African americans faced which of the following

More than , people of all races congregated in Washington, D. President Lyndon B. Kennedy before his assassination —into law on July 2 of that year. King and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated. On March 7, , the civil rights movement in Alabama took an especially violent turn as peaceful demonstrators participated in the Selma to Montgomery march to protest the killing of Black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer and to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment.

As the protesters neared the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were blocked by Alabama state and local police sent by Alabama governor George C. Wallace, a vocal opponent of desegregation. Refusing to stand down, protesters moved forward and were viciously beaten and teargassed by police and dozens of protesters were hospitalized.

The new law banned all voter literacy tests and provided federal examiners in certain voting jurisdictions. It also allowed the attorney general to contest state and local poll taxes.

As a result, poll taxes were later declared unconstitutional in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections in The civil rights movement had tragic consequences for two of its leaders in the late s. Emotionally-charged looting and riots followed, putting even more pressure on the Johnson administration to push through additional civil rights laws.

It prevented housing discrimination based on race, sex, national origin and religion. It was also the last legislation enacted during the civil rights era. The civil rights movement was an empowering yet precarious time for Black Americans. The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protesters of all races brought about legislation to end segregation, Black voter suppression and discriminatory employment and housing practices.

A Brief History of Jim Crow. Constitutional Rights Foundation. Civil Rights Act of Civil Rights Digital Library. National Archives. Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In. African American Odyssey. Little Rock School Desegregation The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rosa Marie Parks Biography. Rosa and Raymond Parks. The portal for Black Americans and the Vote highlights many of the National Archives holdings that relate to the long struggle for equality in voting rights.

The National Archives holds records relating to mass voting actions such as Freedom Summer, as well as records about the organizations and people that championed voting access for Black Americans. This subject portal is not meant to be exhaustive, but to provide guidance to researchers interested in African Americans and the vote in relation to the Federal government.

Blogs relating to the Electoral College in Pieces of History. Library of Congress: Voting Rights. Top Skip to main content. What's in this Portal. Laws and Court Cases. People and Icons. Freedom Summer. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

Skip to content. Image Colored Water Fountain The effort to protect the rights of blacks under Reconstruction was largely crushed by a series of oppressive laws and tactics called Jim Crow and the black codes. Photograph by Bettmann. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom.

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Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. Reconstruction View Collection. The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. View Article. View leveled Article. Many southern political leaders claimed the desegregation decision violated the rights of states to manage their systems of public education, and they responded with defiance, legal challenges, delays, or token compliance.

As a result, school desegregation proceeded very slowly. By the end of the s, fewer than 10 percent of black children in the South were attending integrated schools. The pace of civil rights protests rose sharply in response to the Supreme Court's decision.

Martin Luther King Jr. But, even after Little Rock, school integration was painfully slow, and segregation in general remained largely untouched. In February , four black college students sat down at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and asked to be served. They were refused service, and they refused to leave their seats. Within days, more than 50 students had volunteered to continue the sit-in, and within weeks the movement had spread to other college campuses.

Roughly 50, young people joined the protests that year. By the presidential campaign, civil rights had emerged as a crucial issue. Just a few weeks before the election, Martin Luther King Jr. John Kennedy phoned his wife, Coretta Scott King to express his concern, while a call from Robert Kennedy to the judge helped secure her husband's safe release. Across the nation, more than 70 percent of African Americans voted for Kennedy, and these votes provided the winning edge in several key states.

When President Kennedy took office in January , African Americans had high expectations for the new administration. But Kennedy's narrow election victory and small working margin in Congress left him cautious. He was reluctant to lose southern support for legislation on many fronts by pushing too hard on civil rights legislation.

Instead, he appointed unprecedented numbers of African Americans to high-level positions in the administration and strengthened the Civil Rights Commission. He spoke out in favor of school desegregation, praised a number of cities for integrating their schools, and put Vice President Lyndon Johnson in charge of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.

Attorney General Robert Kennedy turned his attention to voting rights, initiating five times the number of suits brought during the previous administration. President Kennedy may have been reluctant to push ahead with civil rights legislation, but millions of African Americans would not wait.

Eventually, the administration was compelled to act. For decades, seating on buses in the South had been segregated, along with bus station waiting rooms, rest rooms, and restaurants.

In Alabama, a bus was burned and the riders attacked with baseball bats and tire irons. Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals to protect the freedom riders and urged the Interstate Commerce Commission to order the desegregation of interstate travel. In , James H.

Meredith Jr.