For a black person born in the United States during Reconstruction, proudly claiming the title “American” was not a birthright -- it was a privilege. Throughout this “Gilded age,” a term coined by author Mark Twain, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, which abolished slavery, guaranteed equal protection under the law, and granted black men suffrage respectively, were administered. Hope emerged as black people perceived the amendments as an end to the injustice bestowed upon them. However, post-reconstruction America saw this legislation neglected as lynching, discrimination, and encroachment of voting rights oft occurred. By the mid 20th century, it was clear to minorities that simply being born in the United States was not enough to ensure American rights. Eventually, …show more content…
Here, the Supreme Court ruled that the existence of “separate but equal” facilities was unconstitutional, for it violated the 14th amendment. This could not have occurred in the 19th century for the sheer fact that Plessy vs. Ferguson, the case that Brown overturned, was ruled on in 1896. America in the 19th century was not ready for this case, but the truth is, neither was 1950's America. Implementation of Supreme Court rulings rely on legitimacy, and it was clear that the South did not take Brown’s ruling seriously. After change was developing at a glacial pace, the Civil Rights Movement became a grassroots coalition. Rosa parks, a fierce activist, refused to let a white man take her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, crusaded mostly by ordinary black maids. In solidarity with the boycott, Black women would walk miles everyday to clean middle class houses. This was most effective during the 1950s because this is when the american dream was formulated. The dichotomy of a country that sold the image of having a nice life in a nice house with a nice job also fostering a suffering people was overwhelmingly blatant. Huge