Chris Layne Professor Madar US. History 122.01 New Chapter in American History Imagine living in a world at which you are harassed and abused just because of the color of your skin. Since the beginning of America’s existence, Whites have had this strong hate towards the black population. The whites wanted to continue to have the power and control in their hands. In order for them to achieve this, the white southerners came up with the Jim Crow laws to prevent the African Americans from achieving their god given right of being free and equal. This did not end the African hope of becoming equal. After many years of mistreatment, African Americans knew that change in society was necessary. The members of the black population have been enslaved, beaten, abused, neglected and just taken advantage of, since the end of the civil war, even into present times, African Americans have struggled for equality and rights that white Americans often take for granted. Arguably, no post-war struggle was larger or more significant than the movement to eliminate the Jim Crow laws from existence in the South. As a large portion of the Civil Rights movement, many works are dedicated to the efforts put forth and the ensuing results, including “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka”, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, “Black Revolution”, “Bigger Than a Hamburger,” and the act from Rosa Parks. In 1896 the government passed a law that legally allowed racial discrimination. Under the landmark court case name of “Plessy vs Ferguson”, this ruled that this sort of discrimination did not violate the 14th amendment of the Constitution, as long as the facilities were equal. However, these facilities were not equal in anyway. So the African America... ... middle of paper ... ...en have this “destined date with freedom,” at which they can stand alongside their fellow brothers and sisters and be First- Class Citizens and be done with racial discrimination for the whole world. Since the beginning of America till after the Jim Crow era, the African Americans have been humiliated, been considered inferior, and have been denied their basic given rights. However, even with this treatment, the African Americans did not give up or lose hope. They were beaten and imprisoned for their beliefs as shown in the sources above, but they continued to fight for racial integration and to also rise and stand up for themselves and equality. After about a hundred years of mistreatment and being denied their basic human and civil rights, the African Americans defeated the laws that were put down on them and overcame the tragedies during the era of Jim Crow.
Blacks were treated unjustly due to the Jim Crow laws and the racial stigmas embedded into American society. Under these laws, whites and colored people were “separate but equal,” however this could not be further from the truth. Due to the extreme racism in the United States during this time period, especially in the South, many blacks were dehumanized by whites to ensure that they remained inferior to them. As a result of their suffering from the prejudice society of America, there was a national outcry to better the lives of colored people.
For 75 years following reconstruction the United States made little advancement towards racial equality. Many parts of the nation enacted Jim Crowe laws making separation of the races not just a matter of practice but a matter of law. The laws were implemented with the explicit purpose of keeping black American’s from being able to enjoy the rights and freedoms their white counterparts took for granted. Despite the efforts of so many nameless forgotten heroes, the fate of African Americans seemed to be in the hands of a racist society bent on keeping them down; however that all began to change following World War II. Thousands of African American men returned from Europe with a renewed purpose and determined to break the proverbial chains segregation had keep them in since the end of the American Civil War. With a piece of Civil Rights legislation in 1957, the federal government took its first step towards breaking the bonds that had held too many citizens down for far too long. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was a watered down version of the law initially proposed but what has been perceived as a small step towards correcting the mistakes of the past was actually a giant leap forward for a nation still stuck in the muck of racial division. What some historians have dismissed as an insignificant and weak act was perhaps the most important law passed during the nation’s civil rights movement, because it was the first and that cannot be underestimated.
The constant efforts and struggles of African Americans against Jim Crow laws, hate groups, social injustice, and racial bias prevailed and led to the Civil Rights Movement that has shaped our contemporary world. The struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights in a society dominated by conservative, white culture and prejudice along with the endeavor of acquiring the constitutional right to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, can safely place Jim Crow laws in archive of American
...om they were still put through events and had to experience many difficulties to get to where they are today. Freedom and rights was not given to them as easily as it was for rights, it took a lot of fighting and hard work to receive what they deserved. The Southern whites put up a fight to keep slavery going and even once they lost that they continued to fight to take the rights away from African Americans. Soon the Ku Klux Klan came to be and that even made it harder for African Americans to stay alive and live a normal happy life. Through it all though they never gave up on fighting to one day be equal and to live a life where they would not have to live every hour in fear. Eventually they received just that and are now seen as equal among every race in the United States, so every fight, death, and pain they had to endure all ended up being worth it in the end.
Although the Fourteenth Amendment, when adopted in 1868, gave certain rights to blacks, including citizenship, equal protection of law and other freedoms, African-Americans were considered inferior by whites in this country. In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson officially made segregation legal, and put “separate but equal” into effect. African-Americans were excluded from hotels, restaurants, theatres and schools. African-Americans had lower paying jobs than did whites. Accumulated frustration led blacks to call for dramatic social change. (Good, 8-10)
Prior to World War I there was much social, economic, and political inequality for African Americans. This made it difficult for African Americans to accept their own ethnicity and integrate with the rest of American society. By the end of World War II however African Americans had made great strides towards reaching complete equality, developing their culture, securing basic rights, and incorporating into American society.
African Americans who came to America to live the golden dream have been plagued with racism, discrimination and segregation throughout a long and complicated history of events that took place in the United States dating back to slavery to the civil rights movements. Today, African American history is celebrated annually in the United States during the month of February which is designated Black History Month. This paper will look back into history beginning in the late 1800’s through modern day America and describe specific events where African Americans have endured discrimination, segregation, racism and have progressively gained rights and freedoms by pushing civil rights movement across America.
The end of the Civil War in 1865 ended slavery and made African Americans “free and equal”. However, many of the Africans Americans were still not satisfied with America; because they were supposed to be free, but they were not treated equally in the 20th century. This was due to segregation which said that African Americans were separate from whites but equal. Unfortunely, for the African Americans segregation was unconstitutional, because the facilities that were given by white Americans to the Negro were considerably worse than what the whites had. African Americans were outraged at the decision of the Supreme Court Case, Plessey v. Ferguson (1896), where it was deemed that segregation was constitutional. The harsh treatment of the African
In today’s society, is Black History Month still necessary to learn about Black History? Should it be removed or should we keep it? The argument goes both ways. Some ask why there are no other history months and others say that it is important to learn about the heritage of black people. Black History Month started as what was called “Negro History Week” by Carter G. Woodson in 1926. It was said to be the second week in February to coincide with the birthdays of two pivotal people in black history, Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery later to become a leading abolitionist, Abraham Lincoln was the president who wrote the emancipation proclamation that was intended to free slaves in the confederate states. Celebrating Black History Month allows us to reflect on the achievements of the significant civil rights activists in the black community, provide a time for us to learn about the factors that prompted change for civil rights, and to show all Americans why Black History is American History.
Diversity, we define this term today as one of our nation’s most dynamic characteristics in American history. The United States thrives through the means of diversity. However, diversity has not always been a positive component in America; in fact, it took many years for our nation to become accustomed to this broad variety of mixed cultures and social groups. One of the leading groups that were most commonly affected by this, were African American citizens, who were victimized because of their color and race. It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s during the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place yet, it is the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools. Integration in white schools played a major role in the battle for Civil Rights in the South, upon the coming of independence for all African American people in the United States after a series of tribulations and loss of hope.
During my early years of school, I remember being taught white accomplishments and wondering if blacks and other people of color had made any significant contributions to today's world. I noticed that television consist of all white people. Throughout my research paper I hope to cover certain aspects of African American heritage. Aspects such as blacks making up the largest minority group in the United States, although Mexican-Americans are rapidly changing that. The contributions blacks have provided to our country are immeasurable. Unfortunately though rather than recognizing these contributions, white America would rather focus on oppressing and degrading these people. As a consequence American society instinctively associated white with light and all good things; while black is associated with darkness or evil.
Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for economic and social equality.
For decades, African Americans have been on a racial discrimination and extremely deadly roller coaster ride for justice and equality. In this new day and age, racial tendencies and prejudice has improved since the 1700-1800s,however, they are slowly going back to certain old ways with voting laws and restaurants having the option to serve blacks or not. It all began with the start of slavery around 1619. The start of the New World, the settlers needed resources England and other countries had, which started the Triangle Trade. The New England settlers manufactured and shipped rum to West Africa; West Africa traded slaves to the West Indies for molasses and money . From the very beginning, they treated African Americans like an object or animals instead of another human being with feelings and emotions. Women that were pregnant gave birth to children already classified as slaves. After the American Revolution, people in the north started to realize the oppression and treatment of blacks to how the British was treating them. In 1787, the Northwest Territory made slavery illegal and the US Constitution states that congress could no longer ban the trade of slaves until 1808 (Brunner). However, since the invention of the cotton gin, the increase for labor on the field increased the demand for slave workers. Soon the South went thru an economic crisis with the soil, tobacco, and cash crops with dropped the prices of slaves and increased slave labor even more. To ensure that the slaves do not start a rebellion, congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1793 that made it a federal crime to assist a slave in escaping (Black History Milestones). This is the first of many Acts that is applied to only African-Americans and the start of many ...
African Americans fought until the Jim Crow laws were taken out of effect, and they received equality of all people regardless of race. Along the way there were many controversial court cases and important leaders who helped to take a stand against racial segregation.
African-American people have had to mount over many obstacles to get their standing today. First was the selling of their people into slavery. Then, they endured slavery itself, being treated like animals. After slavery was abolished, colored people still had to deal with racial discrimination, demoralization, subjugation and hatred, especially colored women. Black women have had to face unbelievable odds at obtaining self-assurance.