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The United States was divided in two as a war, known as the civil war, erupted between the North and the South (the Union vs the Confederates). A major issue that instigated the war was the issue on slavery and the expansion of it to more states. An act known as the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was made to give rights to slaves that were freed during the civil war and to ultimately help abolish slavery all together after the end of the war. There were many who opposed the granting of rights to blacks and thus paving the way for the creation of what were known as Jim Crow Laws. These laws were put in place to separate blacks from whites and to strip blacks from their rights. The Jim Crow laws are examples of how the American mind set was to effectively separate the two races as an effort to suppress African Americans from gaining complete freedom and equality and, ultimately, portrayed blacks as the inferior race. Many aspects of African American lives were hindered by the segregation that the Jim Crow laws caused such as in education. The Jim Crow Laws caused separated room to be made for whites and blacks. One of the Jim Crow Laws reads, “…pupils of African descent… may not be admitted to the school rooms occupied and used by pupils of Caucasian …show more content…
or other descent” (New Mexico). African American students are being segregated and being denied the same education as whites. The funding that would go in to the schooling of blacks would be different than the funding that would go in to the schooling of whites. The black students would receive a lesser education and thus be disadvantaged. Another result of the Jim Crow Laws was that African Americans were viewed as inferior.
African Americans gained rights after the civil war and there were people who supported them having the same rights as everyone else. Others opposed and laws were put into place to prevent the idea of equality to spread. One of the Jim Crow Laws states, “Any person...who shall be guilty of… presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine…” (Mississippi). These laws discouraged the acceptance that blacks should be viewed as equal thus hindering their attempt in achieving
equality. Overall, America after the civil war saw a struggle in gaining freedom for African Americans even after the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The general idea of America towards blacks was that they were inferior and only certain people (white, American people) should be allowed access to their rights.
Groups of people soon received new rights. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. It gave black Americans full citizenship and guaranteed them equal treatment. Also, it passed the Fourteenth Amendment to make sure that the Supreme Court couldn’t declare the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. The amendment made blacks citizens of the United States and the states in which they lived. Also, states were forbidden to deprive blacks of life, liberty, or property without due process. Additionally, blacks could not be discriminated by the law. If a state would deprive blacks of their rights as citizens, it’s number of congressional representatives would be reduced. The Civil Rights Act as well as the Fourteenth Amendment affected both the North and the South.
Following the victory of the North over the South in the civil war, Black Americans were given independence. This led to court rulings such as the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment, which granted all citizens equality before the law and stated that, the ‘right to vote should not be denied ... on account of race’. However, in practice these Amendments were not upheld, there were no measures in place to implement these rulings and no prevention of the ill treatment of Black Americans. Due to these new rulings, De Facto segregation increased especially with the establishment of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Also, in the South although the 15th Amendment gave everyone the right to vote, Jim Crow laws were put in place to deliberately prevent Black Americans from voting. Black Americans had differing views on how to deal with their situation, while some felt it was best to accept the status quo, others wanted to fight for equal rights but disagreed on whether they should integrate with whites or remain separate.
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
In 1863 to 1877 Reconstruction brought an end to slavery, it paved the way for the former slaves to become citizens. The African Americans wanted complete freedom. However, that right became a setback and were seen as second class citizens. Before the end of the Reconstruction, a legislation was passed called the Jim Crow law. The law enforced the segregation of people of African descent. The legislation was a system to ensure the exclusion of racial groups in the Southern States. For example, separate transportation law, school division, different waiting rooms both at the bus terminals and hospitals, separate accommodations, marriage law and voting rights. The Jim Crow law was supposed to help in racial segregation in the South. Instead,
Between 1890 and 1910 they limited the rights of black people by passing their own laws which meant that blacks were forced to live separately from whites. These laws were known as The Jim Crow Laws after a line in a plantation song sung by the slaves. Blacks were forced to use separate hotels, transport and schools. were treated as second class citizens. In states where the laws had not changed, violence and intimidation were used to.
The constant efforts and struggles of African Americans against Jim Crow laws, hate groups, social injustice, and racial bias prevailed and led to the Civil Rights Movement that has shaped our contemporary world. The struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights in a society dominated by conservative, white culture and prejudice along with the endeavor of acquiring the constitutional right to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, can safely place Jim Crow laws in archive of American
The ending of the Civil War sought as a new beginning for many African-Americans who were finally given the freedoms that many had hoped for and the equality between blacks and whites. That hope soon became false when Jim Crow laws were put into place. Through the time period of 1877 to the mid-1960s, Jim Crow laws were operated as the racial caste system primarily in southern and border states in the U.S. (Pilgrim). This system discriminated African-Americans as the status of second-class citizens that was directed under
During the time of reconstruction, the 13th amendment abolished slavery. As the Nation was attempting to pick up their broken pieces and mend the brokenness of the states, former slaves were getting the opportunity to start their new, free lives. This however, created tension between the Northerners and the Southerners once again. The Southerners hated the fact that their slaves were being freed and did not belong to them anymore. The plantations were suffering without the slaves laboring and the owners were running out of solutions. This created tension between the Southern planation owners and the now freed African Americans. There were many laws throughout the North and the South that were made purposely to discriminate the African Americans.
Blacks were discriminated almost every aspect of life. The Jim Crow laws helped in this discrimination. The Jim Crow laws were laws using racial segregation from 1876 – 1965 at both a social and at a state level.
After the emancipation of slaves in 1862, the status of African-Americans in post civil war America up until the beginning of the twentieth century did not go through a great deal of change. Much legislation was passed to help blacks in this period. The Civil Rights act of 1875 prohibited segregation in public facilities and various government amendments gave African-Americans even more guaranteed rights. Even with this government legislation, the newly dubbed 'freedmen' were still discriminated against by most people and, ironically, they were soon to be restricted and segregated once again under government rulings in important court cases of the era.
“Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-black laws. It was a way of life.” (“What was Jim Crow?”). The laws created a divided America and made the United States a cruel place for over 70 years. The Jim Crow Laws caused segregation in the education system, social segregation, and limited job opportunities for African Americans.
African Americans have a history of struggles because of racism and prejudices. Ever since the end of the Civil War, they struggled to benefit from their full rights that the Constitution promised. The fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship, was passed in 1866. Even though African Americans were promised citizenship, they were still treated as if they were unequal. The South had an extremely difficult time accepting African Americans as equals, and did anything they could to prevent the desegregation of all races. During the Reconstruction Era, there were plans to end segregation; however, past prejudices and personal beliefs elongated the process.
The laws known as “Jim Crow” were laws presented to basically establish racial apartheid in the United States. These laws were more than in effect for “for three centuries of a century beginning in the 1800s” according to a Jim Crow Law article on PBS. Many try to say these laws didn’t have that big of an effect on African American lives but in affected almost everything in their daily life from segregation of things: such as schools, parks, restrooms, libraries, bus seatings, and also restaurants. The government got away with this because of the legal theory “separate but equal” but none of the blacks establishments were to the same standards of the whites. Signs that read “Whites Only” and “Colored” were seen at places all arounds cities.
Lastly, the Jim Crow Laws dictated African Americans public life by making it illegal to use the same restrooms, dine in the same eating establishments, and shop in the same stores. For example, black people had to use black only restrooms in public places, if they did not they would be punished, blacks could only eat in certain restaurants, and when shopping blacks had to go to the back of the stores to try on
It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s. During the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place, it was the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools....