Voting Rights Of Afro-Americans In 1950-60s

The right to vote is the fundamental prerequisite of the realization of other political rights, and it protects the rights of a citizen from infringement. It cost a very long time for the Afro-Americans to strive for such an important right. Afro-Americans had been treated unequally for a long time even after the American Civil War. Although the Constitutional Amendments of the reconstruction period provide that Afro-Americans are American citizens and have the same right to vote as others, the black codes of the southern states deprived them of their legal rights. At that time, the Supreme Court showed a conservative attitude to this and kept silence, which encouraged arrogance of the southern states. So in the early period of the Civil Rights Movement, Afro-Americans did not have the right to vote which is rendered by the Constitution.There is an old saying that where there is oppression there is resistance. That is what the Afro-Americans did in American. After a miserable experience, the Afro-Americans realized that a right in legal provisions is not a right in real. They understood that they would not be treated equally unless they would acquire the right to vote. As a result, the Afro-Americans launched a massive campaign for right to vote in the 50, 60s in the 20th century. The Civil Rights Movement achieved great success and almost ended racial segregation. The congress passed a series of civil rights acts to restrain and prohibit local governments from depriving the voting right of the Afro-Americans. Under the protection of these acts, the rights of the Afro-Americans had a rapid growth.The Supreme Court and its power of judicial review remain a high priority in the constitutional history of American, so is that of the history of the development of the voting right of the Afro-Americans. The civil rights acts, as mentioned above, helped the Afro-Americans to realize their voting rights to a great degree, while the white governors in the south were still trying to stand in the way. Although before the 20th century, the Supreme Court has always held a conservative attitude on the Voting Rights of Afro-American. With the rise of liberalism in 20th century, the Supreme Court started to affirm the voting rights of the Afro-Americans in its judgments, and gradually abolished the discriminate provisions in each state. At last, the Afro-Americans attained their constitutional right to vote after suffering a great pain, and it is the cooperation of the congress and the Supreme Court which help them achieve the final success.