To What Extent Were African Americans Treated as Second-Class Citizens in the States Between 1940 and 1946?

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To what extent were African Americans treated as second-class citizens in the states between 1940 and 1946? In this essay, I will discuss the extent to which African Americans were treated as second-class citizens in the period of 1940 to 1946. I will analyse the political, social and economic factors in the north and south of the USA during this time that caused African Americans to be cited as second-class citizens. A second-class citizen is a person who is discriminated against, despite being a citizen or legal resident of the country they reside in. They have restricted legal and civil rights, and are usually subject to the effects of segregation and disenfranchisement. Before World War Two, in the south, only 2% of the black population voted in the election. After the war, this increased to 15%. The war opened up the eyes of both black and white people alike, that the war on discrimination they had fought and won in Europe, had not been won at home. Men and women saw the heroic feats of black soldiers in the war, and noticed that they had the same patriotism and dedication as the white soldiers. In turn, this caused people to become more open to the idea that black people were not subhuman, but equal citizens fighting for their liberty. If a white man was on the pavement and there was only room for one, the black man had to move off the pavement and allow the white pass with ease. Authorities in the south also tended to spend more money on the white Also, 40% of black housing in Washington DC was substandard, whereas only 12% of white housing fell into this category. This indicates the great difference in the wealth of each race, and that African Americans may have been segregated into one area of a city where housing was of lower quality than other areas. In fact, on September the 11th, 1941, 100 African American houses were demolished to make room for
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