African American Politicians & Civil Rights Activists

African American Politicians & Civil Rights Activists — page 1
SOWING THE SEEDS FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT What What are civil rights Civil rights are the rights that all citizens are supposed to have for example the right to go to school to ride a bus and to eat in a restaurant The right to vote The right to be protected equally by the law But in the United States the laws have not always been fair Even after the Civil War ended slavery black Americans were not treated the same as whites Many states particularly in the South had laws and traditions that discriminated against black Americans Along with many whites black citizens have fought against those practices ever since JIM CROW PLAGUES THE SOUTH Following the Civil War blacks living in the South were segregated segregated from whites on trains and buses in schools and restaurants restaurants and even in public bathrooms Some laws made it illegal illegal for blacks and whites to shake hands or play checkers These racist Jim Crow laws got their unusual name from minstrel 4 CHAPTER ONE