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Following the Civil War, the U.S. was in a period of reconstruction. From 1865-1900 many promises were made on the social and political changes that would impact the lives of African-Americans, such as new amendments and the Freedmen's Bureau, however, though there were many successes, practices like black codes, poll taxes, and the ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson all ultimately showed that the reconstruction era was a failure. This caused African-Americans to be stuck in a limbo of searching for fair and equal treatment that they would not receive for decades to come. A step in the right direction came through the passing of the thirteenth amendment in 1865 which abolished and prohibited slavery, the passing of the fourteenth amendment in 1868 which said that all people born in the U.S. were citizens, and the ratification of the fifteenth amendment in 1870 which said that no one can be kept from voting due to their race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Through the passing of these three amendments, recently emancipated slaves were supposed to be ensured equality, however, voting rights in the south for African-Americans didn’t last once reconstruction ended. …show more content…
These “codes” restricted the rights of newly freed African-Americans by prohibiting them from renting land, borrowing money to buy land, forcing them to sign work contracts, and prohibiting them from testifying against whites in court. Another example of segregation was through poll taxes and literacy tests that were used to not allow African-Americans to vote. One success to come from reconstruction in the south was the election of two African-American senators (Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce) and over a dozen African-Americans to the House of Representatives. There was backlash from this that caused bitter resentment from
Even when the Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, and the black people embraced education, built their own churches, reunited with their broken families and worked very hard in the sharecropping system, nothing was enough for the Reconstruction to succeed. Whites never gave total freedom to African Americans. Blacks were forced to endure curfews, passes, and living on rented land, which put them in a similar situation as slaves. In
In order to unite the nation, intense dispute had aroused. Through various laws both African Americans and ex-Confederates were affected by the reconstruction period. Although the Reconstruction Era had gained a negative legacy, the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were a breakthrough in the life of African Americans. The continuous development of polices was to reach the intended goal that the Reconstruction Era was sought for, to unify the United States of
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
Between 1860 and 1877, America experienced a number of constitutional and social changes, as a result of the Republican election and loss of southern power that lead to the Civil War, and the reconstruction efforts that would follow, inevitably proving unsuccessful. During this period, the south, and the freedmen left residing in southern states as well, had to adjust to a new society, driven by constitutional developments such as the Emancipation Proclamation, and later, the 13th amendment, which freed slaves and left them to assimilate into a white civilization. These freedmen gained the rights to vote, hold positions of power in congress, serve in the army, and own land- which although would not last for a very long period- would prove to
After the Civil War, with the protection of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a period when they were allowed to vote, actively participate in the political process, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations. Opponents of this progress, however, soon rallied against the former slaves' freedom and began to find means for eroding the gains for which many had shed their blood.
Prior to the Civil War, African Americans were treated as second class individuals. They lacked the freedom and equality they sought for. To the African Americans, the Civil War was a war of liberation. Contrary to what African Americans perceived, Southerners viewed the war as an episode of their journey to salvation. Southern lands may have been destroyed and depleted, but the South was persistent that their racial order would not be disrupted. To most, the goals of the Reconstruction era were to fully restore the Union, and to some, grant emancipation and liberty to former slaves. Although the newly freedmen gained various rights and liberties, their naïve dreams of complete equality and liberation collapsed due to the immense resistance of the South.
The Reconstruction was an eight-year effort to fix the South after the Civil War left it destroyed. Now that the Civil War ended, and the North & South were united once again, they were the ones responsible for fixing the economic, political, and social damage. Though the Reconstruction was made to unite all Americans and support equality, the Reconstruction ended up tearing America apart. This support soon came to an end in the mid-1870s with the question being; How much responsibility does the South have for the end of southern support? The KKK, political violence, and voting fraud all caused tension and violence that eventually brought the Reconstruction to an end.
From 1865 to 1877, Americans felt it was time for politics, the economy and society to change, which produced an era of reconstruction. In some areas Reconstruction is seen as a success and in other areas it's seen as a failure. The areas of success in this period were with the Radical Republicans and South Reconstruction. The "Union victory created a golden opportunity [for Radicals] to institutionalize the principle of equal rights for all, refardless of race" (Foner 570). The start of the Radical Reconstruction began with Congress giving black men the right to vote, which was a great success towards giving every citizen equal rights. Then the adoption of the fourteenth and fifteenth ammendment were also a huge step towards equal rights proposed
“War was easy. The hard part was cleaning up afterward.” In this essay we will be talking about the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments and their contents, contexts, and consequences. Also the successes and failures of the Reconstruction, lastly the election of 1876. The Reconstruction era after the Civil War had both beneficial and non beneficial happenings that helped shape our country into what it is today.
Americans were struggling to come to terms with these changes. This is where the Reconstruction period begins. During the period between 1865-1877, political, social, and economic reforms were sculpting the nation. The North and South weren’t on speaking terms where the South resented the North. Slaves had been freed, but were not truly accepted into society and economically the farming growth and sharecropping rose. The abolition of slavery was the focal point of the Reconstruction period. Much progress was made to accomplish abolishment. However, it would take approximately another hundred years for African Americans to enjoy the benefits of the Civil War amendments created during the Reconstruction
After the Civil War the Reconstruction Era occurred in the southern United States. The Reconstruction Era deeply impacted the south in a negative way for minority. African American were unjustly treated by the white Americans, their rights were limited and or taken away. As a result, they fought hard to obtain equal treatment as citizens. Blacks tried to fight segregation in many ways like at the ballot boxes, in the courtrooms, and through organizations like the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Beginning in 1873, a series of Supreme Court decisions limited the scope of Reconstruction-era laws and federal support for the Reconstruction Amendments, particularly the 14th and 15th, which gave African Americans the status
In the 1800’s slavery was a huge problem in our country. Especially in the south. White citizens in the south would own lots of plantations were African Americans would be forced to work. After the South was defeated in the civil war, the reconstruction process would begin. Reconstruction is when people try to fix the conflicts that were destroying the country. After trying to make new laws in the reconstruction process, reconstruction ended up being a failure.
After the Civil War was over and the Reconstruction-era began, changes were made such as the 13th amendment in 1865, which forbid slavery in the United States. Even though slavery was now prohibited, freed blacks were now left alone to struggle finding simple things like a roof to live in and a job to work for. Meanwhile, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to give the south humane conditions for them to be accepted back into the union and also wanted to give African Americans and former soldiers the right to vote, but that wasn’t very successful when put into the hands of Congress. Soon after Lincoln was killed in 1865, President Andrew Johnson came into presidency and changed the conditions giving African Americans a harder time adapting to their new lives as freedmen. Furthermore, the south became very violent against the blacks and came up with black codes, which put freed blacks as closely as possible back into a slave state. These black codes prohibited interracial marriages, the ownership of guns or liquor, congregation in large groups and had curfews for these freedmen. Furthermore, these black codes forced the freedmen to sign annual work contracts that were offensive and offered only in the agricultural f...
Reconstruction was needed and the period following the civil war, the reconstruction period, fostered many significant results and achievements especially for Constitutional amendments. While mending a broken country, the reconstruction period still left many fresh wounds. There was great successes and championships for former slaves and the blacks rights, but their was still lingering thoughts and acts of discrimination towards these groups. Reconstruction produced three amendments defending the people 's rights, yet discrimination towards blacks was peeking to new heights. Laws were not enough to change the hearts and minds of the people, which was at the core of the issue. With the unfortunate loss of the nation’s leader, it would be almost a hundred years later until America had leaders strong enough, in the nineteen sixties, that could change the ideas of racism and
The Civil War was the bloodiest series of battles in American history. The battle of Antietam had a total of 23,000 people in one day. The war just ended and all is supposed to go to peace. Is the war really over? The Reconstruction Era was the time period after the war from 1865-1877 (Background Essay, Timeline). This era was when the federal government sent troops down to the South to fix up the damage from the war and make sure the freedmen have their freedom. This time period was when the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were ratified giving the freedmen civil rights and the right to vote (Background Essay, Paragraph 3) . The Reconstruction Era looked like it was going to be successful, but the Klu Klux Klan in the South started pushing