Civil Rights & Racism, 1865-1896: Emancipation to Separate but Equal - Santa Fe Trail Center Present

Dr. Leo Oliva will explore how slavery and racism were enshrined in the Constitution. The Civil War was fought over slavery, and the Civil War amendments to the Constitution brought emancipation and some civil rights for African-Americans. Reconstruction in the South enforced those achievements with federal administration in the former Confederate States. The reaction was the rise of new forms of racism, including the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow laws. Legal racism was restored by the Supreme Court in 1896 with the “separate but equal” doctrine that reinforced segregation until 1954 Brown v Topeka Board of Education launched a new road to legal equality. The era 1865-1896 is critical to understanding the racism that continues in the U.S. today.

This program is free and open to the public.