Racism After Civil War

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Racisms effect on America after the Civil War HIS 204: American History Sense 1865 Racisms effect on America after the Civil War Though the Civil War had ended in 1865, it had hardly cooled racial tensions within the hearts of American citizens. Policies put in place after the war placed non-whites at major disadvantages causing the differences between whites and non-whites to become even more inherent. This made harmony among the races impossible. The issue of race played a major role in issues of the day, effecting specifically, immigration to the United States and American Imperialism. There were many reasons that made the problem of “the color line” more and more definite. In Plessy v. Ferguson “the justices legalized racism by stating that separate spaces for different races were allowable by law as long as they were equal.” (Bowles, 2011) They were, however, anything but equal. The blacks had to endure sub-par schools, churches, hospitals and restaurants. This was a constant reminder that they were considered second class to the white citizen simply because of the color of their skin. Though the fifteenth amendment gave black males the right to vote a poll tax was introduced to eliminate the black vote. It was effective because the large majority of blacks were poor and needed the money for priorities other than voting. Policies like these drove blacks deeper into poverty and only made the color line more definite. Racism also played a large role in immigration. Immigrants from all over the world were flooding the shores of the U.S. looking for the promise of the American Dream. Immigrants were filling many of the available jobs which caused animosity and deepened racial feelings. The most obvious example of this is Chinese immigration. When Chinese labor was in demand in the West they were treated fairly and were even spoken favorably of. However,
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