When reading the article Domination and Resistance: The Politics of Wage Household Labor in New South Atlanta by Tera W. Hunter the definition of inequality comes to mind. As professor, Dan Gilbert noted inequality is the product of the history of generations choices in society. It’s difficult to define a term like inequality because many perspectives can have different views on the definition. Inequality is about power, domination, and resistances. Tera W. Hunter defines domination and resistances in her article as, “Domination is the process of exercising power over the dispossessed by whatever means necessary, but without overt conflict where possible. Resistance is any act, individual or collective, symbolic or literal, intended by subordinates to deny claims, to refuse compliance with impositions made by superordinates, or to advance claims of their own” (P. 207). In order to have domination, there must be individuals resisting. As James Scott noted relations of domination are, at the same time, relations of resistance. It’s not possible to have one without the other.
In Atlanta, after the civil war, the city experienced a prime example of domination and resistances. For many blacks, it was a hard transition after the emancipation to build a life after all the blacks knew was to be a slave to a master. Blacks in the south had to find jobs in order to provide for themselves and their family. For black women, it was especially hard to maintain a job while taking
World War II and its aftermath effected great changes in Georgia’s civil rights struggle. Large numbers of blacks moved to the west and the north to share in the wartime prosperity, giving the minority problem a national rather than a regional character. In Georgia, and elsewhere, urbanization was also rapidly accelerated and large numbers of blacks who fought in the armed services against tyranny and injustice abroad began to more keenly feel the injustice at home. The fight for democracy in Europe offered the perfect opportunity for black leaders to press for racial change in the South.
There was unemployment to a certain degree amongst the black community, as over 10% of black people were unemployed. This could be linked to poverty and poor quality of schooling and education Poverty and the condition of living and housing was a major
During the Reconstruction Era, African Americans got more opportunities which led to their growth. Some of these opportunities were education and many different work choices that wouldn't have happened without Reconstruction. In the history alive article it explained how after the Civil War, people built schools and colleges for black children across the south increasing their education greatly. Also, the reading ability rate of African-Americans went from 5% during slavery to more than 50% after slavery. Because of their ability to go to school, African Americans learned how to read and other educational experiences which made them have the same rights as white people providing for growth. After the Civil War, between 1865 to 1903 22,000 more black people than before owned business’. This led to success of African Americans in financial ways gaining more money. After reconstruction a lot of African-Americans started their own business leading to the success rates of African Americans going up greatly. Furthermore, 1/5 of the new office holders in the south were actually African Americans after reconstruction and they were all smart they were all smart, hard-working, focused, and ambitious. This was huge for the black community because they had never had black government politicians before. This made it so the government in the south was less white supremacy and more equality, bringing in new opinions from African American
In post-bellum America, the African Americans had to make a life for themselves. They had to transition into society as oppressed citizens. There were binding laws the African Americans had to face such as the Mississippi Black Codes. The Mississippi Black Codes
As much as Reconstruction had initially tried to help the South, it was the sole goal of this movement to, “undo as much as possible of Reconstruction.” State facilities originally that were supposed to help everyone were closed down, and the gap between black and white expenditures on schooling increased. Due to the depression in the 1890’s this worsened the situation for black families trying to make a living in the South couldn’t keep up their farms or the places that their children would learn. “In 1900, no public high schools for blacks existed in the South. Black elementary schools, one observer reported, occupied buildings “as bad as stables””. New laws about segregation also affected blacks in more ways than just demoralization, it also showed what kind of jobs were considered good work for them. In the instance of segregation on railroads, “many blacks could be found in “whites only” railroad cars. But they entered as servants and nurses, not as paying customers entitled to equal treatment. The rise of lynching also affected the way blacks lived their lives, by controlling the way they vote, how they treated whites, and how they couldn’t rely on the justice system to address their grievances. An example of the reduced number of voters is best seen in Louisiana, where the number of voters dropped from 130, 000 to 1, 342, which is directly linked to the use of violence as a way to intimidate black voters. Blacks also had to be careful how they acted around white, since murder wasn’t a federal crime and was handled by the state, many blacks were lynched without fair trials and accused of crimes like raping white women, murder, and theft. A majority of the accused never when to trial. All in all blacks in the South were largely affected negatively as a result in policy changes, social factors, and widespread violence. This injustice carried on
During these years of radical reconstruction, the African Americans were going through some very tough times. The laws that were put on them were harsh and unreasonable. All they wanted to do was becomes socially and economically apart of the United States. Groups like the KKK were unfair towards the blacks and made their lives miserable by holding rallies and killing them. As a result of reconstruction, the blacks were not given social or economic equality because of laws like the black codes and Jim Crow laws, and the rebellious whites in the south. These African Americans struggled just to support themselves, but whites eventually accepted them at the end of the
Once African American’s were freed they faced many social obstacles. Blacks wanted to immediately be given the same treatment to whites in the workforce, such as have one day off per week so they could have more free time with their families. Blacks had more than the right to request time off, but some whites in American thought that this request was unreasonable, mostly because white people now lacked the ability to exploit black labor (Ransom221). After slavery ended the South was in short supply for
The South was a complete mess after the Civil War. The early part of the 20th century brought many changes for African Americans. There was a difficult challenge of helping newly free African American slaves assimilate among their white counterparts. They suffered from crop failures, economic hardships, and the early failures of Reconstruction in the south. So as result many Southern African Americans migrated to northern cities in search of employment and a chance at a better life. However, Southern African Americans migrating to northern cities quickly discovered that they were not able to enjoy the same social and economic mobility experienced by their European immigrant counterparts arriving around the same time. There were many
After four years of war, the South finally surrendered and the Civil War was finally over. After the war, the South had been wrecked. The south faced work of the Reconstruction really hard because not only was there a shortage of materials, but there were few stocks of merchandise, and there were not that many schools for teachers to teach in. After the Civil War, slaves had been freed. The newly slaves had nowhere to go, and were roaming around looking for help or work. The government tried to help the slaves which benefited the slaves a lot. 2 ways the African American were benefited during the Reconstruction was by the Freedmen’s bureau and the 13th Amendment. 2 ways the African Americans were negatively affected by Reconstruction was the Rise of KKK and Sharecropping.
Reconstruction did not help African Americans move closer to the American Dream. Even though there were positives, there were also negatives. Due to Reconstruction, hate groups started, there was not any safety for African Americans, and the Black Codes or Jim Crow laws. One of the most infamous hate groups to rise was the Klu Klux Klan. KKK for short. African Americans were terrorized by this group. They are responsible for many hangings, burnings, and other horrors that were inflicted upon African Americans. Also, there was not any safety from the groups. It was not like being in the center of a city was going to help. There are unfortunately many pictures of African Americans being hanged in very populated areas. Also, there was the rise of Black Codes(Jim Crow laws). It is like how the saying goes, out of the frying pan and into the fire. Some of the codes, but not limited to, was the Grandfather clause, which basically said that if your grandfather could not vote, you cannot vote. There were also many other ways that African Americans were restricted from voting. There was poll tax, and unfair evaluations of voting tests. This also included segregation of schools (separate but equal). There was even a law forbidding a white person from marrying a black person. However, even though all of these horrific things came because the end of slavery,
The Reconstruction of the United States was a time of political controversy following the civil war. Throughout 1863-1877 several plans were put into place in an effort to unify the confederate states back into the union. Part of this process was to give newly freed slaves rights as free men. Some parts of the plan were successful and others were a complete disaster.
The Reconstruction Era is a suitable starting point for African Americans. “Reconstruction- the effort to restore southern states to the Union and to redefine African Americans’ place in
In this time period, life was extremely hard for African Americans simply because they were slaves and even though they were emaciated in 1863 by the Emancipation Proclamation. They were still treated with such disrespect...to the point where they were considered not to be humans. They were instilled with so much fear that the thought
African Americans had little opportunity to better themselves economically. Some laws prohibited them from teaching and from entering certain other businesses and professions. Large numbers of blacks had to take low-paying jobs as farm hands or as servants for white employers. Many others were forced to become sharecroppers or tenant framers. They rented small plots of land and paid the rent with money earned from the crops. Struggling to survive, many ran up huge debts to their white landlords or the town merchants. Fortunately, there were rays of sunshine forcing their way through this cloudy time.
“The Jim Crow era was one of struggle -- not only for the victims of violence, discrimination, and poverty, but by those who worked to challenge (or promote) segregation in the South” (“Jim Crow Stories”). It is important to know the history of this significant period where everyone was treated differently based on how they looked instead of their character. During the Jim Crow era, the lives of African Americans were severely restricted making it difficult for them to succeed in everyday life.