How far do you agree with the view that African Americans were treated as second class citizens between 1940 and 1946? This view is very accurate; African Americans were not offered the same political, economic or social opportunities and rights as white people, despite the terms of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. However, overall, treatment of African Americans was worse in the south. Political/ legal rights and opportunities were limited for African Americans due to their treatment as second class citizens. For example, in the south, Jim Crow laws were in place, meaning that everybody had to pass a literacy test and pay poll tax before they could vote.
Due to this boom the amount of unemployed African American workers fell sharply from 937,000 to 151,000 making black Americans more equal citizens and less disenfranchised. Despite the alterations made in the North, in the southern states, African Americans were still predominantly employed in poorly paid agricultural jobs. As it did in the North the war caused a boom in the south as well, however black people were not able to get well-paying jobs until A. Philip Randolph threatened to lead a march on Washington unless jobs were opened up to black workers. This development though did lead to some progression, President Roosevelt in direct response created the FEPC in 1941, which was a solid win for the black
The decade succeeding the Second World War saw both segregation and discrimination legally enforced for African-Americans. They were still living and being treated as second-class citizens, causing them also to be deprived of the rights; which impacted every aspect of their lives. In the North, their socio-economic conditions remained still very poor; leaving African-Americans to be, furthermore, categorised through the ghetto-system. Although pay in jobs was fairly low for both African-Americans and White-Americans, there was still the chance that the pay for African-Americans was still lower than that of White-Americans. Although there was evidence that unemployment had fell – many African-Americans were still unemployed.
Most of the African Americans were just slaves to the Whites. The African Americans didn’t usually have any say in their lives because they were unequal to the Whites. The African Americans were forced to sharecrop because they could not afford their own land. Their pay was less than minimal. The African Americans were treated unfairly and they were the first group of people that were laid off during any economic downturn.
Basically all of the South’s resources were going to hell. Uncertain economic times make it pretty hard to make a living. African Americans found themselves to be politically limited during this time as Southern states passed laws that limited their access to exercise their right to vote. Literacy tests were used to keep blacks away from ballot boxes, as some states limited the right to vote to those who could pass a literacy test; a large majority of slaves had never learned to read or write. Not surprisingly, white voters were often given easier passages than blacks.
The Second World War is a significant event in history. I believe that it made a small amount of difference to the lives of black Americans; it was able to change some of the attitudes of white Americans; it helped influence the passing of the Fair Employment Practices Commission (1941) and also helped reduce the unemployment figures of black Americans. Although it made a substational difference, things were still not perfect. Black Americans were still targeted by extremist members of the Ku Klux Klan and they were still treated as second-class citizens. In this essay, I will analyze the ways lives changed for black Americans after the Second World War, as well as this I will look at the ways they may not have changed.
The African Americans were forced to come to the USA; they were not immigrants by choice. They were discriminated against, made slaves of and treated like animals, or maybe even worse. Looking back, it is hard to imagine that human beings could be responsible for such cruelty, and to think that racial segregation was legal until 60 years ago. More so it is a terrifying thought that it took almost two hundred and fifty years before it was made illegal to hold humans as slaves, in the USA. America has a dark history of slavery, but after 1863 vassalage was abolished.
So how free were Blacks in the North? The answer to that question is, not very. Although they did have some freedoms they still had many more restrictions. This document will show you the many more restrictions than freedoms Blacks in the North actually had. The few freedoms blacks in the North had, according to Document A, were the right to vote, but only in five states!
It limited them from voting and also segregation in a sense as African American were seen as illiterate and less important. It could be said that Booker T Washington had helped with education and development he had founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881. After 1900, African Americans made some genuine gains. Between 1900 and 1917, illiteracy fell by a third to about 30%. The number of black-owned businesses rose from 20,000 to 40,000.
Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 segregation in the United States was commonly practiced in many southern states. African Americans were discriminated against repeatedly in the south and laws did nothing to protect them. The segregation in the time was supposed to be “separate but equal” but it was hardly close to that. The federal v. state controversy affected many people in the 1960’s because no one wanted to integrate. The struggle of federal v. state is affecting the world today with gun control just as it affected the 1960’s with segregation and integration.