Examples Of Racism In 1880

Racism in 1880 During the years 1870 through 1900, racism vastly continued across the United States. African Americans and Native Americans were treated brutally by white men; from being pushed off their land and having their homes taken away from them, to make room for white families or workers, to being brutally murdered by soldiers or hate groups. Whites controlled virtually everything including businesses, the railroads, farms, and most of the government. Once the African Americans were freed, many had hopes to become self-sufficient farmers like the white citizens around them. However, this would not become a reality due to the lack of land redistribution. Furthermore, in 1872, the Freedmen’s Bureau were forced to evict thousands of African American families that had settled and created homes on the land that was confiscated from the Confederates. Many former slaves went back to working on farms with a system called sharecropping. Unfortunately, this system was

After the Civil War, several whites moved to the American Desert, the land the Natives were promised after being pushed off their homeland. This expansion of white settlers continued due to the Homestead Act of 1862; this gave 160 acres of land to individuals for free as long as they improved the land within five years. The United States government did not see the Natives as Americans, instead viewing them as their own separate nations. The United States and the Native Americans discussed and negotiated treaties through the Senate, treaties that would eventually be broken. In 1864, Colonel Chivington leads soldiers into Sand Creek to murder a peaceful Native tribe called Cheyenne. Native Americans in the great plains were forced to leave their homes. Some tried to flee to Canada, but were caught and forced into reservations. Natives were also weak and did not have enough supplies due to the whites killing all