What America’s social justice activists can be taught from previous actions for civil rights

As Congress contemplates voting and police accountability laws, it should be remembered that throughout US history, new civil rights laws have been followed by opposition and persistent racial inequality throughout American life.

Yet these discussions in Congress follow millions of Americans calling for change.

The demonstrations after George Floyd’s death were part of a broader attempt to anticipate white violence and discrimination in US life.

The historical roots of our contemporary racial injustice were documented in the 1619 Project, a New York Times company that re-examined the legacy of slavery in the United States.

Protesters demonstrate during a protest against Black Lives Matter in New York City on June 2, 2020.
Johannes Eisele / AFP via Getty Images

With 28 states contemplating or enacting laws to restrict the teaching of this painful story, I would argue that this is a moment to delve deeper into our nation’s past.

As a scholar of African American history, I believe this can uncover the roots of our current challenges – from what kids learn in school to how to deal with Americans driving a car – and help us find a better way forward.

Legacy of violence and discrimination

The racial ethic that has existed in America for centuries was advocated in the Supreme Court judgment of 1852, Dred Scott v. Sandford, made clear, stating that black Americans are not American citizens and cannot sue in federal courts. This decision helped cement the supremacy of whites in American law and society.

After the Civil War, a Republican Congress seemed to be making headway for American civil rights with the passage of the 13th Amendment Abolishing Slavery. With the 14th Amendment, Congress sought to guarantee all Americans equal legal protection.

And Congress passed the 15th Amendment, which stated that voting should not be refused on the basis of race.

In addition, Congress passed two civil rights laws in 1866 and 1875. These laws and changes, passed during the rebuilding process, were designed to give African Americans the full benefits of citizenship.

But Dred Scott’s legacy remained.

In 1883, the Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Acts in a series of decisions, paving the way for public and private entities to deny services and housing to Black Americans. These decisions were the forerunners of Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896, who made “separate but equal” the law of the country and legalized segregation.

Plessy’s decision wasn’t just about banishing black Americans to separate water fountains and toilets. It invalidated the equal protection of Black Americans under the law, a move that exposed African American communities to dire consequences.

NAACP members hold signs during a protest in Washington in 1934 against the practice of lynching.
International News Photos / Library of Congress / Corbis / VCG via Getty Images

The ruling resulted in a serious setback for racial equality. Between 1877 and 1945, more than 4,400 black Americans were lynched without trial.

In the summer of 1919, known as the “Red Summer,” the blood of Black Americans flowed through the streets of American cities when black people and their property were subjected to violent assault without protection from the law.

This white mob violence was in response to wartime African Americans seeking jobs in the cities of the North and Midwest during the Great Migration. At that time, millions of African Americans across the country moved from the rural areas of the south to urban areas to escape appalling discrimination, lynching and the terror of the Ku Klux Klan.

During World War II, white and black Americans fought in separate units against Nazi racism. But a burgeoning freedom movement at home eventually began to claim legal victories in the Supreme Court.

In 1944, the Smith v Allwright ruling ended the exclusive “white primary” that had prevented black Americans across the south from casting their votes. And the Supreme Court banned segregation in schools in 1954 on the Brown V. Topeka Board of Education.

Cut and resistance

However, after the Allwright case, black Americans were still unable to vote all over the south because the law was not enforced.

And the Brown Supreme Court ruling met with “massive opposition” from lawmakers, ultimately resulting in a second Supreme Court decision – Brown II – and an act of Congress – the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – to legitimize racial segregation to end the United States.

But 60 years after Brown, the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, reported that black youth were twice as likely to attend strange, high-poverty schools as their white counterparts.

In 2013, the Supreme Court removed the centerpiece of the electoral law and allowed nine states with a history of racial electoral restrictions to change their electoral laws without prior federal approval.

And in July 2021, the court upheld an Arizona law disqualifying ballots for those voting in the wrong district – a decision that the challengers say will make it harder for minorities to vote.

After all, despite the Fair Housing Act of 1968, black Americans fell victim to systematic mortgage predatory loans in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Non-white homeowners have been billed excessive mortgage fees and have been exposed to long-term financial risks, such as monthly payments that become more expensive over time.

These practices resulted in a significantly lower share of home ownership and home ownership in black communities.

After the Great Recession, lawsuits exposed the depths of this housing problem: Countrywide Financial Corporation required African American and Latin American borrowers to pay higher fees on subprime loans, resulting in a $ 335 million fine from the Justice Department.

This violation of civil rights led, among other things, to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, which outlawed such predatory lending practices.

But no law has yet created the equality enshrined in the nation’s founding documents.

Indeed, the challenging lesson from our history is that the long struggle for justice and equality under law in the United States requires a deep source of strength and resilience.