With Congress considering legislation to protect voting rights and address police accountability, it’s worth remembering that throughout U.S. history new civil rights laws have been followed by resistance and the stubborn persistence of racial inequity across American life.

Still, these discussions in Congress come on the heels of millions of Americans calling for change.

The demonstrations that followed George Floyd’s death belonged to a broader effort to reckon with white violence and discrimination in U.S. life.

The historical roots of our contemporary racial injustice were documented in the 1619 Project, a New York Times undertaking that reexamined the legacy of slavery in the U.S. This year’s widespread commemoration of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 also contributed to this moment of racial reckoning.

As 28 states consider or enact legislation to limit the teaching of this painful history, I’d argue that this is a moment to dig more deeply into our nation’s past.

As a scholar of African American history, I believe that doing so can uncover the roots of our current challenges – from what children learn in school to how Americans are treated as they drive a car – and help us chart a better path forward.

Legacy of violence and discrimination

The racial ethic that has endured for centuries in America was made plain in the 1852 Supreme Court ruling Dred Scott v. Sandford, which determined that Black Americans were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. This decision helped cement white supremacy in American legal and social life.

Following the Civil War, a Republican Congress seemed to make progress for American civil rights with the passage of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery. Congress attempted to guarantee equal protection under the law for all Americans with the 14th amendment.

And Congress passed the 15th Amendment, which ruled that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race.

Additionally, Congress passed two Civil Rights Acts in 1866 and 1875. These laws and amendments, passed during the period of Reconstruction, were intended to provide the full benefits of citizenship for African Americans.

Read more:
https://theconversation.com/what-americas-social-justice-activists-can-learn-from-past-movements-for-civil-rights-165233