The United States of America was founded as a nation freedom, democracy, and equality would reign. “Every man is created equal” proclaimed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The promise was made that the people of the new nation would have the inalienable right to choose their own leaders in free and fair democratic elections. Nevertheless, this right only truly applied to wealthy white men at the inception of this country. As enslaved people, African Americans had no rights for nearly a century. Even after they threw off their chains, however, voting was not immediately granted to them. Like with all the rights they have come to acquire, they had to fight. This fight persists as blacks and other people of color continue to face voter
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As soon as blacks began to vote, white militias, such as the Kl Klux Klan, began their violent attempts to suppress them through intimidation and murder. Many political leaders in the South either sympathized with these groups or did not have enough power to go after them, so their terrorism often went unabated. However, Republicans in Congress refused to allow this and enacted legislation to enforce the protection of black rights: the Enforcement Acts. The first of these bills to be passed was the Enforcement Act of 1870. This act “prohibited groups of people from banding together with the intention of violating citizens’ constitutional rights” and gave President Grant the authority to use the armed forces to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. The two subsequent acts, the Enforcement Act of 1871 and the Ku Klux Klan, were meant to increase the efficacy of the first. They authorized federal scrutiny over state and local elections as well as allowing Grant to suspend habeas corpus in order to better deal with the KKK. As a result of these acts, freedmen were able to vote more safely, and the first iteration of the KKK was eradicated. Sadly, when Reconstruction ended in 1877, the federal government moved its troops out of the South and took with them any enforcement of voting …show more content…
That does not mean, however, that people of color accepted this oppression. Insubordination, which had existed within these communities for as long as they have been oppressed, did not cease but, rather, hit critical mass in the 1950s and 60s. What has come to be referred to as the Civil Rights Era saw several marginalized groups lashing out against the tyranny of the ruling group of straight white males through powerful sociopolitical movements. Spearheading the change of this era was the African American Civil Rights Movement. Voting rights were a central focus of this movement. To make their voices heard, African Americans, Latinos, and other racial minorities staged sit-ins and rallied together huge protests. Leaders like Malcom X and Martin Luther King gave powerful speeches and united people of color. Most importantly for the vote, groups like the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) undertook an expansive crusade to increase voter registration of African Americans in the South with projects like Freedom Summer in Mississippi in
As soon as blacks began to vote, white militias, such as the Kl Klux Klan, began their violent attempts to suppress them through intimidation and murder. Many political leaders in the South either sympathized with these groups or did not have enough power to go after them, so their terrorism often went unabated. However, Republicans in Congress refused to allow this and enacted legislation to enforce the protection of black rights: the Enforcement Acts. The first of these bills to be passed was the Enforcement Act of 1870. This act “prohibited groups of people from banding together with the intention of violating citizens’ constitutional rights” and gave President Grant the authority to use the armed forces to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. The two subsequent acts, the Enforcement Act of 1871 and the Ku Klux Klan, were meant to increase the efficacy of the first. They authorized federal scrutiny over state and local elections as well as allowing Grant to suspend habeas corpus in order to better deal with the KKK. As a result of these acts, freedmen were able to vote more safely, and the first iteration of the KKK was eradicated. Sadly, when Reconstruction ended in 1877, the federal government moved its troops out of the South and took with them any enforcement of voting …show more content…
That does not mean, however, that people of color accepted this oppression. Insubordination, which had existed within these communities for as long as they have been oppressed, did not cease but, rather, hit critical mass in the 1950s and 60s. What has come to be referred to as the Civil Rights Era saw several marginalized groups lashing out against the tyranny of the ruling group of straight white males through powerful sociopolitical movements. Spearheading the change of this era was the African American Civil Rights Movement. Voting rights were a central focus of this movement. To make their voices heard, African Americans, Latinos, and other racial minorities staged sit-ins and rallied together huge protests. Leaders like Malcom X and Martin Luther King gave powerful speeches and united people of color. Most importantly for the vote, groups like the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) undertook an expansive crusade to increase voter registration of African Americans in the South with projects like Freedom Summer in Mississippi in