Racial Segregation And The Civil War

For many years after the Civil War African Americans in the United States faced racism and grave inequality throughout the south and north. Although all African Americans were granted citizenship and voting rights in the United States Constitution through the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, they were still treated like second-class citizens by whites. According to WEB Dubois, in “Back towards slavery” from Black Reconstruction in America “Southern people seemed to have transferred their Wrath at the Federal Government to the colored people.” Segregation and violence displaced African Americans for many decades. After the United States Supreme Court case Plessey vs. Ferguson in 1896 which declared that all public institutions be racially segregated, but they must be equal. African Americans believed that they were finally getting their chance at equality, but unfortunately white supremacy quickly became apparent. The legal segregation of African Americans from whites in transportation, education, businesses restaurants, public restrooms and other public places became known as Jim Crow Laws. After decades of inequality, the Civil Rights era erupted in the 1950s and African Americans began to demand equal treatment. The Civil Rights Era brought on various social movements in the south and north, as well as legislative decisions that pushed for a truly equal nation. The era of Civil Rights brought on strong resistance to oppression and eventually helped diminish Jim Crow laws.

In the South, the first social movement against Jim Crow laws began in Montgomery Alabama in 1955 when a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat up to a white passenger. This violated southern laws, and Rosa Parks was immediately arre...

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...or the passing of the Voting Rights act, which make it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote by making Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting illegal. The last major legislation that was passed was the Civil Rights act of 1968 by President Johnson. This act prohibited discrimination in the housing market and began to repair the effects of the FHA and white suburbanization.

Although Jim Crow laws and racial discrimination plagued the southern and northern civil rights, through various social movements and legislation was civil equality reached. African Americans fought tirelessly for rights that were just given to whites during the civil war era and faced extreme adversity. The civil rights movement was the first racial movement to spark change and influenced various social movements across the world.