Equality For African Americans In The 1850's

One would think that by now in 2016, the United States would be the land of equal opportunity, but sadly America is still trapped in time in the 1850s. The 1850s was the period of Reconstruction when African Americans were supposedly given their freedom. Although African Americans were given freedom, they still were not given the same equality as whites. They were treated differently than the whites. Laws in the southern states kept the African Americans from growing economically, socially and educationally. Keeping African Americans separate and not treating them equally lead to even more discrimination later. After reconstruction, African Americans were in as much danger as when they had been as slaves, sometimes even more. Reconstruction

Keeping African Americans segregated and not treating their condition’s equal led to a even more discrimination resulting in a lack of rights. In the 1896, Plessey vs Ferguson case, the Supreme Court stated that all facilities could be segregated, but they had to be equal. “Requiring railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that state to provide equal, but separate accommodations for the white and [African Americans] races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train.” (Document F). This quote shows that the train compartments were required to be kept separate but equal. Unfortunately, the results from Plessy vs Ferguson did not guarantee that they were actually treated equally. In reality, facilities were still not equal for African Americans and train compartments for African Americans were often more crowded and the facilities were not as nice. Another result from the Plessey vs. Ferguson case stated that passengers could only stay in seats determined by their race. This meant that if an African American did not sit in the African American assigned seats, they could be fined or sent to prison. This is proof that African Americans still were not treated equally. Many years later, African Americans still had not achieved equality. Keeping facilities segregated resulted in a long history and a

Even after the Reconstruction era, African Americans did not have equality because they were in as much physical danger as they were as slaves. They were unfairly treated and physically harmed. African Americans did not have the power or the means to stand up for them and to fight for their legal rights. Susie Taylor King, an African American who lived in 1902, spoke about how the white race was allowed to inflict torture on the black race. Although African Americans were no longer enslaved, they were still in great danger; they were being tortured, burned, and murdered. According to King’s personal account, African Americans gained freedom, but there still was so much of a struggle for them to survive that they weren’t actually free. “In this ‘land of the free’ we are burned, tortured and denied a fair trial, murdered for any imaginary wrong conceived in the brain of the negro- hating white man” (Document G). Lands were being burned, and the African Americans were being tortured and denied fair trials. African Americans were not treated equally, which led to much more discrimination later. The violence that African Americans had to continue to endure after they were given their freedom proves that they still did not have the same equality as the white