Throughout history, discrimination, unfair treatment and prejudice ideas have been common issues. Specifically, African Americans during the Reconstruction (1865–1877) and Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) encountered these hardships daily. Even as time progressed with small changes these people were still treated about the same.
Under the Reconstruction program in the south, the 13th Amendment was passed to abolish slavery. Soon after this was passed, however, the Black Codes were developed. Varying from state to state, these codes continued legal discrimination between blacks and whites. The Black Codes intended to secure a steady supply of cheap labor and continued to assume the inferiority of the freed slaves. Prior to the Reconstruction, African Americans were slaved to work on their masters plantation. What was the white man to do now that slavery was "abolished?" Since African American slaves were technically free (according to the law), they could not be forced to perform such laborious tasks anymore... or could they? This is when the idea of sharecropping was invented. The basic principals of sharecropping are similar to slavery, though. Farmers were allowed to plant and harvest their landowners crops in exchange for small portions of the food and profit. They worked year-round planting, harvesting, repairing, selling and cleaning anything that the landowner demanded. But, the sharecropper had to pay the landowner with interest to use his tools to perform such projects. They also had to pay rent to live on the property and give at least 1/2 of their harvested crops and profits to their landowner. With so little money and food coming in, the farmers easily went into a endless circle of debt. This kept them on the plantation long enough to keep trying to make enough money, but it was hardly ever reached. So much for their first taste of freedom. The purpose of the US Civil Rights Movement was to outlaw racial discrimination against African Americans and to restore suffrage in the southern states. After the Reconstruction, several problems still existed. For example, the 15th Amendment granted all men the right to vote and said they could not be denied this privilege by race, color or previous servitude. The law clearly stated this right, but society refused to accept it. Running for political officials, a white man still had the advantage over a black candidate. This sense of inferiority outraged African Americans who were determined to be treated as equals. Two people were of significant importance during this time period. Rosa Parks was a representation of bravery by her act of refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger on the local bus. She believed she had the right to state her opinion and refuse to succumb to a "superior" person. This one act by one person started a chain reaction of over 17,000 black residents in the town of Montgomery. In 1955, Martin Luther King, Jr. as a civil rights activist, led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He worked to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience. This idea of non-violence made him very successful and eventually earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. People such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. greatly impacted the US Civil Rights Movement by setting themselves apart from society, and trying to make a difference.
During the Reconstruction and the US Civil Rights Movement, even though changes were made and laws were enforced, African Americans didn't really experience much more freedom and were still treated about the same throughout society. 90 years will pass before even another attempt for change will occur in the 1960s and '70s.
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