So, when exactly was America "great" for Black people? Let's take a tiny little look back:
1619 -- the first Africans are brought to America, in slave ships, from the African continent.
Enslaved, indentured servants, property, until 1865.
1865 -- The 13th amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United
States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31,
1865. On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the
Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the
state legislatures. The necessary number of states ratified it by
December 6, 1865. The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution
provides that "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."
But were Black Americans really free?
Monuments to the Civil War sprung up, far and wide. And widespread denial of everything from voting rights, to housing, to where Blacks could live within cities... and on and on.
1964 -- The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (enacted July 2, 1964) is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, and racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.
Initially, powers given to enforce the act were weak, but these were supplemented during later years. Congress asserted its authority to legislate under several different parts of the United States Constitution, principally its power to regulate interstate commerce under Article One (section 8), its duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment, and its duty to protect voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment.
2020 -- Black Lives Matter protests and its movement, continued murders of Black people, mostly Black men, at the hands of primarily White police officers.
So, again, for the past 400 years,
when exactly was America great for Black people?
