Free Argumentative Essays-Seperate Is Not Equal

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Separate is Not Equal Separate is Not Equal Imagine being a black woman. It is late at night and you just got off your shift of being a nurse. Waiting for the bus, you are eager to sit down and rest your feet until you make it home. As you get on the bus, the only available seat is up front behind the bus driver. As you sit down, the bus stops to pick up someone else. It is a white man and seeing there are no other seats, he stops and stares right at you. Visibly exhausted and knowing you are a woman, he calls you names and tells you you are dumb for not giving up your seat quick enough. To not start a scene, you reluctantly get up and stand on your sore feet until you get home. Jim Crow laws (named after a black character in minstrel shows) were rigid laws used to discriminate against blacks. They were established in southern states and Border States between the 1870’s through the mid 1960’s. These laws were put into place to support the idea that blacks were inferior the whites. Pro-segregationists believed that any interaction between the black and white races would lead to a race that would cause the downfall and destruction of America. Jim Crow laws were used to insure that no blacks and whites would intermarry or…show more content…
Whites began to lynch blacks due to the belief that they were the superior race. In the years between 1882 and 1968, as many as 3,440 blacks were lynched, including men, women, and children. Some whites saw lynchings as offensive, but they supported them in order to keep order among the blacks. Whites believed that if blacks were not in constant fear, they would rebel. The belief of stereotypes played into the lynchings a significant amount. The general fear of blacks rebelling was based on the stereotype that blacks commit more crimes than whites. As a result, whites lynched blacks as a sign of superiority and as a way of minimizing
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