One Step Forward, One Step Back
Northern states emancipated enslaved people.
Those same states immediately stripped Black people of their civil and voting rights.
1807: Congress prohibited importation of Africans.
Cutting off the source of enslaved people led to a boom in "breeding" and separating enslaved families for profit, and the rise of slave-trading as a lucrative business.
1862: Congress passed the Militia Act which allowed Black men to serve in the armed forces as laborers, and the Confiscation Act which freed enslaved people who were seized from Confederate supporters.
1863: Emancipation Proclamation applied only to Confederate States which were out of Lincoln's jurisdiction (not Kentucky), but allowed Black men to serve in the Union armed forces.
1865: Congress passed the 13th Amendment.
...with the exception clause that allowed slavery to continue when a person was convicted of a crime. Black Codes limited Black participation in society and assured that Black people would be convicted of any and every little thing, thus keeping the numbers of convicted people high enough to support the need for cheap labor.
Late 1860's: Black Codes were abolished and civil and voting rights were extended to Black men.
By 1890's: Jim Crow laws and lynchings reconstructed white supremacy ways and rescinded civil and voting rights.
1950's and 1960's: Civil rights movement and the subsequent Civil Rights Act of 1964 called for better treatment of Black people. President Johnson initiated the Kerner Commission to study the cause of rioting and to recommend solutions.
- Before problems of racism could be addressed as per the Kerner Report, Johnson, then Nixon, called for law and order, effectively shelving any recommendations from the Commission's report.
- Nixon wanted to shut down Black and liberal votes, so called for a war on drugs to vilify "hippies" for marijuana use and Black people for crack cocaine.
- In order to win votes, Clinton's campaign promised a 'tough on crime' approach. His Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 gave Federal approval to states to pass more and more stringent laws that have led to mass incarceration.
- George W. Bush responded to the 9/11 tragedy by cracking down on immigrants and heightening public fear of Black and Brown people.
2010: As the first Black President, Obama's election gave hope to Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color.
...but he extended Bush's incarceration policies. Trump continued the trend.
President Biden was seen as a return to the civility of Obama days...
...and all policies regarding incarceration were further extended.
Information on this chart is gathered from: New York Times Company. (2021). The 1619 project : a new origin story (First). One World. and from https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/emancipation-proclamation#abe-lincoln-s-developing-views-on-slavery