Discuss the relationships between the treatment of African-Americans during Reconstruction with the treatment of the same peoples during the United States Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

It is so unfortunate to know that our country was once one to discriminate and mistreat the African-American race.
African-Americans at the time had fewer rights than the white population, even after the Civil War. Even with laws such as the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifthteenth amendments, that were created to give them equal rights, the black race was still being treated differently. Although the law gave African-Americans equal rights, the white race was considered economically superior than them. It was almost impossible for a black person to own a property or make good money because the whites were always the priority.

Racial discrimination and segregation reamained during the Reconstruction Era. This plan allowed each southern state to make decitions about how they should treat the freed slaves, as long as the decisions were agreed on. Many things occured during this time of Reconstruction but it definitely did not help the African-American race as much as everyone thought it would. The blacks were forgotten about after the war, while society moved along with their lives. Society, the blacks and whites, were left unprepared on how to deal with each other. Attempting to integrate with the whites, the blacks constantly felt overwhelmed.

The Civil Rights Movement was the movement in the United States that tried to abolish racial discrimination against African-Americans. After dealing with being treated differently for so long, African-Americans began to stand up for what was fair through their eyes. A great example of those who changed history is Martin Luther King Jr. He was deeply involved in the civil rights movement because he wanted the best for his people, and the best was to be treated equaly. He put his life in danger everyday by speaking out about racism, and unfortunately he was killed for it eventually.

The relationship between these two occurrances were very similar ,because the African-Americans were trying change the division between the whites and blacks and trying to become equal. The only difference is that over time, when the blacks were given rights, they began to stand up and not be afraid of what could be done to them. They were a ticking bomb and fortunately they eventually stopped it.