Racial equality in America was advanced by enactment of the 14th and 15th constitutional amendments during Andrew Johnson's 1865-69 presidency, according to Dr. Michael Kent Curtis, one of the speakers at a day-long symposium Thursday at Tusculum College.

Curtis, one of four featured speakers, discussed the U.S. Constitution's 14th and 15th amendments, "Their Effect Then and Now."

The attorney, professor and constitutional scholar concluded, "The only reason we have national protection for equality, the only reason we have a lot of these other things we've all thought of as belonging to the American citizens, is because of what happened after the Civil War, and primarily the 14th and the 15th amendments."

However, Curtis noted, although Johnson essentially was opposed to the two amendments, both were enacted during his presidency in the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction.

The 14th Amendment made all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including African-Americans, citizens of the United States.

The 15th Amendment granted the right to vote to African-American men.

Curtis presented several pre-Civil War constitutional decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that restricted freedoms much more than is the situation today.

Barron v. Baltimore, of 1833, stated that the rights in the Bill of Rights do not limit state or local governments. They only restrain federal action, he said.

Prigg v. Pennsylvania, of 1842, stated that slave owners have a constitutional right to reclaim their "slaves" in the North without any judicial process to see if the black person seized is really a slave, he said.

Also Congress made it a crime for a private person to help a fugitive slave escape, he said.

Dred Scott v. Sandford, of 1857, stated that black people in the U.S., whether free or slave, can never be citizens of the United States.

Constitutional protections (rights, liberties, privileges and immunities) belong only to U.S. citizens. Black people have no constitutional rights, and as a matter of federal constitutional law have "no rights a white person is bound to respect," he said.

Curtis showed a poster dated Feb. 27, 1837, titled "OUTRAGE."

The poster was addressed to "Fellow Citizens" and said "An Abolitionist of the most revolting character is among you, exciting the feelings of the North against the South. A seditious lecture is to be delivered this evening, at 7 o'clock at the Presbyterian Church in Cannon-street. You are requested to attend and unite in putting down and silencing by peaceable means this tool of evil and fanaticism. Let the rights of the States guaranteed by the Constitution be protected."

Curtis told of several attacks on the freedom of speech, including a mob attack on Elijah Lovejoy's press in 1837.

The attack came after Lovejoy stated that Missouri should abolish slavery.

An arsonist attempted to burn the building that housed Lovejoy's press. Lovejoy attempted to shoot the arsonist, but the mob killed Lovejoy instead, he said.

Curtis also spoke about a book by Hinton Helper, "The Impending Crisis of the South," which became a Republican campaign document, he said.

In North Carolina, Daniel Worth, a Wesleyan minister, distributed copies of Helper's book and was arrested and charged with distributing a book that would tend to cause slaves to be discontented.

Curtis noted that almost half of the Republicans in the House of Representatives were endorsers of Helper's book.

By 1905, Curtis said, there was disfranchisement in the South that caused great declines in the number of registered voters.

In Louisiana, he said, the number of black citizens registered to vote decreased from 130,334 to 1,342.

In Virginia, the decline was from 147,000 to 10,500.

In Alabama's black belt counties, he said, black registration dropped from 79,311 in 1900 to 1,081 in 1901.

Curtis compared Andrew Johnson to President Lyndon B. Johnson, noting that they both were Southerners who became president as a result of assassination.

Both served during times of reconstruction after divided government, he said.

Curtis said some states continue to have requirements that limit certain groups from being able to vote.

For example, he said, South Carolina's voter identification program requires citizens to provide copies of their birth certificates to register to vote.

This requirement can make it more difficult for the poor to vote because there is a fee for obtaining a copy of a birth certificate, he said.

Curtis is the Judge Donald L. Smith Professor in Constitutional and Public Law at Wake Forest University School of Law. He teaches constitutional law, American legal history, freedom of speech and press, and election law.