Extending Civil Rights for All Citizens Answers

America is very different than it was over one-hundred fifty years ago when the Black Codes were passed in the South. Since then, there have been major legislative overhauls against discrimination and towards equal civil rights. A cursory look at the modern day United States illuminates many of the major differences. Many colleges have increased minority enrollments, interracial marriages are legal, and minorities have increased their presence and visibility in politics. Additionally, most overt racist policies, mostly relating to separate but equal facilities and opportunities, have been removed to allow minorities greater social and professional mobility.

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 was a big step forward for Native Americans as it allowed Native Americans to become United States citizens with limited rights. For example, Native Americans were not allowed to vote in some states until the mid-1900s. The bill opened up new legal routes for the Native Americans to claim rights to land, natural resources, and compensation for poor treatment from the government. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was aimed at re-establishing Native American culture and traditions and government. Unallotted lands were handed over to the tribes who then created governments that would manage the lands and interact with local, state, and national governments.

Among the three discrimination laws, the first were the Black Codes. The focus of the black codes was to treat African-Americans as if they were second-class citizens. Many rights afforded to other Americans were taken away from them, including the right to own land or guns, the right to serve on juries, and the right to interracial marriage. Next came the Jim Crow laws which, in stronger and weaker forms, lasted from the 1880s until the 1960s. The focus of the Jim Crow laws was segregation and extended from neighborhoods to businesses to schools and public accommodations. Finally, the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) established one of the most notoriously discriminatory concepts in American history -- separate but equal. The case essentially upheld the constitutionality of segregation.

The fourteenth amendment guaranteed rights for citizens (regardless of race, gender, or creed) who are born or naturalized within the United States. Although racism still exists today, it is clear that race is not a factor in citizenship. The fifteenth amendment guaranteed all African American males the right to vote, and the nineteenth amendment gave women the right to vote. The effects of the fourteenth and nineteenth amendment are clear. While all citizens over eighteen now have the right to vote, the 2008 election proved that the effects are more far-reaching. For the first time, the presidential race saw both an African-American and a female seriously competing for the presidency.

Both Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954) dealt with the concept of “separate but equal.” Plessy was brought about when a man, Homer Adolph Plessy, refused to move from the train car he was riding when he was informed that it was only for whites. The court ruled that, as long as blacks had a similar car, it was constitutional to keep whites and blacks separated; however, when the “separate but equal” concept was brought up in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled differently. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court determined that separate but equal was impossible and therefore unconstitutional. Since 1954, goals of segregation have been replaced by the singular goal of an integrated American society