The Fifteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act

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The Military Reconstruction Act and The Fifteenth Amendment

In 1868, Ulysses Grant became President. He owed much of his support to the vote from African Americans.

The Military Reconstruction Act, 1867

The Military Reconstruction Act stated that no Southern State had a legal government.
No Confederate politicians were permitted in Congress without prior Union approval and the Southern States were ruled by military officials.
The Southern States were only allowed back in the Union if they created new constitutions which included laws that allowed greater freedoms for African Americans, such as the vote.

The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870

The Fifteenth Amendment stated that all people had the right to vote regardless of their ‘race, color or previous conditions of servitude’.
The law didn’t guarantee all men the right to vote but it did make literacy tests for eligibility to vote illegal.
This was significant because after the Civil war 700,000 African Americans were registered to vote (this was 100,000 more than white Americans).

African Americans in politics

Between 1869-1877, 16 Congressmen and 2 black Senators were elected.
Many African Americans became involved in the passing of legislation that gave them more freedom.
- Some were elected to local positions of government and there were even some African Americans sheriffs in Mississippi.
There was still much violence and racism toward African Americans.
- The African American Senator, Charles Caldwell, was assassinated. He was shot 31 times by a white mob.

The Civil Rights Act, 1875

The Civil Rights Act was passed by Republicans in Congres in 1875. It aimed to prevent discrimination against African Americans in public places.

Civil Rights Act, 1875

The Republicans held the most power in Congress. As a result, they passed a Civil Rights Act which aimed at preventing discrimination against African Americans in public places such as railroads, hotels and theatres.
The southern States were not open to the idea of granting more Civil Rights to African Americans.
- Southern whites claimed that African Americans were corrupt, irrational, immature and incapable of voting.

The opinion of Southern whites

One Mississippi man stated that even if African Americans were to be educated, they were still unfit to vote as they were ‘coconut-headed, chocolate-coloured, typical little coon that blacks my shoes.’
Other white Southerners stated that African Americans were violent criminals that were capable of violent crimes including rape.

1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77

1.1The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.1The Civil War & The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.2The Impact of the Civil War

1.1.3Economic, Political & Social Position of Ex-Slaves

1.1.4Political Settlement & Andrew Johnson

1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77

1.2.1The Fourteenth Amendment

1.2.2The Fifteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act

1.3The Backlash

1.3.1White Supremacy Groups

1.3.2The End of Reconstruction 1887

2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890

2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases

2.1.1Jim Crow Laws

2.1.2Voting Rights

2.1.3Scientific Racism

2.1.4Civil Rights Cases

2.2Resistance and Migration

2.2.1The Northern States & Black Resistance

2.2.2Early Migration

2.2.3The Great Migration

2.2.4Race Riots

2.2.5Migration Case Study: Harlem

3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41

3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances

3.1.1The Democrat Party & the Anti-Lynching Bill

3.2The New Deal

3.2.1The New Deal

3.2.2The Alphabet Agencies

3.2.3The PWA, WPA & the NYA

3.2.4Benefits

3.2.5Impact of the New Deal & Eleanor Roosevelt

3.2.6Gone With the Wind

3.3The Second World War

3.3.1The Experience of War

3.3.2The Home Front

3.3.3The White Flight

3.3.4Restrictive Covenants

4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68

4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63

4.1.1The Desegregation of Schools

4.1.2The Montgomery Bus Boycott

4.1.3SCLC & Birmingham

4.1.4SNCC

4.1.5CORE

4.2Civil Rights 1964-68

4.2.1Civil Rights Act 1964 & Voting Act 1965

4.2.2Ghettos & Poverty

4.2.31966 - 1968

4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers

4.3.1The Nation of Islam & Malcolm X

4.3.2Divisions in the Civil Rights Movement

4.3.3The Black Panthers

4.4Literature, Film & Television

4.4.1Racial Attitudes in Literature from 1850-2009

4.4.2Racial Attitudes in Film from 1850-2009

4.4.3Racial Attitudes in Television from 1850-2009

5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09

5.1The Late 20th Century

5.1.1Migration Back to the South in the 20th Century

5.1.2The Status of Black People 1968-2009

5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career

5.2.1Barack Obama's Life

5.2.2Senator for Illinois

5.2.3Running as Presidential Candidate

5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory

5.3.1Reasons for Vicotry

5.3.2The Significance of Obama's Victory

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