Hey, y’all! My name is Billy, and I am going to tell you about my life and this big law called the 14th amendment.

I was born the son of a slave 15 years before the civil war. I grew up working on the farm with my mom.

I had a really hard life living as a slave, I didn't learn how to read or write, and was unable to live a as you do.

When the civil war started in 1861, my mom and I ran away to freedom up north.

We had to go north and hide in New York, so we could be safe. We couldn't leave the house we stayed at during the war, and at sometimes had to hide from the police.

Finally, in 1865, the civil war ended and the North won, abolishing slavery. 

After the war, the slaves were all freed and my mom and I got to move back down to our hometown.

However, shortly after the war, the white people in the south started making mean laws that discriminated against African American people.