San Antonio Injustice

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Evolution of Injustice: San Antonio Traction Company
The Civil Rights movement was a proponent for equal rights and ushered in a time of rallying against discrimination and advocating for equality for African Americans in the United States. Evidently there is proof of the injustices African Americans faced before the movement proposed a time of integration. In fact, the John Kight Collection of rule books regarding the San Antonio Traction Company represents the beliefs and practices of San Antonio’s community over several decades. By analyzing the rule books, one can see the evolution of the social injustices African Americans endured through Jim Crow laws in San Antonio. In the collection, there are five rule books that dictate the actions
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Ferguson (History - Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment), in order for black communities to survive against segregation, organizations and institutions were created that united African Americans morally, spiritually, and politically (Storey, John W., and Mary L. Scheer 86).The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or the NAACP, is a nationwide civil rights organization that began advocating for equal rights for African Americans in Texas in 1915 (Storey, John W., and Mary L. Scheer 88). This group became a powerful coalition against segregation and discrimination across the nation. The NAACP mainly secured gains through litigation and challenging laws that instigated discrimination. Although many of the organization’s gains were through litigation, those gains would never have been carried out if there had been no support to push for political action. African Americans had no voice in politics throughout Texas due to poll taxes and the white primary that controlled Texas politics after Reconstruction (White Primary). With the political and social power of the NAACP, the Texas white primary finally ended in 1942 in the case decision of Smith v. Allwright(90). African American Texans were finally allowed a voice in politics which gave them more opportunities to improve their situation. The NAACP was a vessel towards equality that required social and political support to inflict change in Texas. Although the NAACP aided towards integration efforts, “The [civil rights] leadership in Texas was local—students, black community leaders, and white business leaders guided events…By the time the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed Congress, public facilities in most Texas cities already had been peacefully desegregated” (96). Therefore, a judicial influence was not essential in causing integration in Texas and supports the idea that social and political change caused the