The Civil Rights Movement, Term Paper Example

In Goldfield’s,  The American Journey: The History of the United States President Johnson was vehemently opposed to the idea of black suffrage and stood silent on the proposition of civil rights for the black race. The radical republicans favored distribution of land to the blacks and favored black suffrage and looked forward to the equitable rights of blacks including civil and human rights. The modern republicans were also in favor of black suffrage, equal rights including civil and human rights but were vehemently opposed to equal distribution of land rights to the black race. One of the most important historical events was the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment which put an end to slavery during the war and prevented future slavery after the war. The southern states powers to purchase and enforce slavery had been depleted. The Southern Homestead Act (1866) was a leading movement towards the ability of black slaves to purchase land in five southern states after the end of the war. The Fourteenth Amendment commenced the right of all citizens to have equal rights and prohibited states from violating such civil rights according to the United States Constitution. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was perhaps landmark legislation for it prohibited any discrimination due to race with reference to jury discrimination, public transportation and public accommodations. This meant that the blacks no longer had to sit at the back of the bus and people could no longer be convicted by all white juries. There had to be equal distribution of juries to convict an alleged criminal.

Blacks earned their independence and self-respect through gaining education and useful skills though the Tuskegee Institute which emphasized vocational training in the years as early as 1902. It was through segregation and disfranchisement that the Black race was able to prove themselves as a reckoning force in America separate from the White race.

The White race eventually took over the land of the Native Americans as they moved westward. Government grants of land were given to promote the settlement of movers through the Homestead Act (1862) and Dawes Act (1887) which allocated land to individual Native Americans to offer land to white buyers to settle.

One of the largest political processions held during the Civil War time was the procession of the season in Fort Wayne. Many bands and clubs participated in the procession and carried torches that spouted fire for entertainment purposes. The Railroad Men’s Republican Club participated with full flair of lights and colors which could be seen from miles away. The clubs men wore dressage that was outstanding in appearance. The banners bore the words, “Lincoln was shot, and hence the war was a failure.” (Goldfield 2005).

In Levy’s The Civil Rights Movement he speaks of the interplay between the white and black races and how there is much racial discrimination during the Civil War era with respect to slavery over the indentured worker and how this discrimination led to altered social and political relations “and a system of reorganized dominance and subordination.” (Goldfield, 2005). Racial supremacy was the obstacle to all progress in the United States during the time of the War and was the true roots of the economic issues that the Blacks faced during the Civil/Revolutionary and for many years after the war even ended. “The lack of centralized labor is at the center of every primary lack of policy growth and racial equality through the history of America.” (Goldfield 2005). Racial domination was also used as a means of racial scapegoating. Goldfield feels there is a direct impact between racial class and racial discrimination. He further feels the turning points for the civil rights of people were the Colonial Era, Revolutionary Period, the Constitution, the Civil War and Reconstruction and the New Deal Era. He further feels the southern states should have unionized the labor force in order to attempt to accomplish a stronger labor group that was diversified to include all classes of people. The problem of the twentieth century was the issue of the color line and this issue still exists today to a point. Though there are laws that protect human and civil rights they are often infringed where people have to bring infringements to judicial review to be looked upon by a panel of judges for review. The importance of the subject of anti-racial discrimination speaks for centuries and the importances of fair and just equality for all speaks loud and clear for itself.

Both authors share the same view that there have been unjust acts that have transpired during and after the Civil War with respect to the Black race. Blacks have had to go through many infringements of basic civil liberties until some Presidents were strong enough to enact certain principles before the laws to enforce rights to land, rights to vote, rights to simply exist as their own person without intrusion from the White man. The second author goes deeper into the philosophy of the laws and theories of rights and freedoms and why each person should be allowed to exist freely as their own without restraint.

Works Cited

Levy, P. The Civil Rights Movement Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998.

Goldfield, D.  The American Journey: The History of the United States North Carolina: University of North Carolina, 2005