Civil Rights Cases 1883

AuthorDaniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw
Pages563-568

Page 563

Appellants: United States in four cases, Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Robinson in one case

Appellees: Stanley, Ryan, Nichols, Singleton, Memphis & Charleston Railroad

Appellant's Claim: That their right of equal access to various publicly used facilities was violated.

Chief Lawyers for Appellants: U.S. Solicitor General Samuel F. Phillips; William M. Randolph for the Robinsons

Chief Lawyers for Appellees: William Y. C. Humes and David Postern

Justices for the Court: Samuel Blatchford, Joseph P. Bradley, Stephen Johnson Field, Horace Gray, Stanley Matthews, Samuel Freeman Miller, Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, and William B. Woods.

Justices Dissenting: John Marshall Harlan I

Date of Decision: October 15, 1883

Decision: Found in favor of the appellees because the 1875 Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional.

Significance: The Court ruled 8–1 that Congress did not have the constitutional power to enforce civil rights requirements on private individuals or businesses. The decision greatly undermined the laws passed by Congress during the Reconstruction which were designed to grant equal rights to the newly freed African American slaves.

Page 564

"They raise their voices in song and dance in the streets. I wish you could see these people as they step from slavery into freedom. Families, a long time broken up, are reunited and oh! such happiness. I am glad I am here." An unknown Union officer wrote these words to his wife in 1865 at the conclusion of the American Civil War (1861–65) as slaves throughout the South took their first cautious steps as freed people. Yet, the celebration would be short-lived. The joy of freedom gave way to a struggle for black American's civil rights (personal rights belonging to an individual as a resident of a particular country).

The civil right's struggle of black Americans included not only such sweeping issues as voting rights but also seemingly simple everyday activities like freely choosing what inn or hotel to stay at, admission to a theater, or where to sit in a railroad car. Even early Supreme Court rulings, rather than furthering the civil rights of the former slaves, would actually delay the freedom process for at least four decades following the Civil War.

An Uncertain Freedom

The economic effects of the Civil War on the South were devastating with small farms as well as plantations destroyed. African Americans, although finally freed, were uneducated, poor, and still largely remained at the mercy of the white population.

The United States government began to rebuild the South with a process known as Reconstruction lasting from 1865 to 1877. The South was put under military occupation which provided a temporary measure of protection for the ex-slaves. Realizing the former slaves' liberty was insecure, Congress approved and the states ratified (approved) three amendments between 1865 and 1870, known as the Civil Rights or Reconstruction Amendments. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments together were meant to guarantee blacks...

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