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.C.There she met Robert H.tions remained concerning the permanence of theTerrell Harvard University s first African American Emancipation Proclamation, even in those areas ofgraduate.In 1895 Terrell became one of two women, the rebellious Confederacy.Lincoln had issued theand the first black person, appointed to the Washing- Emancipation Proclamation under his authority aston, D.C., school board.Despite her privileged up- commander-in-chief.It was uncertain whether abringing, Terrell could not escape segregation or measure issued under the emergency circum-846 Mary Church Terrell, founder of the National Association of Colored Women.(Library ofCongress) Tiburcio Parrott, In reTiburcio Parrott, In reThe Thirteenth AmendmentY'Tib urcio P arrott, In r eSECTION 1.Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except1880: Federal court decision striking down aas a punishment for crime whereof the party shall haveCalifornia state constitutional provision pro-been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, orhibiting corporations from employing Asians.any place subject to their jurisdiction.SECTION 2.Congress shall have power to enforce this article The discovery of gold in California in 1848by appropriate legislation.brought thousands of people from all over thecountry and from overseas, including many Chi-nese.By 1879, however, the mining bubble hadstances of war would be considered permanent burst and many were left unemployed.A Californiaafter the war ended.constitutional convention convened in September,Lincoln and many Republicans in Congress ad- 1878, to deal with the specific problem of thedressed the issue by proposing an amendment ban- Chinese.When it ended in March, 1879, it hadning slavery or involuntary servitude in the United resolved that corporations and almost all publicStates, except as a punishment for a crime. In this agencies could not hire any Chinese to work, and itway, antislavery would be the law of the land: No set forth that further Chinese immigration to Cali-state or any place subject to United States jurisdic- fornia should be discouraged.tion could create or maintain a slave system, and no The president and director of the Sulphur Bankindividual could be held in slavery.However, conser- Quicksilver Mining Company, Tiburcio Parrott,vatives in the House of Representatives blocked the challenged the decision.When he was arrested forpassage of the amendment until Lincoln who was violating the new section of the California constitu-re-elected to the presidency in 1864 pressed reluc- tion, he sued in a U.S.circuit court.On March 22,tant Democrats and conservative Republicans to re- 1880, the federal court agreed with Parrott that thespect his electoral mandate.He even used his patron- California legislature had violated both the Four-age power to appoint people to government posts in teenth Amendment of the Constitution and theexchange for favorable votes by their congressmen Burlingame Treaty of 1868, an agreement betweenon the amendment.In January, 1865, the House of the governments of China and the United States.ItRepresentatives approved the Thirteenth Amend- declared that prohibiting the employment of Chi-ment, which was then forwarded to the states for nese was unconstitutional.ratification.The states quickly affirmed the new Shakuntala Jayaswalamendment, the first in sixty years, in part out oftribute to Lincoln, who was assassinated in April.Theamendment won final ratification on December 18, To Secure These RightsY'To Secure These Rights1865.1947: Report of President Harry S Truman sThe importance of this amendment is difficultcommittee on civil rights.to overstate.For the first time, the word slavery appeared in the U.S.Constitution, in a passage spe- Prompted by renewed violence against Africancifically banning it from the United States.The pres- Americans during the months following Worldence of this amendment strengthened the hands of War II and by the continuation of segregation andboth President Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lin- other forms of discrimination, President Trumancoln, and Congress in setting terms for Reconstruc- created a Civil Rights Committee on December 5,tion, by which the seceding states were restored to a 1946.Created by Executive Order 9808 and headednormal relationship with the national government.It by Charles E.Wilson, the president of Generalwas easier to require each of these states to draft a Electric, the committee was to investigate federal,new state constitution specifically abolishing slavery state, and local enforcement of the laws and toin accordance with the federal Constitution.Along the recommend ways of improving the protection ofborder, slavery was neatly abolished without resort- civil rights.ing to a program whereby owners of slaves received In his assignment to the fifteen members of thecompensation or in which slavery was phased out committee, Truman referred to the failure of localgradually.law enforcement to protect people from murder, Edward R.Crowther intimidation, and assault.While writing in general848 To Secure These Rightsabout individuals and people, the president was rights statutes.The report also recommended repa-reacting to the continuing problem posed by racial rations for victims of the Japanese American in-violence.Black Americans, even those returning ternment of World War II.from wartime military service in Europe and Asia, Reaction to these proposals was mixed.Whitefaced threats, attacks, and even lynchings.They southerners saw them as an attack on states rights;needed, but did not always receive, protection from northerners, labor leaders, and liberals praised thelocal sheriffs and courts; however, Truman ex- recommendations.Members of the white workingplained, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Consti- class and others who helped make up the Demo-tution authorized the Federal Government.to cratic coalition forged in the 1930 s by Franklin D.act when state or local authorities abridge or fail to Roosevelt were not ready to fight for minorityguarantee equal protection under the laws.Be- rights and did little to support enactment of thecause the government was operating with inade- committee s ideas.quate civil rights statutes, the president argued The Report s Impact Two months later Tru-that stronger, expanded measures were necessary to man followed the report s recommendations bygive the Department of Justice the tools to do the authorizing the Department of Justice to file anjob. amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court inThe Committee s Report After ten meetings Shelley v.Kraemer.The national government wasbetween January and September, 1947, correspon- joining the fight against restrictive housing cove-dence with 250 private organizations and individu- nants.Then, on February 2, 1948, Truman sent aals, and testimony from approximately forty wit- ten-point minimum program on civil rights tonesses, the committee delivered its far-reaching and Congress.Among its ten proposals were a perma-ground-breaking report on October 29, 1947.To nent civil rights commission and committee on fairSecure These Rights urged the nation to strengthen employment practices, a federal law against lynch-six areas: protection of civil rights, the right to ing, and greater protection for voting rights, aspersonal safety and security, citizenship rights, well as settlement of the claims made by Japanesefreedom of conscience and expression, the right to American internees.While the program did not goequal opportunity, and the building of public sup- as far as To Secure These Rights advocated, it none-port for civil rights
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