Eleanor Finch
The treatment of free people of color in the US Constitution has been a contentious issue, with amendments made over time to address racial inequalities. The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, outlawed slavery but did not address the rights of newly freed African Americans. The 14th Amendment, passed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, granted citizenship and extended liberties to formerly enslaved people, while the 15th Amendment of 1870 gave them the right to vote. Despite these changes, people of color continued to face discrimination and segregation in various forms, including through Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, and housing policies that excluded them from suburban communities. The Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 aimed to address these ongoing injustices and secure equal rights for all citizens.
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The 13th Amendment
> "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Prior to the 13th Amendment, the Constitution undervalued enslaved persons, considering them worth only three-fifths of free persons. This led to the Fugitive Slave Acts, which allowed for the capture and return of escaped slaves to their owners. The Supreme Court played a complex role, at times ruling in favour of enslaved people seeking freedom, and at other times upholding slavery and interstate trafficking.
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The 14th Amendment
The amendment extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to all citizens of the United States, regardless of race. This included the right to due process of law and equal protection under the law, which applied to both federal and state governments. The 14th Amendment also revoked the Black Codes, preventing states from passing laws that denied citizens their constitutional rights and freedoms.
A key provision of the 14th Amendment was the granting of citizenship to "All persons born or naturalized in the United States," thereby ensuring that formerly enslaved people and free people of colour were legally recognised as citizens with equal rights. This overruled the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which denied citizenship to Black people.
The amendment also empowered Congress to enforce its provisions through appropriate legislation, leading to the passage of other significant civil rights laws in the 20th century, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Despite the lofty goals of the 14th Amendment, it faced challenges in its implementation and interpretation. For many years, the Supreme Court ruled that it did not extend the Bill of Rights to the states, and it failed to adequately protect the rights of Black citizens, who continued to face violence, discrimination, and segregation.
Even today, 150 years after the amendment's ratification, the struggle for full racial equality continues. The 14th Amendment remains a vital tool in the ongoing fight for justice and equality for people of colour, and its legacy serves as a foundation for ongoing efforts to address racial injustice and secure the rights and freedoms of all citizens.
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The 15th Amendment
One of the challenges was that while the 15th Amendment prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, it did not address other discriminatory practices that were used to restrict voting rights. For example, states enacted laws such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and the "grandfather clause" that disproportionately affected African Americans. These measures effectively prevented many Black citizens from fully participating in the democratic process.
The fight for voting rights extended beyond the 15th Amendment. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 addressed the unequal application of voting laws, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided further protections. The 1965 Act banned literacy tests and provided federal oversight in discriminatory jurisdictions. It also ensured that legal remedies were available for those affected by voting discrimination. The 24th Amendment in 1964 and the 26th Amendment in 1971 further expanded voting rights by prohibiting poll taxes in federal elections and lowering the voting age to 18, respectively.
While the 15th Amendment was a crucial milestone, it is clear that the work towards ensuring equal voting rights for all, regardless of race, has been an ongoing struggle. The legacy of the amendment is a reminder that rights gained can also be taken away, and constant vigilance and advocacy are necessary to protect the democratic rights of all citizens.
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Black Codes
The Black Codes were a set of laws passed in the Southern United States after the Civil War that restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans. These laws were designed to limit the freedom of Black people and ensure their availability as a cheap labour force. While the 13th Amendment, passed in 1865, abolished slavery and granted freedom to around 4 million people, the Black Codes sought to uphold white supremacy and control over the African American community.
The Black Codes were passed by a political system in which Black people had no voice and were enforced by all-white police and state militia forces, often made up of Confederate Civil War veterans. They required Black people to sign yearly labour contracts and imposed strict regulations on employment, vagrancy, and social interactions. For example, in Mississippi, Black people were required to have written evidence of employment for the coming year each January, and if they left their contract early, they would forfeit their wages and be subject to arrest. In South Carolina, a similar law prohibited Black people from holding any occupation other than farmer or servant unless they paid an annual tax of $10 to $100.
The Black Codes also restricted the legal rights of African Americans. They were prohibited from testifying against white individuals and often faced biased treatment in court. Vagrancy laws allowed local authorities to arrest freed people for minor infractions and commit them to involuntary labour, reminiscent of the convict lease system or "slavery by another name". Additionally, interracial marriage was banned.
The passage of the Black Codes sparked outrage and protests from African Americans, who organised conventions across the South to petition Congress for equal rights. The restrictive nature of the codes and widespread Black resistance to their enforcement also enraged many in the North, who argued that they violated the principles of free labour ideology. The Black Codes were ultimately revoked by the 14th Amendment, which declared that states could not pass laws that denied citizens their constitutional rights and freedoms, and granted "equal protection" of the Constitution to all citizens.
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Civil rights
The original text of the US Constitution did not mention slavery, slaves, or freed Black people. However, the infamous three-fifths compromise counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning seats in the House of Representatives, increasing the power of slave states in Congress. After the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were passed to abolish slavery, grant citizenship, and confer the right to vote, respectively. The 14th Amendment revoked the Black Codes, stating that no person could be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process, and that the law must be applied equally to everyone. It also amended the three-fifths clause, stating that population counts would be based on the "whole number of persons" in a state. The 15th Amendment gave the right to vote to all male citizens regardless of race.
Despite these amendments, Southern states remained committed to white supremacy, and groups like the Ku Klux Klan violently opposed Black civil rights. The US Supreme Court sanctioned segregation laws, ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that "equal but separate" railroad cars for Blacks and whites were constitutional. In response, Black Americans organized conventions to petition Congress for equal rights and protested against the violent and discriminatory treatment by the justice system.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a culmination of the struggle of Americans of African descent to obtain basic rights of citizenship. It prohibited discrimination based on race, colour, and national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance. Despite this, the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority has recently rolled back progress toward a more racially equitable society by ruling that race-inclusive programs and policies violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
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Frequently asked questions
The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and prohibited it throughout the United States. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, thereby granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people. It also revoked the Black Codes, which restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, prohibited states from using race or previous conditions of servitude as a basis for preventing people from voting.
No, free people of color were not treated equally under the Constitution. Despite the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, which granted freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote to formerly enslaved people, free people of color continued to face discrimination and oppression. They were subjected to discriminatory laws, such as the "separate but equal" doctrine, and faced obstacles to voting, such as literacy tests and intimidation by white hate groups.
The Civil War, which ended in 1861 or 1865, resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, which legally freed enslaved people. However, free people of color continued to face discrimination and oppression, as evidenced by the implementation of Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, which restricted their rights and enforced segregation.
