whether it be economically, socially, or politically. America was destined for another, more far-reaching civil rights movement. The civil rights movement during the late 1800's and early 1900's provided the foundations for the current civil rights laws achieved throughout the 1960's.
             Black Americans made significant gains in their struggle for equal rights during Reconstruction, the 12-year period after the Civil War. In 1868, after southern president Andrew Johnson vetoed a Civil Rights bill, the radically republican influenced congress transported the principals of the Civil Rights bill to the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment conferred civil rights and citizenship for all former slaves, and was incorporated into the requirements for a southern state to regain its statehood. After the 14th Amendment was passed; however, the radical faction of congress was disappointed that it did not grant blacks the right to vote. When this fear that southern states might amend their constitutions so as to withdraw blacks from the ballot was recognized by moderate republicans, Congress formally placed the ballot in the hands of blacks with the 15th Amendment, passed in 1869. With the passing of breakthrough legislation, several leaders emerged to lead this new civil rights movement. Ex-slave Booker T. Washington put his newly acquired freedom to use when he started a black industrial school at Tuskegee, Alabama. He taught his students useful trades so they could eventually gain economic equality. However, Washington stopped short of promoting social equality. In a famous speech in Atlanta, Washington hinted to his belief in gradualism: "In all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." W.E.B Du Bois, founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was just the opposite of Washington. Du Bois demanded comple...