Which amendments did Black Southerners leverage in their early 20th-century civil rights struggles?

• A. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
• B. The First and Second Amendments.
• C. The Thirteenth and Seventeenth Amendments.
• D. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

Answer: (A)

Black Southerners in the early 20th century pressed for civil rights by invoking the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Fourteenth Amendment defines citizenship and requires equal protection of the laws, giving Black Americans a constitutional basis to challenge state-backed segregation and discriminatory practices in courts and public policy. It also guarantees due process, arguing that states cannot strip people of rights without fair procedures. The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits denying the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, providing a constitutional shield against disenfranchisement through devices like literacy tests, poll taxes, and intimidation. Together, these amendments supplied a foundational framework for legal challenges and organizing aimed at dismantling Jim Crow, especially as reform-minded groups and later civil rights litigation sought federal enforcement and broader protections.

Other amendments focus on different liberties—free speech or assembly, gun rights, abolition of slavery, direct election of senators, or rights retained by the people or states—not as directly connected to the ongoing efforts to challenge segregation and voting discrimination in this period.