1. Explain the struggle for civil rights. Throughout history, the line between individual rights and legal racial discrimination (against African Americans) has remained blurred. In 1868, the Equal Protection Clause was implemented as part of the addition of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The clause guaranteed “equal protection of the laws.” As a result, many Americans pushed for racial equality through political movements. African Americans have consistently struggled to gain full citizenship rights; and, by accepting slavery, the Founders created a structure that did not fully implement the “blessings of liberty” (as stated in the Constitution). Women also faced a similar struggle before the early 1900s.2. Describe the connection between the military and racially diverse soldiers to prove to the South that they had nothing to fear. The Commission realized that the national government did not have the right to implement civil rights legislation and suggested that the legislation be tied to the Commerce Clause of Article I (even though discrimination would not was not related to interstate commerce). Before the war began, the Supreme Court adopted stricter criteria for the “separate but equal” rule. Several discrimination cases resulted in a ruling that the practice of discrimination against African Americans was "state action within the meaning of the Fifteenth Amendment." Eventually, the Supreme Court began considering more cases on appeal, and in 1952 the Court challenged the constitutionality of school segregation. In the infamous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court judge Oliver Brown sent his children to an all-white summer school, contrary to local segregation rules and state law. As expected, Brown was turned away and he took his issue to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Surprisingly, the courts changed the constitutional framework by ruling that states could no longer use race as a discriminatory criterion in law, and the national government was forced to intercede by adopting strict regulatory policies against any acts of discrimination of the private sector share.