15th Amendment
The 15th amendment says “The right of citizens of
the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States
or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This amendment protected the rights of former slaves to vote,
expanding suffrage to millions of African American males at the age of 21 &
older. During the Reconstruction period, the amendment was enforced & many
former slaves partook in elections. Voters elected African Americans to
positions in state legislatures. But, once Reconstruction was over, the states
in the south gave many former Confederates their power back & created new
ways to alienate African Americans around this amendment. Some people in the
women's rights movement had mixed emotions about the amendment because it didn't
include "gender”. It would've expanded
the right to vote to all adult women.
26th Amendment
The 26th Amendment says “The right of citizens of
the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” Before
1972, most states made it mandatory for voters to be at least 21 years old. In
1972, the 26th Amendment was ratified; the voting age was dropped to 18 years
old. People thought If you were old enough to marry, fight in a war, & own
a business then if you met that criteria you were able to vote for leaders
& public policies. Not many between the ages or 18 through 24 vote now that
they do have the opportunity, but many do vote.
Brown v. Board of Education
Almost 13 years after the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson,
African Americans formed the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) trying to protect their civil rights. It started off little
with a few white supporters. The NAACP provided lawyers to take cases
concerning civil rights restrictions to court. Linda Browns father tried to
enroll her in a neighborhood school but was denied. Schools were "separate
but equal" facilities, obeying the Plessy ruling. Therefore, it had the
power to say where students went to school. Mr. Brown felt that their 14th
amendment was violated. The case was filed as a class-action suit, so any
ruling would apply not only to Brown but to everyone else in a similar situation.
The Supreme Court agreed that "separate but equal" was not acceptable
in public schools, that segregated facilities weren’t equal. Many people in the
South resisted the ruling. School districts created school zone maps that broke
up neighborhoods to provide more balance of students by race. Buses had to be
provided to take students to far schools to make it seem balanced. The Brown
decision gave the Civil Rights Movement some juice to really explode. It was seen
that you could push Congress to fix & alter laws.
Gideon v. Wainwright
The Sixth Amendment says that suspects in crimes have the
right to counsel for their defense. In 1963, the Supreme Court incorporated
this right in Gideon v. Wainwright. Someone burglarized & robbed a poolroom
business in Florida. A witness said Clarence Gideon was on the property, which lead
the police to arrest & charge him for the crimes. Gideon asked that the
court give him a lawyer but the court denied his request because the crime wasn't
a capital offense. That means he couldn't be penalized by death. The jury
convicted Gideon & sentenced him to 5 years in prison. He requested an
appeal from the U.S. Supreme Court because he was denied legal counsel in violation
of his 6th Amendment. The conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court making
mandatory that the states must provide legal counsel in all cases where the
defendant can’t afford counsel on their own. Gideon was acquitted of the
charges.
