African-American Equality

The Native-American and African-American communities in the united states have undergone countless adversities since before the birth of America. The South held a stronghold on the institution of slavery, while American colonists robbed the indigenous people of their land and culture. After the civil war, however, the conditions of both groups changed dramatically. The residual tribes were driven to reservations and the slaves were freed. In the years immediately succeeding the war, blacks, due to a powerful Republican influence in the federal and state governments, were far better off economically, politically, and socially than their Native-American equivalents. While blacks gained suffrage and equality under the law, the natives lost their
The ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment freed them, for the first time ever, from the hands of their Southern masters. Blacks began to gain control of their own future and had a chance to surmount their sordid circumstances. Congress, dictated by anti-slavery Republicans, was unwavering to ratify countless civil rights legislation balancing the rights of both blacks and whites. Republicans approved the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 over Democratic President Andrew Johnson's veto. This legislation established citizenship to blacks, an immensely important requirement in gaining other vital rights, such as suffrage. Under the Bill, discrimination due to of race was made illegal. The Fourteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution two years later, to ensure that the rights gained by blacks under the Bill would be protected from repeal by later Democratic Congresses. In a decisive setback to Southern Democrats, Republicans also assured black male suffrage in the Fifteenth Amendment, bypassing Democratic obstacles in Southern state legislatures. These sweeping pieces of legislation paved the way for blacks to live as equals with whites, making them citizens and theoretically safeguarding their citizenship against discrimination (EAH
Both suffered at the hands of whites, but Native-Americans suffered more with the almost complete annihilation of their society. On the contrary, it took longer to start improving the African-American condition than it did for the Native-American one. One thing is evident, however, America has to acknowledge the adversities it forced these groups to endure for no other reasons than the greed, hatred, ignorance, and racism that allowed discrimination to