African Americans started here in the United States as slaves who served the southern plantation owners. They had a range of jobs from picking cotton, helping the owner as a maid and working on the fields. They lived and worked through harsh conditions. A decade later, they were set free but did not have many rights. The 15th amendment was passed and it gave all the citizens of America despite their race, age and color the right to vote.  From that moment on, African Americans had the right to vote. (Picture 1) Not short after did the Whites try the best they could to stop the blacks from voting. They mad Jim Crow laws which included, literacy tests for a vote and many more conditions. The United States was still treating the African Americans differently. They had many buses in which the whites sat in the front and the Africans in the back, which is shown in picture 2. There were water fountains marked with white only and colored only.   In addition, there were restaurants that only allowed the white to sit at the booths. These were all examples of the Jim Crow laws. After receiving unequal treatment, many African Americans demanded their equal rights and thats where the Civil Rights started. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his ” I have a dream speech” and Rosa Parks arrest were in that time period. During the 1960’s, African Americans wanted their right to be equal more than anything else. (Picture 3)

These events are linked to each other. The first event which is the passing of the 15th amendment meant that the African Americans could vote and the whites did not like that. Therefore, as a result, they set up Jim Crow laws. Because of the poor treatment that African Americans received through the century and the laws itself, many African Americans demanded their equality during the Civil Rights movement.