It is the home of the National Civil Rights Museum.
Slavery in the US started in 1619.
Slaves were not seen as human.
Selling them was big business.
During the years of the Slave Trade, over 12 million Africans were moved across the Atlantic Ocean. This is the largest forced migration in human history.
By the early 1800s Abolitionists were working to end the practice of Slavery.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure half slave and half free..." Abraham Lincoln, 1858
Lincoln's election in 1860 was followed by the secession of Southern States and the first battle of the Civil War on April 12.1861.
In the four years of War 620,000 Union and Confederate Soldiers were wounded or killed.
On January 3, 1863, The Emancipation Proclamation declared that people held as Slaves in the rebellious States were freed. Slavery was abolished on December 6, 1865, with the passage of the 13th Amendment. The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all people born and naturalized in the United States, including former Slaves.
The gains made immediately after the Civil War evaporated and former Slave States instituted Jim Crow Laws to make sure that Blacks were separate from all other Americans in public spaces, education, and housing. Blacks Voters were intimidated, beaten, and killed. Literacy Tests and Poll Taxes were enacted to keep Blacks from participating in elections and serving in Public Offices.
The National Civil Rights Museum shows the enormous efforts by many to be paid fair wages, have equal travel accommodations, equal treatment in restaurants, in movie theaters, equal access to voting, and equal rights as Citizens of the United States.
I grew up in the early 1960s watching Black People being beaten by Police Officers; watching Police Dogs attack Civil Rights Protestors; and Fire Hoses were used to stop people marching for Equal Rights.
Here are some of the many actions Black Americans participated in efforts to exercise their Civil Rights.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956 following Rosa Parks' arrest for not moving to the back of the bus.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. The Law prohibits discrimination in public spaces, provided for the integration of schools, and other public facilities, and made discrimination in employment illegal.
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