Better The Upper Class

Before JFK was elected in 1960, segregation was a huge problem. In most southern states; To vote you would have to pass a literacy test (JFKlibray.org staff). Southern states did this intentionally because they knew seven out of ten blacks were illiterate (nces.ed.gov). Even though preventing blacks from voting was declared unconstitutional,

For the greater part of the nineteenth century, black people were slaves for white men. The Fourteenth Amendment was placed into effect to protect the rights of the black community after emancipation. It stated that, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” would be supported under the doctrine. However, this article failed to uphold the rights of the newly freed slaves. The blacks, ridiculed and scorned by the public, were greatly suppressed by the white backlash. The states put into effect laws that would suppress the blacks even further, even though they were protected under the Amendment. The states made stipulations on rights the African Americans were granted, like the right to own land, vote, and even hold certain jobs. Voting was a major controversy for the newly freed slaves, they wanted the chance to be heard through politics. Nevertheless, they were still denied the simple right to vote in many of the states if they could not meet the prerequisites for reading or could not pay a voting tax. They made contracts for them to work for white men, just as if they were slaves and nothing changed. Black people were still waiting for their salvation under this new piece of legislation, but were unable to grasp it through the government. African Americans stood for their newly given rights under the Constitution and were denied by the people who put

The Republican Party think that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections should apply to unborn children and the unborn child should have the fundamental right to life. However, the Democratic Party strongly disagree with this idea to a fundamental right to life. “Democrats stand behind the right of every woman to choose. [They] believe it is a constitutional liberty” (Democratic Party Platform). They fully support a woman’s right to make decision regarding her own pregnancy and health. Abortion is a personal decision between a woman and her doctors, therefore it is not a place for the government to get in the way. While the Democratic Party is pro-choice, they believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. These two widely different stances on the issue stem primarily from religious and moral influence. Abortion is not an issue that can be played in the middle. There is one side or the other, and people make their choices based on their morals and religious preferences.

Slavery was not a word that was unknown in the United States of America; the word was at the tip of almost everyone’s tongue, only it came with many names. After the civil war, slavery became more pronounced for the black people. The south then thought something ought to be done and passed laws called the black codes which begun the limitation of blacks’ rights and separated them from the whites; white supremacy began. Before, these laws would have been unnecessary because most of the black people were slaves and they were already segregated in public places like schools and theatres. In 1866, Congress did not like this and they responded to these laws by putting a stop to it. Republicans had managed to begin reconstruction on the society and understand the black community. But in 1877 things took a turn for the worse when the Democratic parties recovered control and stopped the progress of reconstruction. This in turn caused the reverse of all the progress made in the past few years to understand the black community; they lost their rights to hold political seats, vote and generally participate as though they were members of the community. Slowly but surely, the south started to restore their racially unfair laws. The aim of the laws? To ensure segregation and alienation of the black community. One of the main powers taken away was the right to vote and they did this by imposing poll taxes, having expensive fees to be paid at the voting booths and

When the slaves were freed and given some rights, they were offered ’40 acres and a mule’ if they would vote to keep the Republicans in power. Then, they started being voted into office. They had just been freed, and they were not educated, but they were pulled up and shown off to the white southerners to tell them that things were going to be done differently. The Black Codes started restricting the freedmen from voting, but, when they were not able to do it flat out because of the 15th Amendment, the white males did it more subtly through literary tests and charging money. The freedmen would have to read and explain passages from the Constitution, or pay money to vote.

A quote from Document 8 says “ In May 1872, because of pressure from the libral Republican, Congress passed a general amnesty act which restored the right of officeholding [and voting] to the vast majority of those who had been disqualified.” Previously most black men had been disqualified from voting because of the lack of education, but all of that went away in an attempt to restore equality. White men were firious and would not stand to see this happent. Document four says “Let there be White Leagues formed in every town, village and hamlet of the south...they will not stand idly by and see us borne down by northern radicals and half-barbarous negroes.” White people formed grooups such as the KKK to torture the black people and prevent them from effecting white

Congress passed the 14th amendment. All people born in the United States were given citizenship. This obviously included blacks. The federal government would not let the states selectively say who could or could not be citizens. It also gave the white south an option to allow blacks to vote or lose seats in the federal government. This act did not necessarily give the blacks the right to vote but is did guarantee them “equality before the law regardless of race” (book p.573).

While we all would agree that racism is immoral and has no place in a modern society, that was not the case in the U.S. in the 1940s. At the time African Americans were treated as second-class citizens, it was made near-impossible for them to vote, and they were discriminated in many ways including in education, socially and in employment. It was a time in which segregation and racism perforated the laws and society, a time in which African Americans were “separate but equal,” segregation was legal and in full force. Apartheid was also everywhere from the books to in society. Blacks were not truly seen as equal as they were seen the the lesser of the two and it very much felt that way. Blacks were oppressed in many ways including having

The republicans wanted the african american vote to get more power over the democrats. That is why they started to help african americans by constructing roads and schools. They did also made laws that could protect the african americans rights and freedom. The republicans were so interested in the african american vote that as soon as the civil war was over they started to create the schools, roads and laws to protect them.

For a time immediately following the Civil War, the African-Americans and White Americans enjoyed a period of relative equally as every Confederate supporter was barred from running for any government post and civil jobs; an African-American could fill these jobs that mostly every White Southerner was barred from having, so some of the Southern States had African-American representatives to Congress. This didn’t last as the law that barred the “Southern Sympathizers” from holding those jobs was stricken down and all African-Americans that held such jobs were force out of office.

They had to pay tax in order to be able to vote, and most black people couldn’t afford that. And not just that In order to be able to vote, you also had to prove that you could read difficult contexts. And even if black people passed these tests, they would then be threatened and attacked so that they would not be able to

When racism took over black people could not do everything a white person does. “Gomillion v. Lightfoot-1960- The Alabama legislature attempted to redraw district boundaries to prevent Blacks from voting in Tuskegee City elections. The U.S Supreme Court ruled that redistricting violated the 15th Amendment. * In the state’s proposal, the square-shaped district would be transformed into 28-sided figure the excluded Black neighborhoods from the city limits of Tuskegee.”(BRCI). Under those circumstances, this shows how much segregation mattered during that time.

In political elections the people who vote are people who make more money and have a higher education. In 2010 midterm elections 59% of voters made $100,000 dollars or above the to other 43% made less than $50,000 dollars. Many of the voters that made more money had gone to college and had degrees. The voter who made less money had only graduated high school or did not graduate high school. The people who went to college had learned more about politics and had more confidence in their ability to vote and make a difference. Wealthier americans being the main group voting can lead to the wealthier people can have a larger control over the politics.

Obviously, equality was not something supported in the past. The people believed that being separate was right and constitutional, due to the fact that each race’s services were equivalent. On Pbs.org it summarizes the Plessy decision stating, “The Plessy decision set the precedent that “separate” facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were “equal”.” However, this was not practiced. The blacks’ services were always in a much poorer condition than the whites’. Later these separate but equal services and amenities were used for basically everything, such as school and even bathrooms. They believed that they were all equal, because they all had the same facilities, no matter if the blacks’ facilities were inferior.

Everyone can have luxurious accessories now which is a wonderful thing because no one feels excluded. Everyone feels accepted because in this day and age you only matter if you look like you have money. People tend to judge you off what you have on however they never judge you correctly because what you have on doesn’t define you. Low class can look like middle class and middle class live like high class now. The wealth change is for the better because now it's harder to judge someone off what they purchased.