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African American Discrimination Essay

562 Words3 Pages

The African Americans faced discrimination throughout the South in several different ways. First was social discrimination. The African Americans faced segregation of schools, restrooms, railroad cars, water fountains, and stores. The laws set up for this segregation were called Jim Crow Laws. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court ruled segregation as constitutional. The South had areas set up that were only for whites and areas that were only for African Americans. This was because all the services that were provided for both African Americans and whites were considered “equal.” However, we know that the books and school supplies provided for African Americans were far from being equal to the white’s. These supplies were usually torn, battered …show more content…

African Americans faced one of the most frightening organizations in US History, the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was originally formed as a social club for Confederates but soon turned into a terrorist organization. The KKK was focused on gaining white supremacy back in the South by means of intimidation. The KKK intimidated African Americans into not exercising their new political freedoms like voting. Some African Americans were even lynched. Also, Southern states set up literacy test and poll taxes to keep African Americans from exercising their right to vote. Literacy tests were designed to keep poorly educated African Americans from voting. The poll taxes were designed to target sharecroppers who were very poor and could not afford to pay the poll taxes. Therefore, keeping many African Americans from voting. African Americans were also restricted from their freedom to bear arms. As if that weren’t enough to stop African Americans from exercising their rights, Southern states enacted Grandfather clauses. These clauses were designed to give poorly educated whites the chance to vote even if they didn’t pass the literacy tests or couldn’t afford the poll taxes. The Grandfather Clause stated that anyone’s father or grandfather who had the ability to vote before January 1, 1867, was guaranteed the right to vote. Before 1867, African Americans were still enslaved. This meant that African Americans had no way to possibly vote unless they passed literacy tests and could pay poll

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Now go forward to 1877, newly elected conservative democrats began imposing a series of laws to suppress the black vote. These became know as the “Jim crow voting laws” which required people to pass literacy tests which was nearly impossible

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Not only did citizen-led formations try to stop black equality, but the legislature did as well. For example, literacy tests and the Grandfather Clause, which said that only those whose grandfather had the right to vote could vote, prevented black men from voting. Many white-dominated state legislatures in states like Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia passed this. The resistance from President Andrew Johnson, who tended to veto bills that progressed civil rights, also played a

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It was much harder to get an education as an African American because of the lack of having an available school near you or schools, or having a school that is sufficient for a proper education. Even if there was a school nearby, it would have less funding so there would be less materials that were of poor quality, not as well-maintained buildings, qualified staff etc. In some areas, African Americans were not allowed to use textbooks with the constitution or Declaration of Independence, so that the students wouldn’t get ideas that would lead them to wanting equality. This lack of an educational foundation made it even harder for African Americans to move up in a society that was already stacked against them, and it was almost impossible to achieve a life like white people. (Boyd, Natalie).

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This was due to literacy tests and poll taxes. In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified. This amendment gave all Americans the right to vote regardless of race (Document C). However, after the amendment was passed, Southern states passed a series of laws designed to restrict African Americans voting rights. First, they added the grandfather clause.

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The main reason why was because of the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws affected African Americans a lot especially in voting because when anyone votes, there are some rules like the Grandfather Clause, the Poll Tax, the Literacy Test, etc. The Grandfather Clause is if your grandfather could vote you could vote. The Poll Tax is when you have to pay a tax to vote. Literacy Test is when you have to take a test that will test you on your knowledge of something relating to America, but you have to pass the test.

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During this time African Americans were given the right to vote, if you were male, and citizenship. However, the federal government and state governments limited these right in every they legally could. States cheated black voters in a variety of ways, from poll taxes, to holding white-only primary elections, to unreasonably difficult

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Even though slavery was over, there was still racial tensions across the country, highly, and African Americans continued experience oppression (Source 1). Oppression meaning being subjected to unfair treatment (Source 1). With this mind, African Americans were unfairly even though before they were used, bought and also sold before this. ”The Supreme Court had given segregation a legal “okay” and many states took advantage of this” (Source 1). With this happening, it was very prevalent in the South.

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This is because Jim Crow laws, laws on voting intending to discriminate against freedmen were ratified. These laws included Poll Taxes which were taxes that were charged when a person went to go vote but since sharecropping was unsuccessful for freedmen they could not afford to pay the poll taxes thus not allowing them to vote. To insure that this law would not affect the poor white people, more Jim Crow laws were introduced. These included the Grandfather Clause and Literacy tests. The Grandfather clause states that if your grandfather or father could vote before the year of 1867, then you could vote.

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Some politicians, like a senator from Kentucky, turned a blind eye to the oppression that freedmen faced constantly in their homes as well as at the polls. This lack of support from the government was a downfall in the Reconstruction movement. White southerners found ways to prevent African Americans from voting by using tactics like harassment, bullying, and intimidation to scare them away from the polls. Laws like the grandfather clause and literacy tests were created to prevent many people of color from be able to vote, ensuring the Democratic Party (southerners) could regain control of politics. These actions show that people didn’t respect African Americans as citizens even under the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.

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The Fifteenth Amendment, which was ratified February 3, 1870, states that the “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” By dodging around the Amendment, people still found ways to disclude African Americans from voting. According to Document L, “Denying black men the right to vote through legal maneuvering and violence was a first step in taking away their civil rights. Beginning in 1890s, southern states enacted literacy tests... The laws proved very effective.

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“The Jim Crow laws also led to the disenfranchisement of African American voters. States passed laws requiring literacy or history tests, background checks, proof of land ownership, or other complex processes just to register to vote,”(Source 1). Consequently most African American people did not get to vote because they did not get the right education to pass the tests. These were not the only oppressions african americans had to face. There was the Plessy vs. Ferguson Case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court even though all the courts sided against Plessy.

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Observably, the Jim Crow laws passed by southern states effectively disfranchised African-Americans from the late nineteenth century until well into the 20th century. In the ongoing of Reconstruction, after the Civil War, African Americans in the south briefly enjoyed voting privileges because they felt nearly equal to whites. However, around 1890, legally sanctioned disfranchisement occurred abruptly. For example, during the years’ right after the Civil War, African Americans made up as much as forty-four percent of the registered electorate in Louisiana, but by 1920, they constituted only 1 percent of the electorate. In Mississippi, almost seventy percent of eligible African Americans were registered to vote in 1867 and after 1890, less than six percent were eligible to vote.

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The law were enacted to ensure that white and blacks were afford separate experiences and privilege. An example of such a measure was the segregation of facilities, such as schools, theaters, hospital, and restroom. In an effort to have this law abolished, in the South blacks had sit-in and boycotts and a marched on Washington, they were often met with violence from their white counter parts, who opposed their efforts and wanted things to remain the same. However there efforts paid off and segregation of institutions was declared Unconstitutional. Furthermore here are some ways the black vote was suppressed, literacy testing, Violence, intimidation, and the grand father clause, however these voting laws primarily effected black men because women had the right to vote long before they did.

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This law reinforced the notion that white people were superior to Black people in the eyes of the law, thus creating a systemic issue of racial inequality in the Reconstruction era. By banning Black people from voting in 1870, the Florida Black codes also set a major path for racism during Reconstruction. They stated, “No freedman, free Negro, or mulatto shall have the right to vote at any election provided for by the laws of this State.” By banning Black people from voting in 1870, the Florida Black Codes made it clear that African Americans still did not have the same rights as white people, even after emancipation. Not only did this deny Black people the right to vote and participate in their own government, it also served as a powerful reminder of the oppression they had suffered and continued to suffer.

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Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.

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