The Reconstruction Amendments And The Civil Rights Movement

208 Words1 Pages
It create Reconstruction Amendments, the important landmarks in civil rights for black Americans The “Reconstruction Amendments” passed by Congress between 1865 and 1870 eliminated slavery, gave black Americans equal protection under the law, and granted suffrage to black men. Although racist violence and Jim Crow laws eroded these constitutional rights, blacks still began participating in politics, and these amendments established the legal basis for more fundamental equality during the civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s. Historian Donald R. Shaffer argued that the gains during Reconstruction for African Americans were not entirely extinguished. The legalization of African-American marriage and family and the independence of black churches