African Americans In The 1900s

The 1900s were full of white privilege and racism. Not only did white supremacists kill many escaping slaves, but many enslaved, alienated, and separated African Americans, which is frustrating to no end. People like Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barack Obama helped make the world a better place for many of these people but giving Black men and women voting rights and desegregating many public areas through their positions of power and freedom of speech.

Escaped slaves who were caught were hung. The punishment was the same for those caught helping escaped slaves, Black or white. Many slaves were executed for disobeying for a moment, which led to many deaths as white men in places of power saw fit. “In

They began to take hold in the 1890s, just after slavery was abolished and were not disbanded until 1964-65, with the Civil Rights and Voting Acts. “The laws affected almost every aspect of daily life, mandating segregation of schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, buses, trains, and restaurants. ‘Whites Only’ and ‘Colored’ signs were constant reminders of the enforced racial order.” (American Experience, 2023) Black men or women who defied Jim Crow Laws were thrown out or called the police on without any warning. The Freedom Riders actively fought these Jim Crow Laws to try to remove interstate bus traveling segregation. “‘The first group of Freedom Riders were 12 individuals-- six blacks, six whites-- who got on Greyhound buses and Trailways buses and decided they’re going to go from Washington, D.C., down to New Orleans,’ Nelson told ABC News. ‘They’re going to sit together on the front of the buses. They’re going to eat together in the restaurants in the bus stations. The white people are going to use the coloreds only restrooms, the African-Americans are going to use the whites only restrooms, and they’re going to really test the law and see what happens.’” (Murray, 2011) These Freedom Riders truly tested the boundaries of the people around them and fought for what they believed, in just by riding a

After slavery was abolished in 1865, Black people were considered citizens, but women still had to fight for their rights. “After the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, Black women voted in elections and held political offices.” (Bailey, 2022) Black women had to suffer and fight for nearly half a decade to be given this right. “In August 1920, women across America celebrated the adoption of the 19th Amendment. At the National Women’s Party Headquarters in Washington, Alice Paul, the group’s leader, triumphantly unfurled a banner displaying 36 stars, one for each state that had voted to ratify the women’s suffrage amendment.” (Jones, 2020) Even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, women continued to fight for those final 12 states to give them the right to