African American Racism

Even after the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment, African Americans were “disenfranchised in the South by intimidation and electoral trickery, including whites-only primaries, rigged literacy tests, and poll taxes” (Patterson 2011, p. 180). The Freedom Riders rode through the South, enduring harassment and imprisonment to encourage other African Americans to vote. Voter turnout in African American communities is greatly encouraged. Personally, coming from an African American family, I was strongly encouraged by my parents and grandparents to vote when I was of legal age. My family instilled the importance of voting in me at a very young age. Although voter turnout among African Americans is still fairly low, in the 2008 presidential election African Americans had the second highest voter turnout, behind non-Hispanic Caucasians (African Americans, n.d.). Race can influence voter turnout because with African Americans specifically, although rates are getting better, they are still not high.

There has been much documentation on the plight of Native Americans throughout the beginnings of this nation. In spite of the attempts by the early government of the United States, the culture of many Native American tribes has survived and even flourished. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 is just one of many examples of how our government attempted to wipe out Native American culture. This paper will discuss the Dawes Act, particularly the time leading up to the act, the act itself, and finally its failure. By understanding the past failures in the treatment of a particular race of people, the government can learn how to protect the rights of all people, especially in a day and age of cultural diversity.

The emancipation proclamation was what seemed like the beginning of freedom for African Americans. African Americans fought hard and valiantly in the American Civil war and with the Unions win freedom and peace for blacks seemed to be assured. As most people would quote," Freedom isn 't free." It almost always has a cost. Africans Americans since the origin of this country have literally laid down their lives for the cost of freedom and opportunity in the US. One of the most coveted freedom 's both past and present is the right to suffrage. My paper discusses the many factors leading to and the trials and tribulations involving black 's right to vote. In this paper, I will discuss the constitutional amendments as well as the landmark supreme court cases that affected both the lives and voting rights of African Americans during the time period of 1865 through 1900.

Minorities were necessary in order to take up unwanted work in production and in creating monumental advancements that Americans were unwilling to do. For example, the Transcontinental railroad was built primarily by Chinese workers. African Americans especially, were kept in the lower class and viewed upon as mainly common laborers, because they were argued to have had little intelligence and if taught well could develop needed skills in production jobs (Doc D). They were subjugated in the south and not allowed to integrate into society, forcing them to live under similar circumstances as they would if they were enslaved. However, they are now largely credited for building up the nation through their largely uncompensated labor. The Indians were destined to be destroyed as a culture. The land that was made available through the Homestead Act, Morrill Grant and utilized by large corporations, such as the railroads, was largely stolen Native American land (Doc E). The Dawes Act, for example, was adopted by Congress in 1887 and it authorized the President to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians in order to turn a profit and divide the

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.” In the 1880’s poll taxes and literacy requirements that afterward advocated African Americans to vote. Meanwhile Klan violence frightens from police and employers, blacks were still “protesting”about voting rights. As a result, there were over two dozen blacks serving in state congress across some

The right to vote for African American became difficult during the time because the northern didn’t want to consider the blacks as equal to the society. As Frederick Douglass, has once stated “Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot.” African American fought their way to gain their right to vote is by coming together, free blacks and emancipated slaves, to create parades, petition drives to demand, and to organize their own “freedom ballots.” As a free African American, they except the same respect as the whites and nothing

Prior to the Jacksonian Era, the law restricted voting, for the most part, to white males who owned property. As suffrage became a popular topic, “men who could not meet property requirements insisted that they were as fit as others to exercise the rights of citizens [voting]” (GME, 357). Through petitions by landless men, the land requirement became invalid and

The U.S became a colonial power. This negatively affected the native tribes, such as the Sioux when the Dawes Act was passed in 1887, making it legal for the government to buy any land they pleased. In this instance, the growth of government proved to be a poison to the natives who were forced to give up their land and way of life. The expansion of government not only targeted native tribes, but also singled out races of immigrants, such as the Chinese. In 1882, the government approved and passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which stated that Chinese immigrants could only exist in China Towns, which were established for second class citizenships. (Pettengill, 1/31/18). This display of segregation demonstrated how the government had the power to divide the nation into sectors that could be regulated much easier. In doing so, the government was striping America’s offer of freedom to the immigrants that sought a better life in the new

Indigenous peoples of the United States have been persecuted against since the birth of the nation. As years progressed, the Indians were stripped of their identity and exposed to the realities of the American lifestyle—a lifestyle that failed to coincide with the traditions and culture they possessed years prior to the influx of Americans into western territory. As desire for this territory increased due to economic ventures, and the ultimate desire to expand due to Manifest Destiny, measures needed to be taken to ensure the land was to be in full possession of the government. Thus, the Dawes Act was enacted in 1887, which allotted new lands to Indians in exchange for American citizenship. While its promise could be construed as a generous gesture by the government, the act in reality was nothing but a gesture; it was a burden. Therefore, the Dawes Act of 1887, along with other attempts of Indian assimilation, threatened family ties and culture, stripped them of sacred lands, and proved that citizenship came with a fatal denunciation of their culture.

The Dawes Act of 1887 was an act that attempted to allot the land of the Native Americans. It tried to fall apart the Indian reservations by allotting land to Individual Indians. The purpose of this act was to improve the life of the Indians and assimilate them into the American society. Through the Johnson-O'Malley Act, the United Stated decided to provide subsidization on education, medicine and social welfare for the Native Americans who lived within the borders. It reduced the federal government’s strict regulation towards every aspect of the Indian life. This act allowed the Secretary of the Interior to deal with contracts between the States and the federal government for the education, welfare and medicine of Indians.

The event which impacted the ending wars between the United States Army and the Indian nations was the passing of the Dawes Act. One of the top arguments facing the government was the concept that many reformers inferred about the dream of conforming the Indians into a piece of our countries’ white culture. The Dawes Act divided reservations into sections consisting of 160 acres per family to live in; therefore, the remainder of the land would be given to the surrounding white settlements. Although the Dawes Act seemed like a great benefit for the Indians, in many instances this was not true. The Indians’ lives were greatly affected by this act; the natives as the original land owners for generations

Legally, the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment just a few years after the close of the Civil War, African American men had the right to vote according to the United States Constitution. However, racial relations in the south had deteriorated so greatly that even such constitutionally-protected elements of their lives were unable to survive. Whites passed a number of laws designed to disenfranchise African American men, knowing that without the right to vote, the voices of newly-freed slaves would not be heard. These laws included such measures as literacy tests, poll taxes, property qualifications, and so-called “grandfather” clauses that denied an individual the right to vote if their grandfather did not vote himself. Race relations in the south had deteriorated so rapidly that even something as basic as voting, something that was to be provided to African American men according to the United States Constitution, was denied them (“The state…”, 2011).

Due to the timing of the Gilded age, a lot of voters repression was present during the time. They saw the cut backs of Reconstruction, because of the limits within the community of those who can vote. Black people were incapable of voting in the South by dint of unfair literacy tests, poll taxes, and violent threats posed by those of higher authority. ("Literacy and the Immigration of "undesirables,")

Discrimination in voting has been a prevalent issue in the African American community. Before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 poll taxes, literacy tests, and physical intimidation have prevented African Americans from voting. While this problem is widely recognized as an issue of the past it is still made possible through racial gerrymandering. This is an important matter because it has restricted fully entitled American citizens from voting.

In the United States of America increased incidents of racism have been conveyed through the media, all of which are targeting Americans of colour. Racism has existed for hundreds of year, although it was seemed to be removed from civilised society by such names as Martin Luther king, or Malcom X, it has remerged in the twenty first century. I personally believe that with history repeating itself Americans would have learned from mistakes. However as Police officers abuse their power, hate groups rally to protest, and children being slaughtered, racial abuse/discrimination has gone unseen by the public.