15 Amendment Dbq

Between 1865 and 1870, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments outlawed slavery which "provided equal protection under the law, guaranteed citizenship, and protected the right to vote" (United States). Unfortunately, individual states continued to allow unfair treatment of minorities and passed the 'Jim Crow' laws allowing segregation of public facilities. "The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It required equal access to public places and employment and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote" (United States). Although this attempt did not end discrimination, it did open doors to many people.
Before the 13th Amendment, there were many laws that protected slavery but those laws were just temporary to multiple states. For example, the Emancipation Proclamation declared that "all persons held as slaves within any State … the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free" ("U.S. Constitution"). Unfortunately, this proclamation did not end slavery in the nation. President Lincoln soon realized that a constitutional amendment would be the most
By the late 1870s, multiple discriminatory practices were used to prevent minorities from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South. The 15th Amendment was in reality only the beginning of a struggle for equality that would continue for more than century before African Americans could begin to participate fully in American public and life. "The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law which was to overcome legal barriers from the exercise to vote and prohibits racial discrimination in voting" ("U.S.