Reconstruction Amendments: The Fight Against Segregation and Voting Discrimination
The Fifteenth Amendment in the Reconstruction Amendments granted citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color. It aimed to challenge segregation and became effective through civil rights activism.
00:00:00 This lesson focuses on the Fifteenth Amendment in the Reconstruction Amendments, which was passed by Congress in 1869 and ratified in 1870. It marks a significant change in the application of laws in the South.
⭐ The Fifteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on February 26, 1869 and ratified on February 3rd, 1870.
📅 The Reconstruction period took place from the end of the Civil War in April 1865 to the beginning of 1877.
🔑 The core of the Reconstruction period consisted of three amendments that brought significant changes to the application of laws in the South.
00:01:03 The 15th Amendment granted citizens of the United States the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was necessary because the 14th Amendment only protected civil rights, not political rights.
📜 The 15th Amendment to the Constitution grants the right to vote to all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
🗽 The 14th Amendment protected civil rights but not political rights, which led to the need for the 15th Amendment to ensure equal voting rights for African Americans.
🏛️ The Reconstruction Republicans recognized that southern states might deny African Americans the right to vote, and the 15th Amendment aimed to prevent this while also addressing their representation in Congress.
00:02:08 The 15th Amendment promised freed slaves the right to vote, but southern states used various tactics to deny African Americans their voting rights until the Civil Rights Movement and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
🗽 The 15th Amendment allowed freed slaves to vote, but southern states used various tactics to prevent African Americans from voting.
💰 Southern states implemented grandfather clauses and poll taxes to disenfranchise African Americans.
🤝 The Supreme Court, including Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, upheld these tactics, denying African Americans the right to vote until the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
00:03:11 The 15th Amendment, a part of the Reconstruction Amendments, was undermined within 10 years of its passage due to southern states' laws and court rulings.
⭐️ The Reconstruction Amendments, including the 15th Amendment, were undermined and made irrelevant within ten years of passage.
⚖️ During the rise of Jim Crow, the Supreme Court upheld segregation and struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
🔁 Southern states consistently denied the promise of Reconstruction and the Amendments, while the Supreme Court consistently sided with the South.
00:04:14 The video discusses the history of the Reconstruction Amendments, focusing on the 15th Amendment. It explains the legal challenges to racial segregation and the eventual recognition that segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment. It also mentions the Voting Rights Act and the impact of African Americans serving in World War II.
💡 The Plessy vs. Ferguson case in 1890 allowed railroad segregation, claiming it was consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment.
💡 Justice Harlan dissented, stating that the Constitution is colorblind and does not tolerate classes among citizens.
💡 The Supreme Court overturned Plessy in 1954, recognizing segregation as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
00:05:19 The Reconstruction Amendments led to a shift in public opinion against segregation. The 15th Amendment challenged the 'separate but equal' doctrine, recognizing that segregation aimed to degrade African-Americans.
📚 Baseball integration and changing public opinion about segregation.
👥 Court striking down school segregation and national opposition to segregation.
🚂 The concept of separate but equal and its repudiation by Brown v. Board of Education.
00:06:22 The 15th Amendment and Reconstruction Amendments became fully effective in the 1960s through civil rights activism, not just the Supreme Court.
📚 The Reconstruction Amendments were passed between 1865 and 1870.
🗳️ The 15th Amendment came into full force with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
✊ The civil rights movement played a vital role in making these rights a reality.
Want to deep dive into this video?
