Advantages And Disadvantages Of Reconstruction Era

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Stephanie Carter SOC 318- Race, Gender, Class Professor Martin October 18, 2012 Writing Assignment #2 In 1865 slavery had begun to come to an end in the United States. Because of industrial technology, many Americans realized they needed workers to operate all of the new machines and materials. From 1865 to 1880 a period of reconstruction began for African Americans. This period involved figuring out the details of making African Americans citizens, and not property. They were still not granted equal rights, but society was opening up new doors for them in order to have their labor done for them. The unfortunate part about the reconstruction period for the African Americans is they were still put at a disadvantage. Even though they were told to be given the opportunities to work, many of them wouldn’t get the jobs because they were uneducated or illiterate. Many white southerners noticed these disadvantages and came up with a social…show more content…
In the song he tells a story about a man named Jim Crow going through this time period of de jure segregation. The character, Jim Crow, began showing up in plays and shows across the country which is how the name became so popular. The laws established during de jure segregation are referred to as the Jim Crow laws because of the acts portrayed in these plays. An example of a Jim Crow law would be how African Americans were required to refer to whites as mister or ma’am, while referring to each other as aunt, uncle, or professor. This was to establish the respect level for the whites. Another example of a Jim Crow law was the segregation in the U.S. military. The military men were required to be separated in bunks and special teams based on their race. While many people misunderstand Jim Crow as an actual person, the underlying meaning of Jim Crow is he was an example of how African Americans were living throughout this
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