After Reconstruction, African Americans faced many social, political, and economic issues. The years following the Reconstruction continued to create tension between African Americans and whites. In the south African Americans were still not given the same rights as whites. With this tension, came social, political, and economic issues. During this time, African Americans faced social adversity. A social problem that arose was due Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws legalized racial segregation in all public facilities in southern states, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for African Americans. These laws were legalized in the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which stated that “separate but equal” was constitutional. This
The problems that came after this were caused by the Vietnam War. Because all of the US resources needed to go into funding the war, African Americans were left out to dry once again by the government. This is shown when Martin Luther King Jr. says, “The promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam” (Painter 305). In the drafting of the war, more black people were drafted which caused problems because now Blacks were dying in larger numbers than whites and that was yet another inequality that enraged African Americans. This time period was one of success and defeat in the eyes of the African American people.
Local and state governments enacted laws that mandated separation between Blacks and Whites. Such separateness was almost always unequal, despite the Supreme Court’s 1896 “separate but equal” ruling in Plessy vs. Ferguson. Blacks were confined to substandard bathrooms, parks, water fountains, restaurants, schools, and hospitals. They generally received a poor education, which hindered their ability to advance. White Southerners subjugated African-Americans whose work options were limited and whose pay lagged behind that of Whites.
The course begins with the year 1877, which is when Reconstruction “ended”, even though it stilled occurred for years after, but not at as great of capacity. I believe that this is the best place to start this course because there is a different name to the United States after Reconstruction, and to see how much progress was made after the Civil War. Many important events occurred during Reconstruction, such as the creation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. These amendments legally allowed for African- Americans to have rights in the United States. African American men were now legal United States citizens due to the Fourteenth Amendment, and had “equal protection of the laws” compared to white citizens during this time era, and
Youseph Anwar AFPRL Midterm Essay Compare and contrast the various laws and codes which were put into place in the American south during the Post Reconstruction era with the perceived treatment of people of African descent in the United States by the American criminal justice system, court decisions and legislation related to voting, and law enforcement officers today, as seen in the news media and social media. In the American South during the Post Reconstruction era, many laws and codes were put into place in order to limit and keep African Americans from progressing in society. Legislation such as The Black Codes, Jim Crow laws and US Supreme Court cases such as Plessy v Ferguson sought to limit the newly freed African Americans in order to maintain control of the South. To this day there is still institutional racism and injustice in the case of black people and there is still room for improvement in the position of black people in society.
For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and
after slavery was abolished, the southern states passed laws to segregate blacks and whites. The segregation included separate schools for blacks and whites. A challenge to these laws reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson that it was a reasonable use of state power to require "separate but equal" accommodations for blacks.
As difficult as the economic crisis of the Great Depression was for white Americans, it was even harder on racial minorities, including black Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, and Asian Americans. In 1933 the general unemployment rate in the United States was over 25 percent; at the same time, unemployment rates for various American minorities ranged up to 50 percent or more. Given the severe racial discrimination in almost every facet of daily life in America through the 1920s, it was hard for many minorities to distinguish much difference between the Great Depression and "normal" economic times. Nonetheless, for these groups the Great Depression was worse than "normal" economic hardships they had suffered.
With the beginning of the Jim Crow Laws in the 1900s to their abolishment in 1965, and even today, America has yet to resolve the issue of “separate but equal.” Throughout the late 1800s, and late 1900’s the “Jim Crow Laws” were a form of enforced segregation against black people in many states all across America. Black segregation was heavy in the southern states especially Alabama, where slavery had been very prevalent. These laws made it legal for people to abuse and punish blacks for consorting with another race.
After the Civil War ended, bringing freedom to enslaved African-Americans, they still had one more major social issue to fight, segregation. Segregation lasted from the end of the Civil War to the 1960s. During this time, the South and the North both faced segregation, but the South primarily faced the most racial tensions. This time frame in American history was known as the Jim Crow era. Additionally, African-Americans faced many hardships during this time, such as unclean bathrooms, unequal and separate water fountains, voting restrictions, and awful schooling compared to whites.
This seminar offers students an introduction to the history of the African American freedom struggle beginning with the end of Reconstruction. It will engage with both the domestic and the transnational dimension of the quest for freedom against blacks’ exploitation and oppression by whites. Topics include lynching, colonialism, racial segregation, and the political struggles for decolonization and human rights. The course is designed to help students increase their knowledge of people, events, and places that were central to the African American and global struggle against racial oppression from the end of the nineteenth century to the close of the twentieth. This course is appropriate for sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in learning
Obviously, the majority of state offices were initially held by whites; however, as the Reconstruction period progressed, more blacks began to fill positions such as law enforcement and tax assessors (Schultz, 2013). Some blacks were even voted into office, such as the first African American Senator of Mississippi, Hiram Revels. For those not fortunate enough to land a government job, they continued to work small plots of land in order to make a living, only as sharecroppers, as opposed to slaves. The South began to see an influx of carpetbaggers moving south to for a variety of different reasons (Schultz, 2013). Some of them worked with southern Republicans to get all types of improvements made in the south, such as new public schools
24 November 2015 The Real Death of Reconstruction There is no easy way to decide who can be held accountable for the end of the Reconstruction Era. Attempts to rebuild the South ceased to exist in 1877, just over ten years after the Confederacy surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox Court House, Virginia. It seemed as though everything was on the right track in 1876, the one hundred year anniversary of The United States. That was, however, until the South waged conflict against black and white citizens of The United States.
Post Civil War, African Americans started to gain rights to gain rights, and soon gain rights equal to whites. While there were some people/things standing in their way (KKK, Black Codes), in the end they got what they needed; Equality. Many acts and laws were passed to aid the new rights now held by African Americans, as well as the numerous people willing to help. New Amendments were added to give African Americans rights after the war, all giving them some equal rights to whites. The first of the three added was the Thirteenth Amendment, it gave African Americans freedom from slave owners, and stated that no one could be kept as a slave in the U.S..
The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.
Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans