The Fifteenth Amendment

Although the Declaration of Independence stated that "All men are created equal," due to the institution of slavery, this statement was not to be grounded in law in the United States until after the Civil War. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and finally put an end to slavery. Moreover, the Fourteenth Amendment strengthened the legal rights of newly freed slaves by stating, among other things, that no state shall deprive anyone of either "due process of law" or of the "equal protection of the law." Finally, the Fifteenth Amendment further strengthened the legal rights of newly freed slaves by prohibiting states from denying anyone the right to vote due to race but all of these rights will be gone after the south make a comeback.

The laws of many states decreed that blacks and whites could not use the same public facilities, ride the same buses, attend the same schools, etc. These laws came to be known as Jim Crow laws. Although many people felt that these laws were unjust, it was not until the 1890s that they were directly challenged in court. In 1892, an African-American man named Homer Plessy refused to give up his seat to a white man on a train in New Orleans, as he was required to do by Louisiana state law. For this action he was arrested. Plessy, contending that the Louisiana law separating blacks from whites on trains violated the "equal protection clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, decided to fight his arrest in court. By 1896, his case had made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. By a vote of 8-1, the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy. This case was known as the Plessy vs. Ferguson. Another case that African Americans had to face was called Brown v. Board of Education. Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. Both blacks and whites had to go to different schools and could never go to the same school and they had to be separated until the event of Little Rock

Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. These nine black students were herasted with word and spit. Governor Faubus was also wanted segregation and wanted to keep it. “Those who would integrate our schools at any price are still among us. They have seized upon the present situation to promote and foment concern and discontent, because of the temporary closing of the schools. They have spread wild rumors and attempted to organize demonstrations. These are the same people and the same forces who have all along been opposed to the majority will of the people of Little Rock and Arkansas….” This excerpt shows that Governor Faubus wanted segregation to continue and make schools segregated. He also said It is his responsibility, and it is his purpose and determination, to defend the constitutional rights of the people of Arkansas to the full extent of his ability. This also shows that he knows what the people want and Governor Faubus said that his responsibility was to protect the people 's’ rights but what they want and what their rights were horrible and that was