to be because of the Compromise of 1877 which made it so that the Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes would become the next president at the cost of withdrawing Union troops and Democrats regaining control of southern states governments. During this time these state government passed laws which undermined the 15thamendment, these provisions would be known as voter restriction laws. This came through provisions like poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause. Additionally, the Fuller court decided on cases like Plessy v. Ferguson which promoted segregation in buildings across the country. Regarding Jim Crow laws many states across the country passed laws which disenfranchised African Americans, such as Kentucky. Regarding this, in Kentucky and other such states, they passed laws regarding education, railroads, and miscegenation; which in most cases revolved around segregation in these forums [7]. Such laws caused ancillary consequences in the manner of individuals violently enforcing these new laws. In the case of voting, intimidation fell upon individuals in addition to the regulatory measures [8]. In some instances, intimidation also led to death as an increasing number of African Americans were lynched in the Jim Crow period. This, however, was met by increasing pressure from growing organizations like the NAACP, and later SNCC in what would be known as the Civil Rights era.
The Civil Rights movement all the way up to the 1980s saw a trend of political activism and passage of laws which worked on both a state and federal level to enfranchise African Americans this called for the integration in all areas of life from education all the way to finances. This movement truly came to head in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education [9] as this called for the integration of school across the country. Emboldened groups like SNCC would be formed in the years to come pushing for equality in the eyes of the law, which culminated in alterations like the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This era saw immense pressure to make legal alterations in the process of ridding the law of racially charged statutes. While progress has been made work still needs to be done in ridding the system of racially charged laws and biases.
“Mississippi Black Codes (1865). In Laws of Mississippi, 1865.” Mississippi Black Codes (1865). Accessed May 09, 2019. http://web.mit.edu/21h.102/www/Primary source collections/Reconstruction/Black codes.htm.
Brown, J. “Plessy v. Ferguson.” Legal Information Institute. Accessed April 04, 2019. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/163/537.Keyssar, Alexander. The Right to Vote: The
Contested History of Democracy in the United States. New York: Basic Books, 2009.
Lewis, John, and Michael Dorso. Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2015.
Mitchell, Jerry. “Emmett Till: Person, Pictures and Information.” Fold3. February 1, 2010. Accessed April 04, 2019. https://www.fold3.com/page/110512356-emmett-till.”Techniques of Direct
Disenfranchisement, 1880-1965.” Techniques of Direct Disenfranchisement, 1880-1965. Accessed May 09, 2019. http://umich.edu/~lawrace/disenfranchise1.htm.