Civil Rights Movement

     The year is 1954, nearly hundred years after all slaves were freed, but this unfortunately didn't mean they were treated equal. Jim Crow laws made it possible to separate people by race. On the court case, Brown vs the Board of Education, made the Supreme Court rule that segregation is unconstitutional. That however, only angered the while people. In 1955, a an African American women was asked to move from her seat so that a white people could take her spot, when she refused, she was arrested. Rosa Park's arrest lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for 381 days. The leader of the civil right movement was Martin Luther King Jr.; he lead the movement with nonviolent protests. With his leadership, it gave the strength to many African Americans to stand up for themselves. In 1960, four college freshmen started a sit-in to end the segregation on lunch counters. King made a famous speech, where he talked about having a dream where his family and him wouldn't have to live in fear anymore. Little by little, African Americans got the rights they deserved. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1966, which outlawed both discrimination based on race and unfair voting test. 
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement

Jim Crow

    Even after the liberation of slaves, blacks were still treated as less than equal.Voting was a big issue in this time period. There was literary test and the grandfather clause to stop blacks from voting. The literary test prevented blacks from voting because many didn't know how to read. The grandfather clause stated that if your grandfather was a slave, then you couldn't vote.  There was Jim Crow laws created to stop blacks from living a normal life. Blacks and whites weren't able to be together in anyway; they couldn't sit together not be seen together. If a black man shake hands with a white male, it would be seen as bad because it states that they are equal. Whites were always right; blacks would just have to believe in the white folks words.

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm

Declaration of Independence

       The Declaration of Independence was written to give freedom to everyone who lived in America. It did just that with only one exception, African-Americans. They were still being enslaved and had no rights. In the original writing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson tried to give free the slaves but he had to change that section because the South did not agree with it. Due to the Great Compromise, with counted each slave as 3/5 of a man,  questions started to come up about what should be done with the slave trade. The South's economy was based on agriculture, so cheap labor was needed at all times. The North did not push on the slavery aspect because they were too focused on establishing a new government. 

http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/the-constitution-and-slavery

Colonial Period

    The first sign of racism in America was towards the Native Americans. They were forced out their lands by the Englishmen. They enslaves the Native Americans and sold them for money. After they realized that they couldn't control the Native Americans, they needed people to work on their land for free. Englishmen brought slaves from Africa cheap. They brought them over to America and forced them to work on their land. Africans were too far from their homes to run away. At first, slaves were treated as indentured servants, but in the late 17th century the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a series of laws that recognized slaves as property. 


http://americanhistoryrules.com/divisionandreunion/the-origins-of-slavery-in-america/ 

Race

      I chose to talk about race as my theme for my blog. Race was really only an issue in the olden days, but now has resurfaced in a movement called Black Lives Matter. This movement has started after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of African-American teen, Travis Martin. Whose death was quickly followed by Michael Brown and Eric Garner, who both died by the actions of police men. Since then, numerous of African-Americans have died due to police actions or while in their custody. In the article I chose, the author talks about the roots of the movement, which was started by Alicia Garza, and how much all these deaths are affecting not only the black community, but every other community. The author does support the cause; they understand the anger and grief that the community also feels. They also understand that the African-American community needs justice; it's not far how white supremacy exist in such a "free" country.  
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/19/blacklivesmatter-birth-civil-rights-movement