Around 1900 the situation for blacks was dire. They suffered extreme discrimination and were frequently the victims of violence in the South. Blacks could not vote and their career opportunities remained limited. White society excluded blacks from equal participation in many areas of public life; they wanted to keep blacks in a position of economic, political, social and cultural subservience. After the Civil War, the USA offered civil rights and laws privileges to African-Americans. The USA government passed an amendment ending slavery in 1865; the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Although slavery was outlawed, it did not provide citizenship and equal rights. Therefore, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment offered …show more content…
Blacks were frequent victims of violence and severe discrimination particularly in the Southern states. Segregation was legally enforced, particularly in the Southern states; public transport, churches, theatres, parks, benches, schools and housing estates were all segregated. This was reinforced by the Supreme Court decision in the Plessy v. Ferguson trial, which enshrined the "separate but equal" racial segregation as constitutional doctrine. This decision endorsed segregation in nearly every sphere of public and private life. Many Southern states saw this as an approval for restrictive laws such as the Jim Crow laws; these were de facto laws which were adhered to as closely as de jure laws in many Southern states. The etiquette of racial segregation was harsh, especially in the South, where blacks were expected to step aside to step aside to allow a white person to pass. Segregation dramatically increased the sense of black community and unity in the face of white supremacy. The black church filled the void by the lack of any meaningful political role for blacks. The black church served not only as a place of worship but also as a community. It helped to promote a spirit of self-help and self-confidence amongst blacks. By the 1930 's individuals such as Marcus Garvey had helped raise black consciousness within the white
This obstacle caused Blacks to not have a voice in the USA’s political decisions. Furthermore, they were left with the worst jobs in town and had the poorest schools because of segregation (The Change in Attitudes.). In the southern states, compared to White schooling, the Blacks received one-third of school funding. The White people dominated the states and local government with their decisions and made sure that the Blacks were weak. They weren’t being treated in hospitals because the doctors refused to do treatment on them.
Plessy v. Ferguson , a very important case of 1896 in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the legality of racial segregation. At the time of the ruling, segregation between blacks and whites already existed in most schools, restaurants, and other public facilities in the American South. In the Plessy decision, the Supreme Court ruled that such segregation did not violate the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. This amendment provides equal protection of the law to all U.S. citizens, regardless of race. The court ruled in Plessy that racial segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities for blacks and whites were “equal.”
The treatment of blacks from were turned from a grim fate to that of a bright future, the ability to vote and citizenship were vital to the forward progress of male black Americans. While the economic opportunity of making your own money through hard work and responsibility was taken by most blacks in the south. It was not until the nineteenth amendment was passed for both black and white women to finally become equal in America.
Times were looking up for African Americans, their new freedom gave them the option to go down a road of either criminal actions or to make something out of themselves. But the presence of racism and hatred was still very much so alive, Klu Klux Klan, although not as strong as they were after the Civil War was still present. Laws like Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” came into play and continued to show how racism was alive. Besides these actors of racism, blacks still started gaining a major roll in American society.
A time of trial and tribulation, the early 1900’s often became a perilous experience for those who were of a skin color other than white, predominately the black race. New laws were made concerning the livelihood of black people at this time, often marking them as subservient to their white counterparts. Laws such as the Jim Crow era laws are examples of this. After the Civil War, life was very difficult for everyone, as the country had faced severe losses in the north and south, not to mention the conditions of southern land. After the Civil War, black people were technically free, but to have a life all of their own was a very difficult feat, as they had been provided for by their masters
Racial inequality provided everyone their status in life. As a white person, you had rights and privileges. As a black person, you had nothing in life. “The wide discrepancy between the funding for white and black schools. The attempts to withdraw even that little money from black schools in order to fund white and the obvious even virulent racism of the school systems, brought the southern issues into the forefront as the Great Depression deepened” (J. Stakeman, and R. Stakeman). With kids being segregated, they are shown the inequality between the two races. This generates stereotypes that would be passed on to the next generation, producing a cycle that won’t end unless action is taken. Black people weren’t considered important in the 1930s. Lynching portrayed the unimportance of black people towards white people. In the 1930s, mobs frequently slaughtered black people without legal trial. “The first politician to take a visible stand against lynching was President Harry S. Truman, in 1946. Shocked by a lynching in Monroe Georgia, in which four people—one a WORLD WAR II veteran—were pulled off of a bus and shot dozens of times by a mob, Truman launched a campaign to guarantee CIVIL RIGHTS for blacks, including a push for federal anti-lynching laws “ (lynching). African Americans were easily targeted in lynch mobs due to their status in life which was not as superior as to white people. Inequality among the people
Toward the end of the Progressive Era American social inequality had stripped African Americans of their rights on a local and national level. In the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessey vs. Ferguson, the Supreme Court sided with a Louisiana state law declaring segregation constitutional as long as facilities remain separate but equal. Segregation increased as legal discriminatory laws became enacted by each state but segregated facilities for whites were far superior to those provided for blacks; especially prevalent in the South were discriminatory laws known as Jim Crow laws which surged after the ruling. Such laws allowed for segregation in places such as restaurants, hospitals, parks, recreational areas, bathrooms, schools, transportation, housing, hotels, etc. Measures were taken to disenfranchise African Americans by using intimidation, violence, putting poll taxes, and literacy tests. This nearly eliminated the black vote and its political interests as 90% of the nine million blacks in America lived in the South and 1/3 were illiterate as shown in Ray Stannard Baker’s Following the Color Line (Bailey 667). For example, in Louisiana 130,334 black voters registered in 1896 but that number drastically decreased to a mere 1,342 in 1904—a 99 percent decline (Newman ). Other laws prevented black...
The Civil War was no exception, and was fought for two main reasons: to abolish slavery, and to preserve the Union. When the North won, three constitutional amendments, known as the Civil War amendments, were made to deter further oppression of blacks. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery. The fourteenth amendment clarified the status of blacks in America. This amendment gave U.S. citizenship to those born in the U.S. Since the Constitution applies to all U.S. citizens, it was now apparent that blacks could not be denied Constitutional rights that were given to other citizens. The fifteenth amendment gave the right to vote to all American citizens regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
The 1890’s was a period of segregation, intense and horrifying racial violence, and political oppression for African Americans. Many whites had become resentful of any signs of African American success in economics or political influence, and they were determined to keep them in their places.
Segregation was a big deal in the United States. Most white people believed they were better than the blacks. Water fountains, seating sections, and the bus seats are examples of things that were segregated. Segregation had a major effect as our country was leaving the 1800’s and going into the 1900s. The Jim Crow laws, White Supremacy, and the Plessy v. Ferguson trial were crucial setbacks for blacks in the late 1800s and the early 1900s.
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, riding on a bus, or renting or purchasing a home (Wikipedia, 2017). Segregation is defined by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance as "the act by which a (natural or legal) person separates other persons on the basis of one of the enumerated grounds without an objective and reasonable justification, in conformity with the proposed definition of discrimination (Explanatory memorandum, Para. 16).
The 1950s was a time of prosperity, however it was one sided, African Americans were getting the raw end of the deal. Challenging white supremacy, but more especially, challenging segregation would be one of the most difficult tasks of the Civil Right Movement because it was embedded in American culture. Segregation in the United States was a way of life, both legal and de facto. Segregation also affected where African Americans could live and the types of jobs that they were able to obtain, for instance servants, tent farmers, laborers to name a few, this also had a social and psychological effect. Amzie Moore commented that at one point in his life he believed that a white person was his better because God put his in that position, believed
Forty-seven years ago the Civil Rights Act was passed to end racial discrimination in America. And later on the 24th Amendment to poll taxes, then the Voting Rights Act to allow every man to vote and not be discriminated against. Black Power, the Nation of Islam, and the Southern Christian Leadership conference were just some of the groups that tried to end segregation and promote the African American race. Although these groups did help end it, it still exists in today’s world and many studies have been done to prove it in the past couple of years.
These laws legally separated blacks and whites in numerous institutions such as schools, restrooms, and various types of transportation. “Separate but equal” had been affirmed by a 7-1 margin in the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896 by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Regardless of what the Founding Fathers had claimed in The Constitution stating that “all men are created equal”, society and the world never were much good at following that ideology. Minorities have always been seen as small and inferior compared to majorities in social status. Even their roots implies this. The dictionary definition of minor is: lesser in importance. Whereas, the dictionary definition of major is: one of superior rank. Since the beginning of time, there has always been segregation between different cultures, races, wealth classes, and genders. However, one of the largest separations we have seen is that between African Americans and the rest of the world.