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Essay On Black Codes

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“The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men,” said Lyndon Baynes Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, in a speech at Washington D.C.. From 1963 to 1969, Johnson fought to secure ballot rights for African Americans, rights that had been given to all races in the fifteenth amendment in 1870. Sixty six years later, Johnson was still fighting for rights that had already been granted. According to Johnson, the vote was supposed to bring about equality in ways that other laws could not. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Instead, even today, voting rights are being restricted based on race, and …show more content…

Directly following the emancipation of the slaves, most southern states enacted “black codes”, or laws that discriminated against blacks in order to control every aspect of their lives ("Black Codes"). Although the codes varied state to state, they were unified in their success to create a subservient and dependable labor force after the loss of slave labor ("Black Codes"). In South Carolina, African Americans were confined in their choice of occupation to either a farmer or servant ("Black Codes"). All over the south, blacks were forced to sign labor contracts that would result in massive fines if broken ("Black Codes"). Since most African Americans were unable to pay the astronomical price of the fines, which could amount close to their earnings in one year, they were faced with unpaid labor to pay back the fine, imprisonment, or beatings ("Black Codes"). In courts, they could only testify against fellow blacks, giving them no power in the judiciary branch whatsoever ("Black Codes"). These black codes perpetually kept the African Americans in slavery. They had freedom on paper, but, unfortunately, this did not transfer into real life. Discrimination was the name of the

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When you look around at the world today, we have so many rights. People of all race and gender have the right to vote. However, this wasn’t always the case. In 1800s America, the fight over slavery was more prominent than it ever had been before. The civil war sparked the start of an evolution, an evolution led by none other than Ulysses S. Grant.

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To work, the freed slaves were forced to sign contracts with their employer.  The Mississippi and South Carolina Black Codes of 1865 required blacks to sign contracts of employment and if they left before it ended then they would be forced to pay earlier wages. Freed blacks’ status in the postwar South

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“Should blacks receive full voting rights, and what rights should they require. Radical republicans posed that freed slaves should recieve voting rights, but president Johnson quickly turned this down. But congress passed a bill that gave freedmen full rights including voting rights that lasted a few years. In our discussion, we came to the conclusion that freed men weren’t quite ready to vote yet, as they needed to be educated first. We agreed that this way was the best for the freedmen to be admitted back as citizens.

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On March 7th, 1965, a day now known as “Bloody Sunday”, displayed the tragedy of civil rights activists being brutally assaulted. This horrific example of blatant racism and hatred towards African Americans demanded a reaction from our government. The current President, Lyndon B. Johnson was tasked with uniting a country that seemed on the brink of conflict within itself. There were talks of him sending a bill that would declare the right of voting for all citizens. Lyndon B. Johnson had received criticism for how long it took him to send a voting bill to Congress.

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Since landowning men no longer had slaves to do their work, they now had to hire people to work for them. The employer could then choose the amount of money they would pay their employees which was usually very low. Black Codes limited freedom by enforcing labor contracts with a few job opportunities, refused to let freedmen buy

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They started to pass a law, called Black Codes, which striped the rights of freed slaves. A literacy test, one example of Black Codes, was practiced to exclude African-Americans from voting. Further, the freed slaves were forced to sign a contract to work for one employer only with very low wages. If they refused, they could be arrested and work with no wages. Sharecropping was also largely practiced in the south to prevent African-American to gain economic independence.

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President Johnson, armed with his speech, stood to persuade the congressmen to pass a bill that ensured equal voting rights for all. In a period when privileges were more inclined to the whites than to African Americans, voting rights applied selectively. At that time, it was needed that all be treated equally if America wanted to be proud of its supremacy above all other countries in the world. The president had to select his words wisely since the approval of congress was crucial to America’s future. Not only did the president have to work on the emotions of the attendants, but he also had to be logical in his claims, as well as build confidence regarding his appeal.

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It is wrong--deadly wrong--to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.” Johnson also quotes the constitution to make his point. “The Constitution says that no person should be kept from voting because of his race or his color.” In this quote former president Johnson is using the example form the constitution because he wants people to know that America was built by people who believed in freedom and for everyone to be treated

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To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”

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The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the

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The codes stated that even though people of color have some rights, they are not entitled to the same political or social equality of white people. The code stated that if a person of color made a contract for labor /service or such thing, they would be known as servants, and the one with the contract

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Many people were brutally beaten and there were also some that lost their lives, because of it. Lyndon B Johnson begins his speech his by convincing his listener that he will flight for what is owed to the Negros. That is the equal right to vote regardless of your race. The speech “We Shall Overcome”, speech gets to the core of the problem within the Legislation itself. He wants to see that everyone will abide by the 15th Amendment that gives Negros the right and the privilege to vote without any recourse, without worrying

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On March 16, 1965, President Lyndon B Johnson gave a speech to Congress on the issue of voting rights. President Johnson stresses the importance of protecting the Constitution by protecting the rights of every American citizen. This means no matter their race, religion, or place of birth their voting rights will be protected and they will not be suppressed. He also emphasizes the importance of upholding the American values that America was built on. Some of these values include hard work and equality and these values have been broken by the unlawful denying of voting rights of African Americans.

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They were not allowed anything. To socialize, have feelings, speak their opinion, etc. because of their skin type. This would fall under the racial and prejudice slots. Due to this time period, some people still carry a bias against the African Americans which affect interpersonal relations in a negative way.

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Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.

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