Final answer:
African Americans continued to face systemic discrimination in employment, voting, housing, and education during this time period, despite constitutional amendments and civil rights legislation aimed at achieving racial equality.
Step-by-step explanation:
The time period under question saw African Americans face significant challenges despite constitutional amendments aimed at ensuring their civil rights. After the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were passed to free slaves, define citizenship, ensure equal protection, and grant black men the right to vote. However, Jim Crow laws and widespread discrimination meant that these provisions were often not realized in practice.
Employment discrimination persisted during this time as African Americans moved to northern cities for job opportunities, only to face de facto segregation and competition from white workers. The right to vote was severely curtailed by disenfranchisement tactics, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, particularly in the South where Jim Crow laws were prominent. Housing segregation also continued as a result of discriminatory practices like redlining and racial covenants, with African Americans often being forced into overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions.
School segregation, while legally ended in the South after Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, continued de facto in the North and to a lesser extent in the South. While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 sought to address these issues, African Americans still encountered systemic inequalities and discrimination in many facets of everyday life during this period.