Dbq Civil Rights Essay

The nation’s mindset revolved around white supremacy, so African Americans were never viewed as human beings, rather, they were viewed as property and white people despised them. White males did not have any respect towards African Americans because they were considered property, so they were put to work as slaves. Once slavery was abolished and president Andrew Johnson heard that congress was planning to grant formerly enslaved people to be viewed as citizens through the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, he immediately vetoed the bill. Johnson was a racist and former slave owner who said, “this is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am president, it shall be a government for white men.” The president was the person that

Hayes became president of the United States, the first decision he made was to end reconstruction by removing all the Union troops from the south, but that led to the ex-Confederates gaining control of the south. With racist ex-Confederates back in power, the southern African Americans were destined to be segregated, in regards to their place in society. According to the Supreme Court, segregation did not violate the fourteenth amendment as long as blacks had access to accommodations that were “separate but equal” to those of white people. Jim Crow laws were implemented as a way for white people to treat African Americans unfairly. White people did not want to accept the fact that they had to share public places with black citizens, so these Jim Crow laws set some boundaries by segregating black and white people in public schools, restaurants, trains, sports stadiums and movie theaters. White people went so far as to label drinking fountains: “White Only” and “Colored Only.” White people did not want to be in the same area as blacks causing black citizens to feel disempowered. African Americans were forced to work at minimum wage jobs since all of the higher paying jobs were specifically for whites, which placed African Americans in the lower class by making them laborers that could only “clean, cook, stock shelves, and load trucks.” All of which were labor that white people would never do because they thought that they were far superior than black people. “Strict racial segregation” was the result of the ex-Confederates regaining