Compromise Of 1877 Dbq

Throughout history, blacks and whites have had an unfair advantage when it came to wealth and equality. The era in which black people had the biggest disadvantage to whites has to be during the era after the reconstruction, where the tensions were high to the point where crimes were committed in attempts to achieve equality. To begin with, the Jim Crow Laws affected the equality of blacks and whites by separating them from each other. Next, the Southern Black Codes played a huge role in creating a huge disadvantage for the Africans. Last of all, The Compromise of 1877 was an act that changed the equality between blacks and whites individuals. This era following the reconstruction, starting in 1865 was filled with numerous laws, policies, and

acts that played in effect to put the colored man behind the uncolored man both financially and mentally.
Social equality has always been a huge issue amongst humans, since many people view others different based on their skin tone.

America has had a long history of crimes that occur in order to achieve this equality as expressed in this line “in general we have seen theft, injustice, lynchings, riot and murder based on “accusations” or attempts at “social equality” (Dubois). As Dubois has stated, the crimes that have been committed in attempt to create social equality, have only caused more problems by harming others. This expresses how socially unequal the colored people have it, since it creates a motive to do something in order to have their voices and opinions heard. Similar to the recent freeway protest in Sacramento, which was an attempt to create a social equality to prevent police brutality. Compared to the acts, laws, and policies that are going to be discussed later, this event specifically shows how African Americans are still striving for social equality in present day America. For example, in this text a member of the protests states “"This is an epic day for black Sacramento," Brrazey Liberty, a musician and Black Lives Matter activist told The Sacramento Bee. "We feel like we had a victory today. Today was ours." (Wamsley NPR). Based on this statement regarding the protest, It is clear that there are still goals set in place to create social equality, which means that there is still social inequality that exists

today.
A major law that was enacted to reduce the social equality has to be the Jim Crow Laws which created an huge racial apartheid.

Some may believe that even though they are separated, they received fair and equal treatment which was not true as expressed in this line “In legal theory, blacks received "separate but equal" treatment under the law — in actuality, public facilities for blacks were nearly always inferior to those for whites, when they existed at all. In addition, blacks were systematically denied the right to vote in most of the rural South through the selective application of literacy tests and other racially motivated criteria (Freedom Riders PBS). As expressed in the quote, the black population were both separated and treated unequally as they were seen as inferior to the whites. This creates an unfair advantage when it comes to getting jobs and going to school. Imagine being segregated from all of the white kids in school, being forced to be in separate classrooms and sitting in the back of the room. Perhaps, being in a separate class with just colored people could result in having a less experienced teacher, or affect the education you receive since colored people are prioritized lower than white people. Another example could be how, blacks are forced to only use black facilities such as bathrooms "The very fact that there were separate facilities was to say to black people and white people that blacks were so subhuman and so inferior that we could not even

use the public facilities that white people used." (Freedom Riders). It's interesting how white people are allowed to be present or sit in the blacks region, but blacks were not allowed be present or sit in white only areas. This makes the blacks feel inferior and socially unequal to whites, as they can’t sit or be in the white area. The white area is more than oftenly more premium than the black area, just like how the black area of a bus is in the back rather the front. This ties with the unfair treatment that blacks have to receive since they are not white.
Another law that was passed in this post-reconstruction era that weakened the black individual and created unequal treatment for them was the Southern Black Codes. The Black Codes wasn’t a source of complete freedom to the freed blacks, but rather limited them as stated in this line "The very fact that there were separate facilities was to say to black people and white people that blacks were so subhuman and so inferior that we could not even use the public facilities that white people used." (Constitutional Rights Foundation). Preventing someone from being able to access a public facility just because of their skin color is pretty cruel and unequal when it comes to treatment. The aspect of not being able to access a school, just because you don’t fit in with the people who are different from you is pure tyranny and goes against being socially equal. In order for someone to considered as a “colored” individual that would have to follow the black code they must meet this requirement “Black Code applied only to “persons of color,” defined as including anyone with more than one-eighth Negro blood. Its major features included the following:” (Constitutional Rights Foundation). This qualifies anyone with any African blood to be considered colored and cause them to receive unequal treatment, even if they had a both black and white parents. Since they would have to follow the Southern Black Codes, even if they were free.
Last of all, The Compromise of 1877 which played a role in affected the equality between black and white people. This act caused the federal troops to be withdrawn out of the southern states as expressed in this line from the text “with the Compromise of 1877, the Republican Party abandoned the last remnant of its support for equal rights for African Americans in the South. With the withdrawal of federal troops went any hope of reconstructing the South as a racially-egalitarian society after the end of slavery” (Khan Academy). With the removal of the federal troops that were fighting the confederates out of the southern states, there would be no one to support the equality that the Africans were seeking in the Southern States. In a way, the blacks had to work together in order to rid of the unfair treatment in the south. Now that the South was in the process of reconstructing following the war, colored people had an opportunity to possibly create a racially equal society in the south. However they lacked enough support and ambition to actually achieve more equality than what existed for colored people during this time period following the reconstruction. This act also caused the loss of Republican party active support regarding civil rights for Africans, which is supported by this quote “ but the Compromise of 1877 marked the effective end of the Republican Party’s active support of civil rights for black Americans. Southern states rapidly passed laws disenfranchising African Americans and implementing racial segregation.” (Khan Academy). It's unfortunate that blacks have had a rough history regarding finding support to help them proceed to achieve fair equal civil rights. However the loss of Republican Party support made things worse now that a national political party lost their support for the colored people. Alongside losing support from the Republicans, the southern states began passing laws to separate and segregate black people. All of this adds to create more unfair and unequal treatment of black people compared to white people.
In summary, throughout history blacks have always received an unfair and unequal treatment compared to white people. Following the reconstruction, it is clear that Blacks remain to still receive unequal treatment. This is a problem that has always existed regarding equal treatment of everyone regardless of race and skin color. Starting off with the era following the reconstruction, Jim Crow Laws set the stage to create a completely unequal treatment for African Americans that made them segregated and seperated from whites. Another factor that furthered the equality between blacks and whites has to be the Southern Black Codes that enacted several laws that anyone of African descent had to follow, consequently white people did not have to follow this. Last of all, The Compromise of 1877 forced the federal troops out of the confederate states, and rid of the Republican party support for achieving African Civil Rights. Altogether, African Americans have always had an unfair disadvantage when it came to social equality and wealth due to the numerous policies and laws that were enacted to weaken the black individual.