Category: What’s Up!

When the Civil War came to an end, it was important to take the big accomplishments and transition them into the law of the land before any ground was lost as reconstruction returned the nation to one country rather than two warring parties.  The upheaval of society that the abolition of slavery represented and the massive surge forward for black history was so important that it was important to make it permanent with amendments to the constitution so the gains made during that bloody battle would not be lost again.  The work that needed to be done to change a nation from one of slavery to one of equality started with three important amendments to the constitution.  The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery forever and the fourteenth amendment reversed the negative effects of the Dred Scott decision providing equal protection under the law for all citizens of this country regardless of race, color or creed.

But the fifteenth amendment went further than just establishing the basic human rights of the African American community.  It made a change so fundamental to how America works that its ramifications were sweeping and far reaching down to this day.  The text of the amendment is direct and elegant.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

This was a tremendous leap forward for the black community when this amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870, because it finally meant that the African American population in this country could stand up and be counted and start making a mark on politics and with it how decisions are made in this country.

But like so many other great advances in black history, earning the right to vote didn’t automatically make it easy to vote.  There was staunch resistance to actually allowing blacks to go to the polling booth in many communities across the country.  The Klu Klux Klan engaged in intimidation tactics to try to keep African Americans home from the polls.  In Louisiana, the mob attempts to stop the institutions of a legally elected and integrated local governments had to be broken up by federal troops sent in by Ulysses S. Grant. 

Probably the most serious threat to the actual workability of the fifteenth amendment was the introduction of the poll tax and other registration tricks that were used such as literacy tests and voter qualification tests clearly designed to deny the right to vote to African Americans.  This practice became such a problem that it instigated the passage of the twenty fourth amendment which outlawed poll taxes which were only designed to usurp the rights of African Americans to vote.  Has history repeated itself???

Over the past two years, more than 30 states have introduced legislation or enacted laws that would curb voter’s access to voting. Some states, such as the battleground states of Florida and Ohio have dramatically shortened early voting opportunities, including the weekend before Election Day when many minority voters choose to vote. Florida and Texas both passed legislation to make it harder for volunteer organizations like the League of Women Voters to register voters. Since 2011, ten states have joined Indiana and Georgia to require voters to show a photo ID to vote. Several others are considering photo ID legislation. Additionally, some states including Kansas, are requiring citizens show proof of citizenship to register to vote.

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From 1955 to 1965 there was a war right in the middle of America.  No, it wasn’t a war like World War II or the Revolutionary War.  It was a war for the heart and soul of this country to determine once and for all if America was really going to be a land of equal opportunity for all.   It is a war that eventually took on the name of “The Civil Rights Movement.”

We must make no mistake, this was not just a shouting match.  Some of the events that we even remember today became quite brutal and deadly.  Those who fought in this war on both sides were deadly serious about the causes they represented and willing to fight and even die to see their cause succeed.  The war waged for years and steady progress was made but not without tremendous sacrifice by the leaders of the movement who were committed to a giving a new meaning to the phrase “set my people free.”

In all of black history, there may be no more significant a time since the Civil War when the rights of African Americans were so deeply fought and won.  The tensions in the country had been building.  When the Supreme Court mandated desegregation in the schools in the historic case Brown versus the Board of Education, the stage was set.  But it was on December 1, 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white man that the movement finally took shape and became a titanic struggle for the rights of African Americans in America.  That first battle brought to the front line one of the most important figures to fight for Civil Rights of that era, the Reverend Martin Luther King.

This tremendous struggle for freedom was never easy and was often marked with violence.  Over the next ten years some of the most important milestones in black history took place including…

 *  1957 – President Eisenhower had to send federal troops to Arkansas to secure admission to Central High School by nine black students.

*  1960 – The sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro North Carolina set the stage for nonviolent protest that was used with great success for the rest of the struggle.  Nonviolent protests and civil disobedience became a staple of the civil rights movement because of the influence of Dr. King.

 *1963 – The historic March on Washington in which over 200,000 people gathered to hear Dr. Kings famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

 *  1964 – President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill that was the most significant event of his presidency and one he believed deeply in, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 *  1965 – The assassination of Malcolm X and the Watts race rights.

 *1965 – President Johnson takes another bold step to accelerate the civil rights movement implementing Affirmative Action when he issued Executive Order 11246.

This short list is just a few of the highlights of this troubled time in which the rights of all citizens of American, black and white and of all colors, and Gay and Lesbian Americans were being redefined both on the streets, in the courts and in the different branches of government.  In the years to come there would be great steps forward.  One by one, every area of American life would see breakthroughs by African Americans and other minorities in the areas of sports, entertainment, education and politics.  There were many proud moments and there were moments of tremendous shame and heinous acts.  But through all that struggle, the society continued to grow and adapt to the will of the people as has always been the tradition in American culture.

The struggle is far from over.  Discrimination and hate speech against our first African American President, other minorities and the Gay and Lesbian community continues to be a problem to this day.  And while it is easy to reflect on those days of struggle with regret, we can also look at them with pride.  We can be proud of the great leaders, white and black, who demonstrated tremendous courage and wisdom to lead this nation to a better way of life.  And we can be proud of America because it is here where such a struggle can result in equality and freedom for all citizens, not just a few, but that’s just my take.

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Not every significant event in the timeline of black history is a victory.  In fact, many of the huge setbacks for African Americans in this country were the result of some very bad events that hurt the cause of civil liberties for Blacks for a long time.  Such is the case in the infamous Dred Scott Decision.  It is important to get the context of why the Dred Scott case is so significant and to understand the facts of the case so we can be truly informed citizens.  Dred Scott was a slave during that dark time in our history when slavery was legal.  But the difference was that his owner took Dred Scott with him in a move to Wisconsin which was a free state where Scott lived in that legal status for many years.  The movement on behalf of Dred’s owner was because of military orders. 

None of this was itself unusual until the master was again relocated to Missouri, a slave state and then the master passed away.  The result was that Dred Scott’s legal status was in question because he had spent so many years so recently as a resident of a free state.  Abolitionists and others opposing slavery rallied to Dred Scott’s defense and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court.  It was at the Supreme Court level that the decision was handed down that inflamed the divide between North and South in this country.  The court decided that because of Scott’s slave status, he was never and could never be a citizen of the United States and therefore had no standing in the eyes of the law.  Hence he was trapped in his slave status despite his most recent residency. 

This was a huge slap in the face to every free state in the union because it essentially nullified their status as a free state entirely.  The court went on to make some truly astounding rulings related to the Dred Scott Case dictating that that Congress had no authority to keep slavery from coming about in new territories or states coming into the union and even declaring The Missouri Compromise which set in place the border between North and South to be unconstitutional.  This case set off such a wave of social and political repercussions that it could be considered to be a powder keg that set off the Civil War leading to the defeat of the south and the fall of slavery in America forever.  Abraham Lincoln vehemently opposed the Dred Scott decision and spoke passionately against it only deepening the divide and the inevitability of war in America.

The lessons of the Dred Scott Case are many.  For one thing it showed that even our revered Supreme Court which we count on for ultimate wisdom in all things ethical and legal, can be flawed in their judgment.  No Supreme Court justice today would deny that these decisions were deeply flawed and failed to recognize the ultimate immorality of slavery or the fundamental denial of human rights to slaves that was guaranteed by our constitution.  But looking at the Dred Scott case in context, one wonders if it took such a dramatically upsetting ruling to put the wheels in motion to finally bring change to this country.  There is no question that the Civil War was a bloody and horrible part of our national past.  But the outcome of ending slavery forever was a fundamental need for this free society to continue to grow.  Dred Scott had its place in that drama and in a strange way, we can be grateful it happened because of the outcome.  It is very sad to see that it takes something so awful to make good come.  But that was true in pre-Civil War days and, sadly, it is still true today.