would see their transportation evolve from walking and horse power to steam-powered locomotives, to electric trolley cars, to gasoline-powered automobiles. Born into a society in which the vast majority of people were involved in agriculture, they experienced an industrial revolution that radically changed the ways millions of people worked and where they lived. They would experience the migration of millions of people from rural America to the nation's rapidly growing cities.
             The Plessy decision set the precedent that "separate" facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were "equal." The "separate but equal" doctrine was quickly extended to cover many areas of public life, such as restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools. Not until 1954, in the equally important Brown v. Board of Education decision, would the "separate but equal" doctrine be struck down.
             The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments are called the Reconstruction Amendments. The 13th ended slavery, the 14th gave citizenship to the slaves and the 15th gave them the right to vote.
             President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring an end to slavery in 1863. Knowing an amendment to the constitution was needed, Lincoln put it before Congress near the end of the Civil War. The House approved the proposed 13th Amendment in 1864 and the Senate in 1865. Lincoln submitted the amendment to the state legislatures, which ratified it in December 1865.
             In 1868, the right of citizenship was granted to former slaves, over the indignation of most southern states. The 14th amendment grants equal protection under the law for all citizens.
             Although the 15th amendment ratified in 1870 gave blacks the right to vote, laws were enacted during Reconstruction that barred them. These measures - including literacy tests and poll taxes (and intimidation by the Ku Klux Klan and others) - kept blacks away from the polls until 1965, when the Votin...