The ratification of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments prompted the beginning of a new era for Negro men and women. The intent of the constitutional additions were to create an environment in which the black man could live in equality with the white man. This was not the case. While the amendments provided a starting point for political equality, the social inequality was raised to a more distant level. Further, state legislation served as …showed first 75 words of 695 total…

…showed last 75 words of 695 total…promoted equality the ignorance of whites increased.         Emancipation led to a situation of enormous racial clash. The only solution to what seemed to be a impossible problem would come in the perseverance of those who deemed equality as crucial. The results of their work can be seen in the difference between racism now and racism in the late 1800's and early 1900's.          1 Frederick Douglass, 1865. Speech to the American Anti-Slavery Society. 2 John Hope, 1896. 3 John Marshall Harlan