RACE - The Power of an Illusion . Go Deeper

Explore In Search of Equality

Nonwhites have never passively accepted an inferior status. They fought for inclusion, fair treatment and equal rights, and in doing so, made America better for everyone.

1765	African Americans lobby for freedom	During the American Revolution, free and enslaved Africans are aware of the moral contradiction between slavery and the natural rights of man. Like their fellow patriots, African Americans are inspired to press for their own equality. In Charleston, South Carolina, they march through the streets carrying signs reading "Liberty, Liberty." One Massachusetts slave petition reads: "Every principle from which America has acted in the course of her unhappy difficulties with Great Britain pleads stronger than a thousand arguments in favor of your petitioners." Although their emancipation is not gained for another century, their cries are not unnoticed. In a letter to her husband, future president John Adams, Abigail Adams writes: "How is it we are denying people that which we are fighting for ourselves?"
1854	Frederick Douglass challenges race scientists	As race science is embraced by public intellectuals, ex-slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass takes to the podium to challenge the "objectivity" of America's most prominent "race" scientists: "It is the province of prejudice to blind; and scientific writers, not less than others, write to please, as well as instruct, and even unconsciously to themselves sacrifice what is true to what is popular." A brilliant intellectual, Douglass garners admiration from even elite whites. In his 1895 obituary, however, the New York Times credits the "white blood" in him for his success and ponders "whether the fact that he had any black blood at all may not have cost the world a genius."
1868	14th amendment guarantees equal rights	Passage of the Fourteenth Amendment is a landmark event, not only for African Americans but for all Americans. Conceived during Reconstruction, the amendment extends citizenship to African Americans and attempts to heal the wounds of the Civil War by emphasizing national unity over sectional divisions. The amendment defines citizenship for the first time, guarantees all citizens equal protection and due process under the law, and most importantly, grants citizens privileges and immunities that cannot be abridged. Although the amendment's strength is tested by discriminatory laws and policies throughout the 20thcentury, the equal protection clause nevertheless forms the cornerstone of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and provides the legal basis for all civil rights and anti-discrimination efforts to this day.
1898	Birthright citizenship established	Most people take for granted that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen. However, that hasn't always been the case, especially for groups barred from naturalizing. The 1898 Supreme Court case of Wong Kim Ark v. United States first establishes the precedent of birthright citizenship when the court rules that, under the 14th Amendment guarantee, a Chinese man born in America to immigrant parents is a citizen even though his parents are ineligible for citizenship. Throughout the 19th and 20thcentury, Asians, like other minority groups, fight consistently for inclusion. The Chinese alone bring 170 cases to the U.S. Supreme Court, most under the 14th Amendment.
1903	Japanese and Mexican farm workers strike	In 1903, Japanese and Mexican farm workers organize the first multi-ethnic agricultural union to demand fair wages and labor rights in the sugar-beet industry in Ventura, CA. The union leads 1200 workers - 90 percent of the labor force - on strike and scores the first victory against big agribusiness in the west. Their success attracts the attention of the American labor movement concentrated in the industrial east. However, when the Mexican secretary of the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association applies for a charter from the American Federation of Labor, it is granted only on condition that the Japanese are excluded. The JMLA refuses to bend, but without the support of other organized labor, the union folds within a few years.
1905	African Americans demand equal rights	Founded under the leadership of W.E.B. DuBois, the Niagara Movement marks an important turning point in the African American struggle for equality. The group sets an aggressive agenda demanding equal rights and an end to racial discrimination: "We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn American, political, civil and social; and until we get these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America. The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone but for all true Americans." The Niagara group gives rise to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, whose legal efforts culminate in the watershed Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, marking the beginning of the end of Jim Crow and legal segregation.
1954	Legal segregation ends	In the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, civil rights advocates led by Martin Luther King, Jr. organize a yearlong boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the state's resistance to school integration. What begins as a struggle over schools spreads to public transportation, voting, and all areas of social life. Despite the violent opposition of some white groups, especially in the Deep South, integration and the freedom struggle continue during the 1950s and 1960s through the work of whites and nonwhites alike. Students, church groups, workers, and volunteers participate in massive non-violent protest, civil disobedience, and public education campaigns. Their efforts culminate in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
1967	Laws against mixed marriage declared invalid	In the 19th century, 38 states have anti-miscegenation laws prohibiting marriage between whites and nonwhites. By 1924, 29 states, including Virginia, still ban interracial marriages. Anti-miscegenation statutes are not outlawed until 1967, when a Virginia couple is tried and convicted, and files a suit challenging the law. Although the state Supreme Court of Appeals upholds their conviction, the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously against it, declaring that a person's individual right to marry cannot be restricted by race. The Loving decision finally reverses the racist policies set forth in the 1924 Racial Purity Act and invalidates the anti-miscegenation laws remaining in 16 other states.
1974	Lau v. Nichols guarantees bilingual education	A class action suit by 1800 Chinese families whose children speak limited English leads to a unanimous Supreme Court decision with far-reaching consequences. The court mandates that school districts must provide students with special instruction to ensure "equal access" to the curriculum. Significantly, the court distinguishes between treating students "the same" and supplying them with the tools needed to put them on a par with other students. Although the case specifically deals with language ability and public education, it opens up a new era in federal enforcement of equal opportunity laws.
1985	Minorities lead nationwide union campaign	The struggling Service Employees International Union begins a campaign to attract and organize low-wage workers, predominantly Black and immigrant janitors. Their efforts culminate in the nationwide Justice for Janitors Campaign 2000, headed by minority leaders on the local level. A hundred thousand janitors in 16 cities pledge to fight for a living wage, full-time work, and ongoing health coverage. First to strike are hundreds of Latino and Latina janitors in Los Angeles, who win widespread public support and a dramatic victory after three weeks. Similar protests and strikes follow in New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Seattle, and other major cities - raising awareness of the "invisible" labor forces dominated by minorities and reinvigorating and diversifying organized labor.