Journal #30

Civil rights is a very important subject for people to learn about. To understand how our society works today we have to look back and study how America evolved from a nation with no equal rights at all, to one with almost every person equal. Before 1928, women were not equal to men, and it took even longer than that to have African Americans equal to everyone else. Now everyone is equal according to race and gender. Right now, our society is focusing on gay rights, gay marriage specifically. Once this issue is settled and gay people can get married, America as a whole will be equal. Looking back to history to see where the civil rights movement started, Abraham Lincoln is a figure who stands out. Lincoln started the war that would eventually end slavery. If he had not been shot, and was able to oversee  the Reconstruction of the South, African American's might have had equal rights earlier than they did. Johnson did not handle Reconstruction as well as Lincoln would have. He treated everyone harsh, instead of treating everyone peacefully and the same like Lincoln had planned on doing. Racial civil rights are important, but they are not the only civil rights that have been addressed in America in the past. Women's rights were a big deal in the early 1900s. Before then women were not treated even close to equal to men. After the addition of the amendment for women's rights, genders were considered equal in the eyes of the law. Even with the law saying women were equal to men, it was not actually the case. Women were still looked down upon and not given equal opportunities. This is still slightly true to this day. It is not nearly as bad as it used to be, but there are still instances in today's society were women and men are not equal; most of the times this occurs in the workplace.