In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the South. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1865, outlawed slavery in the United States. In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution granted full U.S. citizenship to African Americans. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, extended the right to vote to black males. In the South, these rights were enforced only by the presence of Union troops who resided in the region during Reconstruction. When Union troops withdrew in 1877, white Southerners quickly reversed these advances. Racist groups, such as the Klu Klux Klan, used violence to keep blacks from voting, holding office, and enforcing labor contracts. Whites in the South also established a system of segregation in the southern states. The segregation laws limited blacks" access to public transportation, schools, restaurants, and other public facilities. Although legal systems of segregation were not established in the Northern or Western states informal segregation was enforced in both regions. Blacks responded to these setbacks by forming the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP legally challenged segregation and lobbied state legislatures on the behalf of blacks. African Americans also created an independent community and institutional life. They established schools, banks, newspapers, and small businesses to serve the needs of the Black community. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. This decision led to the dismantling of legal segregation in all areas of southern life, from public restrooms to restaurants and schools. Wound up by leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights movement gained a new momentum in the mid-1950s. Civil rights groups organized nonviolent marches and sit-ins to rally the black community.
