This paper surveys one hundred years of American political and social history, from 1868 to 1968, with particular attention to the civil rights struggles of Black Americans and the gradual advancement of women's rights. Beginning with the turbulent Reconstruction era under President Andrew Johnson, the paper traces landmark legislative milestones — including the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act — alongside persistent obstacles such as employment discrimination and voter suppression. The paper also situates these domestic struggles within broader mid-twentieth-century transformations, including urbanization, the postwar rise of American global power, and the Civil Rights Movement's pivotal campaigns, from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr.
Life in the United States in 1868 was markedly different from what it would be a century later. Racial discrimination, though not as overtly institutionalized as it had been immediately after the abolition of slavery, still imposed severe burdens on Black Americans. Economic advancement for Black communities would not accelerate meaningfully until the introduction of affirmative action — well after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During this hundred-year period, numerous political, economic, and social changes were witnessed, yet civil rights for Black Americans remained a perpetually contentious issue. The status of women, however, improved significantly over this span, as they became a major part of the American workforce and ultimately gained suffrage rights.
Black men and women in 1868 continued to suffer under the weak, pro-slavery administration of President Andrew Johnson, and the tensions between Democrats and Republicans made life increasingly miserable for Black Americans. Civil rights were granted by Congress, but they were not embraced by every segment of society — especially Southerners, who continued to oppress Black people in every manner possible. Conditions in the South remained more or less the same, if not worse than before.
After the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, slavery finally came to an end, and Reconstruction measures were undertaken by Congress to provide Black Americans with greater financial and social security. However, not everyone approved of these measures, giving rise to extreme racial tension in which one segment of white society staunchly opposed expanded rights for Black Americans. The right to vote was not freely granted; even in states that permitted Black voters, their suffrage was not formally sanctioned by Congress.
In 1866, two additional bills were passed to ensure the security of Black Americans in freedom. The first was the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which empowered government agencies to extend better medical and educational facilities to freed Black people. The second was the Civil Rights Bill, which ensured the complete freedom of Black Americans by granting them the status of full citizens. Both measures were opposed by Johnson's supporters, and the President attempted to veto them — unsuccessfully. Later that year, the 14th Amendment was drafted to provide Black Americans with complete rights as citizens, but ratification took another two years, and even afterward, Black Americans were not granted the right to vote.
Frederick Douglass and his Republican supporters launched a movement for suffrage rights, which created tensions between him and women's suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These women distanced themselves from the Black suffrage movement, feeling that Douglass was not supporting women's own quest for equal rights. Though vague suffrage rights were eventually extended to Black men, it was not until the 1960s that their vote was fully recognized and sanctioned by all branches of government and all sectors of society.
Women's suffragists won their battle much later, in 1920, while Black men gained suffrage — at least in theory — with the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870. Even that amendment, however, could not guarantee full voting rights in practice; those rights came only with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the subsequent Voting Rights Act.
Military service was one arena where racial discrimination was especially pronounced. Black men were permitted to enlist, but at significantly lower wages. One law authorized a governor "to receive into the military service of the State all male free persons of color, between the age of 15 and 50, who would receive $8 per month, clothing and rations" (Wilson, 1890). Wages for Black soldiers increased to $10 a month a few years later, but discrimination persisted. As Johnson (2000) wrote, "Even though African Americans joined the Union Army, they continued to experience subtle and blatant discrimination. Men in these regiments received 10 dollars a month and no clothing allowance. In addition, African American soldiers could not serve as officers. In practice, the African American regiments often received inferior arms and ammunition."
The 1960s were the most turbulent decade for Black Americans where civil rights were concerned. The issues of voting rights and discrimination resurfaced with renewed urgency. Race relations had always been fraught, but in the preceding decades the country had been preoccupied with two world wars and the Great Depression, leaving little political bandwidth for civil rights reform. During and immediately after the war years, the status of women began shifting as more women entered the workforce and the political arena, propelled by a women's movement that had gained momentum in the 1940s.
In the 1950s, the rise of capitalism spurred rapid development across many sectors. Agricultural economies declined in much of the world, accelerating urbanization and the emergence of an urban middle class. This era also saw Japan arise as a major industrial power, while the United States consolidated its position as the world's preeminent force following the Allied victory in World War II. Domestically, the 1960s brought the hippie counterculture, which profoundly altered the social values of American society in ways that were not felt to the same degree elsewhere in the world.
The Civil Rights Movement was the most consequential factor driving political and social change in the United States between 1868 and 1968. It began in 1955 when the Black community in Alabama decided they would no longer ride city buses unless they were permitted to sit anywhere they chose. In the South, Black passengers were required to sit at the back, with front seats reserved for white riders — a law that caused profound humiliation to many Black people, including a professor named Jo Ann Robinson. A related incident in Montgomery soon led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, marking the true beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, which would go on to make monumental advances during the 1960s under the leadership of figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
In its early stages, however, Black activists found little mainstream support, which made it difficult to confront the injustices perpetrated by white-dominated institutions. The bus boycott nonetheless played a significant role in the broader movement. As Roberta Wright wrote, "It helped to launch a 10-year national struggle for freedom and justice, the Civil Rights Movement, that stimulated others to do the same at home and abroad" (Wright, 1991, pp. 52–53).
It was a striking failure of American democracy that even a century after the official abolition of slavery, Black people were still effectively denied the right to vote. Southern politicians worked systematically to keep Black voters out of the electoral process as a means of maintaining white dominance. A 1957 law prohibited interference with voter registration, but it — along with similar legislation — proved largely ineffective. When new job opportunities emerged in the 1950s and employment rates rose dramatically, Black communities were again confronted with the reality that they were not being treated as equals. The conclusion became unavoidable: previous civil rights policies had failed to deliver equal opportunity. This growing pressure forced the Kennedy administration to introduce a civil rights bill in 1963, paving the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — a landmark victory that finally delivered most of the civil rights Black Americans had long demanded.
The issue of voting rights, however, remained unresolved within the Civil Rights Act of 1964 itself. President Lyndon Johnson recognized this gap and addressed it with the Voting Rights Act. The achievements of the broader civil rights movement ultimately included equal access to education, the right to vote, fair employment opportunities, and stronger legal protections against racial discrimination in public and private institutions.
"Job discrimination in construction and other sectors"
Life in 1968 was thus far better for Black Americans and women than it had been a century earlier. Women had already become legal voters in 1920, while Black Americans gained that right fairly for the first time in the 1960s under President Lyndon Johnson. Though no one could now legally interfere with their rights in the way that had been routine in the 1860s, discrimination in employment persisted stubbornly. The legal architecture of equality had been built, but its full realization remained a work in progress — one that would require further policy intervention, including affirmative action, to begin closing the deep economic gaps that a century of discrimination had created.
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