Throughout the US history, the ethnic group that has faced the most severe form of discrimination is African American community. Being dark of the color, they have always been thought of as lesser human beings, except for the recent years of the history. This paper highlights the type of struggle, the community faced in the whole US history, their social and political issues, the legislation meant to limit them within prejudicial boundaries, and the legislation meant to ease them from prejudicial boundaries.
African American race has had mostly unpleasant experience so far in U.S history. Most of the U.S history has been riddled with discrimination and bias against the African American people. The race was a subject to slavery for a good part of the history. They were discriminated against severely by both the common people and the law. Slavery was abolished in 1865, but still the discrimination persisted as it had deep roots in American culture. After the abolition of slavery, the discrimination was present in the form of bias in the hearts of general population against the community. African American people faced many troubles in the country. They were given lesser jobs, they couldn’t marry white people, they had little representation in legislation houses etc. Apart from that, they have struggled to have as much rights as the white population as the country, for almost all of the U.S until the second of twentieth century.
The major political and social issues concerning the African American population of US throughout history have revolved around their status as US citizens, and later around the discrimination they faced in everyday life in the culture and in institutions alike. Before the Civil War, African Americans were seen as sub humans in the Southern States, and in the Northern States they did not have rights of citizen ship, protection under the law, freedom guaranteed by the law, and were always considered to be below White people in social hierarchy. The African Americans children did not have access to education and healthcare of any kind and were often separated from their families and sold into slavery. Life expectancy was low, and value of life of an African American person was usually decided by their captivators or owners. After the Civil War, although there were a number of legislative efforts to move towards a culture of equality, the difference between quality of life in the Southern States and the Northern States for people of color was stark. It wasn’t until a century later that they were allowed to vote, and during this time, they had to face discrimination and degradation in everyday life and in institutions alike. Their contributions to the US culture, economy and society are overwhelmingly large, given their social and political struggle for their fundamental human rights.
Laws prohibiting inter-racial marriages (anti-miscegenation laws) were common practice, especially before the Civil War. The Thirteen Colonies which later became states had in one form or another, anti-miscegenation laws prohibiting marriage or intimate relationships between white people and those of color. After the Civil War, this issue did not receive as much political activism as it was due until 1967 in the now famous Loving vs Virginia case (Justia Law, 2014). In 1908, state of Oklahoma enacted laws which prohibited African Americans from getting married to any race but their own. Similarly in 1920, Louisiana banned marriage between African American and Malays. At various in history after the Civil war, amendments were proposed to make anti-miscegenation laws a part of the constitution. Notably, in 1871 and 1928, these amendment proposals received attention, but the amendments were never enacted. Over time, states began to revoke anti-miscegenation on their own, until in 1967 only 16 states had such laws still enacted and observed. African American response to these laws lacked vigor because at that time, they were not politically powerful enough or in enough numbers in the legislative houses to struggle against it.
After the Civil War, in response to the issues concerning recently freed African American slaves, the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States constitution was ratified on July 9th, 1868 (Loc.gov, n.d.). The Fourteenth Amendment sought to answer social and political questions concerning citizen rights and protection of the law. This amendment later served as a counterweight in deciding many landmark cases, including Loving vs Virginia. The most important political milestone concerning African Americans after the Civil War was the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. It prohibited any form of discrimination based on a man’s status as a former slave on his voting rights. In the Southern States, however, effective disenfranchisement of the African American people continued to keep them from registering to vote until almost a century later, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would rectify this situation. The Fifteenth amendment provided African Americans to pursue political careers and to work towards their empowerment. It also helped them to counter various legislative discriminations against them in the coming years.
References
Justia Law,. Loving v. Virginia 388 U.S. 1 (1967). Retrieved 20 October 2014, from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/388/1/case.html
Law.cornell.edu,. 14th Amendment. Retrieved 20 October 2014, from http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv
Loc.gov,. 15th Amendment to the Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). Retrieved 20 October 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html
