Talking about Freedom

Knowing that the court had made a terrible mistake, Judge Harlin wrote his dissent. By writing this dissent Judge Harlin wanted to make it very clear that he did not agree with the decision that the court had come up with. He used the fourteenth amendment to say "there shall be no discrimination against them by law due to the color of their skin." "Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." Without a doubt in my mind do I believe that Harlin was ridiculed for this. In the time 1896, racial segregation was thriving. Now that the idea of separate but equal was legal in the eyes of the court, something had to be done. Limiting one race to lower means of survival was something that did not sit right with Harlin and a feeling he wanted to change.

i In the video Klansville USA,  the origins, the rise, and the fall of the KKK, and how it came to exist in North Carolina are explored through the events of this time period. Having been dormant for decades, the Ku Klux Klan reemerged in the U.S. after the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision, gaining momentum in the U.S. as the Civil Rights Movement grew. Bob Jones became NC's first Grand Dragon and launched a huge recruitment campaign. George Dorset became minister for the NC Klan. Jones and George combined were unstoppable at first. One thing about this video that I found very intriguing was that poor white people found themselves in a weird situation; black people were progressing and poor whites were not being paid any attention to; they were looked down upon by wealthy whites.

           In 1964, social organizations like Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) headed down to Mississippi to increase voter registration. They were met head on by violence and racial segregation. With murder, arson, false arrest and gruesome beatings running the state of Mississippi, the task at hand would not be an easy one to accomplish.      The many white students that came down to help register the black voters had no easy trip either. They were ridiculed beyond measure and faced a lot of the same sinister acts as the black population had. In fact, the day after voting began in June, one black and two white voters had gone missing. Their bodies were later found severely beaten and mutilated.  With all of this occurring, the question began to arise if anything would help achieve the goal of integration.       "The Mississippi project did estab...

The issue at hand here is whether or not the 14th amendment was violated. Below I have arguments from each side of the case. Brown: Separating the races is a direct violation of the equal protection law under the 14th amendment. The claim made was that whites were heavily favored by separating the schools. African Americans were sort of left behind which showed in the self esteem and potential future of the students because it was lower than that of the white students. The schools for the whites were far more advanced than the African American schools. Schools for African Americans were not funded nearly as much as the white schools were. African American schools lacked important facilities such as libraries, gyms and even a functional cafeteria. From a religious standpoint, segregation is wrong because we are made in the image of God. If we are all one in God, then no separation should ever by implemented. Precedents: McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Board: Segregation has been i...

When talking about Dread Scott, our team was split into two groups. Going back and forth between Taney and Curtis, our group discussed the highs and lows of this case. From Taney's perspective, our group said " that in the eyes of the public and their opinion toward the subject matter of African Americans having rights under the constitution is that they are an inferior race and that they should not receive the same social and political rights as the white man". Taney was clearly against the whole blending of races and was a strong believer in segregation. Curtis then said, " Curtis states that Congress shall have the power to make all needed rules and regulations respecting slavery in the territories. He says that when the Constitution was formed, it was recognized that slavery was a subject of 'municipal legislation'." When I first read this I could not clearly devise which side Curtis was on. With both of these men saying these things, it was clear...

When you think of the Supreme Court, most times you are going to think seriousness or straight "by the book" principles. I liked learning about the function and construction of our Supreme Court because it revealed to me that they are humans just like us. They're like the doctors of the law field in the sense that they keep us together as a nation and make sure we all are given the rights we rightfully deserve. The job is very crucial to our nation so we need all judges to be on the same page and as this video displayed, they are good friends without attention to political affiliation.  The 2 part video showed how the court goes into looking through cases and the process can take a long time to complete.