Black and White

In modern American society, black people and white people already have equal rights and opportunity, but this was totally different than how the black people were treated in the 1900s. Segregation was common in America, especially in the South. There were segregations in public places and public schools. At first, they couldn’t even take the bus with white people. Even though they got to take the bus with white people later, they still had to sit in the back and give up their seats to white people when they need them. In their schools, books and supplies often lacked, and teachers got lower salaries and had to work under more difficult conditions. There were also many more schools for white people.  Some restaurants refused to serve African Americans and some restrooms were only for whites. Furthermore, voting rights for blacks were severely restricted. They had to past many requirements that they could hardy meet according to the education they were given. Finally, restrictive covenants often forced blacks into poor neighborhoods that were farther from jobs, public transport, or good schools. There were two activists that tried to speak up for the black people, Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X. Martin Luther King preferred the strategy of nonviolence and believed that the blacks should gain social status peacefully with justice. Malcolm X had an opposite view than Martin Luther King. He believed that they should fight back and show white people the black power. Their suggles for inequality didn't show effects soon but the government did slowly accept them. The fourteenth Amendment was adopted in the 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. It overruled the Dred Scott Decision formed in 1857 by the Supreme court, which stated that African descent who was bought into America as slaves were not protected by the U.S. constitution and were not U.S. citizens. It gave all people who were born in the United States citizenships and protected civil rights.