Category: Civil Rights Acts
When Ulysses S. Grant Barred Governmental Discrimination Against Blacks in the Nation’s Capital March 1869
On March 18, 1869 the new President Ulysses S. Grant signed legislation eliminating the word “white” wherever it was used as a qualification for voting,…
Video Panel Discussion on Black Suffrage During Reconstruction
C-Span has an interesting panel discussion from the November 2016 Lincoln Forum. The panel discusses African American suffrage during Reconstruction. It looks at broader issues…
Arguing Against Civil Rights in 1875 “You have not the power to make him white, and he never will be satisfied”
Thomas Whitehead was a former Confederate officer who was elected to Congress from Virginia in 1872. In 1875 he gave a speech opposing the Civil…
“Plessy v. Ferguson” Had Its Roots in the Destruction of Reconstruction: Article by David Cole
David Cole, national legal director of the ACLU and a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, has an interesting article in The Nation on the…
Andy Johnson Said that Equality for Blacks Is Discrimination Against Whites: Veto of Civil Rights Act of 1866
We are discussing the veto of the first Civil Rights Act (1866) by Andrew Johnson. Johnson found something to complain about for each of the…
President Johnson Vetoed the Civil Rights Act Because Blacks Had Not Earned Citizenship
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became law after Congress overrode a veto by President Andrew Johnson. In this article, I want to look at…
Federal Courts Were Given the Power to Enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1866 Because the State Courts Wouldn’t
This is the fourth article in our Deep Dive into the Civil Rights Act of 1866. We have already seen that the 1866 Act made…
Civil Rights Act of 1866: Criminal Penalties for Violating the Rights of Blacks
This is the third installment of our Deep Dive into the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Section 1 of the Act was the enduring Citizenship…
1866 Civil Rights Act Deep Dive: The Citizenship Clause Established that Those Born in U.S. Are Citizens
This week I am taking a close look at the 1866 Civil Rights Act. This was our first Federal civil rights act barring many forms…
Why the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is a Big Deal
On March 13, 1866 the House of Representatives passed the First Civil Rights bill. It had been passed by the Senate in February. Imagine that….
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