'The Backward Race' In Industrial Lyndon B Johnson

Constitution, abolishing all slavery. While he did not do anything directly correlating to civil rights, it was his work that abolished slavery, and without that African Americans rights would be out of the question. Thus making Abraham Lincoln one of the most impactful and helpful presidents on the road to civil rights.

While there are some presidents, like Abraham Lincoln, who did everything in their power to improve civil rights, there are also some who did more hurting than helping. Theodore Roosevelt, being one of these presidents, saw the black race as inferior to the white race. He saw the white Americans as the forward race who were responsible for raising the status of African Americans through training “the backward race[s] in industrial

After taking Kennedy’s position as president he told the public he planned on continuing Kennedy’s work with the Civil Rights Act and getting it passed. He kept that promise and after only nine months after Johnson was inaugurated he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending segregation in all public facilities and making lasting change in American history. Just a year later another civil rights issue arose, voting rights in the South (“Lyndon B Johnson: Domestic Affairs”). From as far back as the 1890s, blacks were denied the right to vote due to racially discriminatory state laws. The first law being literacy tests, which were more often than not manipulated to the point where even literate African Americans would fail (“Lyndon B Johnson: Domestic Affairs”). The second law was “good character” tests, which included existing voters choosing new eligible voters, so in-turn no white voter ever vouched for a black applicant (“Lyndon B Johnson: Domestic Affairs”). The final law was a “poll tax”, preventing all poor people from the right to vote (“Lyndon B Johnson: Domestic Affairs”). However, this law was removed through a constitutional amendment leaving the literacy tests as the primary obstruction of voting rights for African Americans. The result of black advocates initial attempt to gain voting rights was violent and unfortunate, but some good came from it as it created an opportunity for Johnson to use his power and make a change. In 1965, black advocates led a march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, which ended with people being attacked and beaten by police dogs and an appearance on national television (“Lyndon B Johnson: Domestic Affairs”). Johnson took this opportunity to propose and eventually pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, again making a lasting change in American history. It was Lyndon B Johnson’s continuous and determined efforts behind