Slave Mentality In The 1930s Essay

The 1930s was a rough period of time in the U.S, with segregation and discrimination running wild in the south. The slaves had just been freed and the mentality of the southerners was still of slavery. They also like to keep themselves socially elevated above everybody else so that they could run the show in the south during the hard times. The discrimination shown by the whites to the minorities groups in the south in the 1930s was unjust, unfair, and socially wrong because the whites thought they were superior, socially dominate, and they wanted to keep the slave mentality.

The whites believed that they were superior during this time. “It is better to lynch a few innocent blacks than to leave white women terrorized” (Wormser 61). This is

what was said in the south all the time, it is not socially right, everyone should be treated as equal but that is not how they saw it. They thought that every woman was being terrorized and many people were lynched for this under very dubious evidence presented. “Most early New Deal relief and recovery programs routinely excluded or discriminated against minorities”(Woodbridge). However, many whites benefitted from this deal but minorities definitely did not benefit at all. This was yet another way minorities were treated unfairly during the 1930s. Life was simply harder for them as a group, very rarely did they get the chance for a better life because of the white superiority.
Whites sought to remain socially dominate at this time. “And finally, previous poverty and powerlessness had left blacks and Mexican Americans with little or no political leverage”(Woodbridge). They had no power in the world they lived in, they were taken away from home and yets still held no power whatsoever. They could not do anything except work all day and that is not very fair now is it? The very first black mayor of Birmingham was in office from 1979-1999. “In Wilmington, a white mob goes on a rampage after the election. Black officials are forced to resign,” (Wormser 70). This is an example of what would happen to if a black man was elected. Sometimes they would only resign out of fear because of the mobs that would surely come. There could be a job of less influence but still the whites wanted to have all of the influence so they would kick the blacks out of that job and take it for themselves.
Since the slaves were just recently freed, many people still kept the slave mentality and did not want that to change.

“In Arkansas and Alabama, convicts are forced to work through the winter without shoes” (Wormser 76). The slaves would have had to work through the winter with little clothing also. This was common though because people wanted to keep the slave mentality that was just taken away from them. “That there is not an inn between Washington and Montgomery, a distance of more than a thousand miles, that will accommodate me to a bed or meal” (Rapier). The whites still thought of themselves as higher than the slaves too. They were “better” than others but in reality were treating them very harshly. This is wrong just because you can not be better than someone else if you are that harsh, mean, cruel, or unfair to them.

This shows why the discrimination shown by the whites during the 1930's was unjust, unfair, and socially wrong. It is because they thought they were superior, dominate, and they had a slave mentality.

The Whites wanted to keep the old lifestyle of slavery and an easy life for them. When something major changes in life for the worse, it would be better back to normal right? Normally people go for the way that worked and so when slavery was abolished the whites took a turn for the worse. If the people that wanted slavery just wanted things to go back to normal would that be socially wrong? It depends on the treatment, if the slave is being treated as a person

instead of property, that would not be so bad. The only problem is that all people are not like that, some people are harsh and cruel.