African American Equal Rights Dbq Essay

America seems to be well-known as being the land of the free. People who are enter or born in the land of the free are promised with civil rights and liberty. However, women are not treated the same and only considered as second class citizens. Meanwhile, African Americans are not even considered as citizens or even as humans. Human rights have always been controversial and it will always have its flaws. It is obvious enough to say that the land of the free has been unfair to certain individuals throughout history, women and African Americans. The problems they faced during the 20th century is something that no one should experience. However, those women who fought for equal rights are the one that needs to be thanked due to their scarification.

Voting is only one of the problems they share. Document 1 can display some of the voting problems these individuals faced for a long time. The voting restrictions it shows just proves how much discrimination African Americans and women faced before and during the 20th century. For many years, states such as Louisiana, North Carolina, Alabama and other southern states conducted such discriminatory policies as Literacy Test, Property Test, and Grandfather Test just to make sure African Americans could not vote due to them having little or no education what so ever. According to Document 5, President Lyndon B Johnson to grant the Voting Rights Bill. It established to tear down the restrictions that prevent African Americans to vote. It also states the prohibition of any discrimination when it comes to an individual of color when it comes to voting. This was all established by providing African Americans the 13th amendment. The 13th Amendment gave African Americans freedom to vote, but even after the abolition, they were still treated unfairly. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned all cases of discrimination towards race, sex, religion and etc (Document 4). However, discrimination was still in the air and today people are still fighting against it. It may not be as bad as before, but it still lingers to this day. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the passing of 13th Amendment will be one of the greatest steps

Women were always seen as housewives and caregivers, but women wanted more opportunities than being a wife. They wanted higher education in order to pursue a higher career that was only supposed to only be meant for men. They wanted equality in the workplace and that includes the paycheck. Men were usually paid more and still till this day. It does not matter if both sexes share the same job, men were paid more than women. The gap between men and women during the 20th century was something that should not have existed in the first place. However, once the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed it did not only benefit African Americans but it also benefited women when it comes to decreasing the gap between men and women. According to Document 6, Deborah G. Felder displayed the representation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This Act decreased the gap between men and women to under 25 percent. Now women are allowed to be president of companies and being an officer in the military. There is still an unfair payment when it comes to both sexes, but it was a great step towards a great civil