ipl-logo

Leeanna Keith: The Failure Of Reconstruction

556 Words3 Pages

Module 9 Discussion Assignment Yes LeeAnna Keith believes the failure of Reconstruction was due to racism. Angry whites, seething over blacks finally gaining similar rights and some political power, worked to undermine the efforts of Reconstruction. Keith describes the assault of the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873. According to Keith, the event that took place at the courthouse was a microcosm of the general intolerance and unacceptance of post-slavery black progress by racist whites (403). The Colfax courthouse was held by a group of black men who feared its takeover by whites would hamper their political will. After a brief meeting between the white and black representatives, it was determined that a fight between the blacks entrenched in the courthouse and the whites …show more content…

This movement opposed the notion of making government larger and handing over rights to blacks that were supposedly hard earned by other citizens (403). Richardson argues that while the government was obliged to provide blacks political equality, “social” equality needed to be earned; social equality was considered the standing an individual achieved through merit and hard work. Although blacks accepted this, those that had prospered to the “better classes” still found that discrimination was still wanton. To battle these discriminations, blacks called for protective legislation (418). This legislation came in the way of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The act, while keeping schools, churches, and cemeteries segregated, gave blacks access to many of the same faculties previously only enjoyed by whites (421). However the bill was declared unconstitutional in 1883 and both Democrats and most Republicans were at peace with the decision; they cited the old rhetoric of social equality and a free labor society didn’t need civil rights protections

Show More
Related
244 Words | 1 Pages

Nicholas Lemann begins his book “Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War” with the 1873 Colfax, Louisiana massacre where a White League militia comprised of former Confederate soldiers killed black Republican voters. The Colfax massacre was perhaps the bloodiest event of Reconstruction. Lemann views this event as a startup of what would happen later in Mississippi if Federal troops did not defend black voters. Lemann blames Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, for not stopping the White Line activity in Louisiana and Mississippi. Grant had worked hard to stop the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870s with Congress passing legislation and Federal troops putting down Klan activity.

Read More
1255 Words | 6 Pages

This meant that bathrooms schools restaurants and more were separated blacks and whites. Schools head laws stating that thing separate but equal is okay. But many weren’t this way African American schools often got the leftovers of the white schools. James F Byrnes put in place a law to protect this from happening he put the same books that were in white schools in black schools.

Read More
1287 Words | 6 Pages

“The most oppressive feature of black secondary education was that southern local and state governments, through maintaining and expanding the benefits of public secondary education for white children, refused to provide public high school facilities for black children.” In sum, Anderson uses this chapter to build a broader argument about the “separate, but equal doctrine” under Plessy v. Ferguson that mandated segregation. More specifically, he situates this argument through case studies in Lynchburg, VA and Little Rock, AR. In the culminating chapter, James Anderson discusses the emergence of historically black universities and black land-grant colleges.

Read More
509 Words | 3 Pages

Central to his thesis are the findings of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, who began a campaign in the spring of 1964 that focused exclusively on USDA discrimination. In chapter 2, titled “Evidence,” Daniel explains how the commission uncovered vast inequities between white and black farmers with regard to their access not only to government programs but also to agents and seats on government oversight committees. Situating his argument in the larger historiography on the civil rights movement, Daniel explains that there was more activism occurring in the Deep South during the mid-1960s than the voter registration drives often associated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) “Freedom Summer.” Primarily, this involved educating blacks about their eligibility for federal programs, as well as assistance with navigating the intentionally long and difficult forms that one had to complete in order to

Read More
288 Words | 2 Pages

Who Killed Reconstruction? “The blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…..” said a Boston newspaper in 1873 saying that the Africans-Americans were too dumb to be in Congress or any political office. Three years later, was the 100th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. With the irony of the election of 1876 had officially crushed the African-American dream. In 1877, the Reconstruction efforts finally ended, so people were wondering who killed Reconstruction.

Read More
1745 Words | 7 Pages

In Mark Bauerlein’s, Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906, the political and social events leading to the riot are analyzed. The center of events took place around and inside Atlanta in the early 1900’s. The riot broke out on the evening of September 22, 1906. Prior to the riot in 1906, elections were being held for a new Georgia governor. Bauerlein organizes his book in chronological order to effectively recount the events that led to the riot.

Read More
662 Words | 3 Pages

The first three chapters of the reading, The Struggle for Black Equality, Harvard Sitkoff runs through the civil rights movement in the 20th century; outlining the adversities facing black people, the resistance to black equality, hindrances to the already progress and the achievements made in the journey for civil rights. John Hope Franklin, in the foreword, dwells on the impact of the time between 1954 and 1992 and the impact it had on American Society, how fight for equality is far from easy and patience is required in the fight to "eliminate the road blocks that prevent the realization of the ideal of equality". In the preface, Sitkoff is clear that that history does not speak for themselves and attempt to detail any particular will be influenced by the author 's personal beliefs. Sitkoff, who associated and identified with the movement, believed "that the struggle was confronting the United States with an issue that had undermined the nation 's democratic institutions". Sitkoff elected

Read More
1695 Words | 7 Pages

Emancipation: False Promises After the Civil War? During a speech regarding civil rights and the role of Emancipation, American president Lyndon B. Johnson stated that the Emancipation Proclamation failed in a manner that it will not truly come into fruition until aspects of life and opportunity are no longer intertwined with race (Johnson 1973). Though emancipation gave African Americans a false promise of respect, Hunter argues that the proclamation was used as a tool for the South to confine the Black community to degradation while Du Bois argues that despite the restrictive nature of the proclamation, African Americans can be successful if they can adhere to societal expectations and conform in sectors such as the workforce and when exercising their civil liberties. When the ‘Work or Fight’ law

Read More
1329 Words | 6 Pages

The ruling thus lent high judicial support to racial and ethnic discrimination and led to wider spread of the segregation between Whites and Blacks in the Southern United States. The great oppressive consequence from this was discrimination against African American minority from the socio-political opportunity to share the same facilities with the mainstream Whites, which in most of the cases the separate facilities for African Americans were inferior to those for Whites in actuality. The doctrine of “separate but equal” hence encourages two-tiered pluralism in U.S. as it privileged the non-Hispanic Whites over other racial and ethnic minority

Read More
252 Words | 2 Pages

In September 18, 1895, Booker T. Washington gave an address, that was known as the “Atlanta Compromise”, at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition. The fact that Mr. Washington was invited to speak to this all-white southern audience, was itself a historic event. In his speech, Washington made the argument that the African-American people should not ask for the right to vote, they would not retaliate against any racist behavior, and they would tolerate segregation and discrimination. Washington strongly argued that African Americans to get rid of Reconstruction-era notions of social equality.

Read More
671 Words | 3 Pages

Peter Schroeder Dr. Christopher Marshall Modern United States History 2/2/17 Writing Assignment 1: The African-American Experience with Reconstruction Reconstruction among the south refers to the point in time which the United States was attempting to establish a relationship between the union and the rebels. The Union had won the civil war, so the next step was to begin to mend the broken relationship between the north and the south. Though historians cannot agree on when it began, there is merit in saying that it started before the end of the Civil War. After victory, had been solidified for the Union, attention of President Lincoln turned towards reconstruction.

Read More
319 Words | 2 Pages

While racial attitudes and “Reconstruction weariness” contributed to the collapse of Reconstruction efforts, the use of violence against whites and blacks combined with the belief in white supremacy played the

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

Contrary to popular belief, racism is still well alive in the United States, even in the 21st century. Many attempts have been made to terminate the unwanted social injustice, but its presence is still plainly evident today. Still, there have been many citizens who have become blind to racism. Despite slavery being abolished, and segregation outlawed, racism still exists. A minority in the United States would easily be able to explain in detail the evident facts of racism today, while most white persons will tell you that the country has reached racial equality.

Read More
1967 Words | 8 Pages

Therefore, it becomes crucial for government legislation to protect these rights for people of all races, colors, genders, religious affiliations, and nationalities. As a country that values morals, the U.S. federal government harbors a duty to protect its citizens. Unfortunately, however, for many years of American history powerful officials in government had the power to define what people groups were deserving of these rights, and for many years the “unalienable rights” outlined in the Constitution were chiefly given to white men. Thankfully, with time, legislation has massively improved the treatment of minority groups that history had once not been so kind to. Thus, one can see the great significance of the civil rights act and its critical role in ensuring the protection of American

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

In the period of reconstruction, there was a lack of racial equality and racism towards blacks. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, with the exception of allowing it as a punishment for a crime (“Thirteenth Amendment” 19). Although it abolished slavery, there was still a lack of equality towards blacks. The Black Codes were state laws in the south, that were implemented in 1866. These laws limited the rights of African Americans and were

Read More

More about Leeanna Keith: The Failure Of Reconstruction

Related Topics

Open Document