All of the cases and people involved in fighting for equal rights for African Americans played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement. We learn about the famous ones who delivered speeches or changed laws but even the boy who participated in a sit-in or the girl who became friends with someone who wasn’t the same color as she was, played a big part in changing how our country view race and rights.
One of the earliest faces of Civil Rights is Dred Scott. He was born into slavery in
Virginia in 1799. In 1836, he was sold to John Emerson. Emerson was an Army Officer and moved a lot taking Dred Scott with him to different Army posts, some in free states and some in slave states. Scott married Harriet who was also a slave. She …show more content…
He was personal property not a citizen and he had no rights to sue in court. They also ruled that the government had no legal right to interfere with the institution of slavery. The pro slavery people were encouraged and started making plans to expand slavery into all of the western states. This action made tension grown and helped to start the Civil War. A little further ahead in history, came the Civil Rights Act of 1875. A biracial Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. It protected all Americans no matter what race they were in public places like restaurants, theaters, and public transportation like buses and trains. It also protected the right to serve on juries. If you didn’t follow this law you could be guilty of a misdemeanor and be fined up to $5000. Unfortunately, it was never enforced and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1883. If these new laws had been enforced, then we would have had rights for blacks a lot sooner than in the 1960’s. It must have seemed to blacks like their rights would go forward a bit one day and then reverse on the next. A few years later the
Supreme Court ruled in Plessy V. Ferguson that having separate train cars for whites and
One of the earliest faces of Civil Rights is Dred Scott. He was born into slavery in
Virginia in 1799. In 1836, he was sold to John Emerson. Emerson was an Army Officer and moved a lot taking Dred Scott with him to different Army posts, some in free states and some in slave states. Scott married Harriet who was also a slave. She …show more content…
He was personal property not a citizen and he had no rights to sue in court. They also ruled that the government had no legal right to interfere with the institution of slavery. The pro slavery people were encouraged and started making plans to expand slavery into all of the western states. This action made tension grown and helped to start the Civil War. A little further ahead in history, came the Civil Rights Act of 1875. A biracial Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. It protected all Americans no matter what race they were in public places like restaurants, theaters, and public transportation like buses and trains. It also protected the right to serve on juries. If you didn’t follow this law you could be guilty of a misdemeanor and be fined up to $5000. Unfortunately, it was never enforced and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1883. If these new laws had been enforced, then we would have had rights for blacks a lot sooner than in the 1960’s. It must have seemed to blacks like their rights would go forward a bit one day and then reverse on the next. A few years later the
Supreme Court ruled in Plessy V. Ferguson that having separate train cars for whites and