Argumentative Essay: The Civil Rights Movement

In the following of the Civil War, Americans had no real option except to contemplate questions concerning race, rights, and power, that stays ongoing up until the present time. The primary issues were the means by which to bring the former Confederate states back into the Union and how to secure the freedom of previous slaves. The Reconstruction prompted the civil rights movement, about a century later. It also shaped and formed some of our most vital laws and establishments. It constructed the first state funded schools in the South, and gave rise to the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In 1865, a constitutional change was made, that abolished slavery in the United States. In 1868, a constitutional change was made, that gave all former slaves …show more content…
In 1870, a change was made to the constitution, granting African-American men the right to vote (www.npr.org). Even though these amendments were put into the constitution, they really did not provide African-Americans much protection. First, there was Black codes, which were restrictive laws to constrain the freedom/rights of African-Americans and safeguarded their accessibility as a cheap work force after slavery was ended. This was against the 13th and 14th amendments. Then there were the Jim Crow laws, which went against the 14th amendment. These laws stated that races should be segregated in public places (schools, parks, etc.), underhandedly taking away the right for African-American men to vote through unfair tricks, and banning interracial marriages. These “loopholes” continued for many years, until the Civil Rights Movement, (commonly known as the second