Even to today, this is still happening, a superior race, we try to say that everyone is equal but no African Americans would believe this, but this is all starting to change now that the US have a African American president. Reconstruction In the Southern states, many African Americans demanded equality in 1865 - they felt they were unequal in economic, social, political and legal aspects. Durings 1865 Reconstruction Confederate style was
These laws denied black Americans the equal rights of white citizens which re-imposed white supremacy and meant they remained as second-class citizens. It wasn’t only the Jim Crow laws but under the Fifteenth Amendment, black people had the legal right to vote throughout America. Nonetheless, the southern states found devious ways to disenfranchise the local black population. For example, some states introduced a grandfather clause, which meant that people could only vote if their grandfathers had been able to vote. Other states introduced literacy tests as criteria for voting.
Many of these facilities were, education, healthcare, transport, cinemas, restaurants and churches and even housing and estates were segregated. This shows the extent white went to separate them from the ‘inferior’ race. Jim Crow laws limited black Americans from having a better way of life as they were made poorer, didn’t have the opportunity to managerial roles as they were only allowed the low paying jobs and weren’t equal to white people increasing poor conditions, also, led to unequal or no voting rights in coloured communities. Under the Fifteenth Amendment black people had legal rights to vote across America. However, many southern states found ways around the laws to disenfranchise the black populations.
Segregation was seen as lawful due to the Plessy vs. Ferguson case saying that ‘separate but equal’ was how they should live their lives. The social status of African Americans saw almost no improvement throughout the years 1945-55; across the country black Americans were still treated as sub-human. In the North, the situation had been slightly better by 1945 however throughout the period of time, 1945-55, nothing really changed. Although by law things should’ve been equal for all races even if they were to live separately, black Americans lived much harsher lives with their facilities being a lot worse and them being forced to live in ghettos due to the whites not wanting to live near them. Groups such as the NAACP attempted to change the situation in the North through questioning the Supreme Court on cases like Shelley vs. Kraemer where they tried to get rid of ‘restrictive covenants’ to do with real estate however unfortunately, this proved to be ineffective.
Although the end of the American civil war marked the end of slavery for African Americans, it did not mark their acceptance and equality with white people. Many southern states resented losing their slaves and were determined to keep African Americans as second class citizens. In 1950 segregation was in full force, meaning African Americans had separate churches, public transport, theatres, schools, hotels, swimming pools and many other facilities to white people. Segregation also applied to where people lived, so African Americans could only live in certain areas separate from white people, with these areas being much worse than the white suburbs, despite the separate but equal principle. Even when this was challenged in the Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court case the separate but equal principle was found to be constitutional.
Supervisor of coloured regiments started to respect the black people. There were some considerations about letting dark-skinned people in the confederate army but until the end of the war no serious regiments were deployed. Even thou the Union won and slavery was abolished the black’s situation didn’t change that much. Prejudice and dislike still existed. The respect that the black soldiers
The Second World War was a turning point for African Americans in the struggle for civil rights because they gained respect from most whites, but only to a certain extent. It helped them to get the vote, but outside the southern states suffered from de facto segregation, Southern states suffered from De Jero segregation and Jim Crow Laws, but they started to gain respect from some whites. The Second World War was a turning point for African Americans as it showed equality, however, voting rights did not necessarily result in the number of black votes within a constituency boundary. In 1945, there were only two black members of Congress, Representative William Dawson from Chicago, and Adam Clayton Powell, who had been elected to Congress in 1944 because newly drawn constituency boundaries ensured that Harlem’s quarter of a million blacks would be able to elect a black man to the House of Representatives. So, even though they took a step forward in equality outside of the south, it didn’t really help that much as they couldn’t do much with the vote because of the attitudes shown towards blacks from whites.
However, even after its abolishment, blacks were still kept in slavery and were treated poorly and unequal to other, white Americans. This abuse was much more common in the Southern states due to the more racist nature of the white people who lived there and the fact that the Southern states had originally fought to keep Black Slavery legal. Soon after the Civil War was won by the Northern States, the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment were brought into congress. The thirteenth amendment stated that all Slavery must end in America; the fourteenth amendment stated that everyone living on American soil should gain citizenship and the fifteenth amendment stated that all citizens should gain the right to vote. These amendments could be considered as vital moves towards black equalities, if they had worked.
Jim Crow: A Clever Ruse with Cruel Intent by Nunya Buisness English 151 Professor Weezy 21 April 2013 Racial inequality and segregation was not a new manifestation. Before the Civil War, when slavery had established the status of most blacks, there was no apparent need for statutory measures segregating the races. The initial postwar governments passed a few segregation laws and some restrictive Black Codes, but these did not continue to exist past Reconstruction. What replaced them, however, was not racial integration but an informal code of exclusion and discrimination. (Litwack 8) The Jim Crow system gave Southern whites a legal way to reclaim all-encompassing control over the lives of blacks after the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Discrimination At that period mostly Black Americans were uneducated, unskilled, and unprepared to provide their own basic needs, even though Black Americans had been stated citizens with all the rights promises to every people. A member of white people is still blended with the blacks wherever they are. So even though they already free from slavery, there still a large case about discrimination. After the Civil War, a great number of blacks were finally moved to the bigger cities in the North. And their living is proved better and they have a greater freedom but still in difficult conditions.