Life Of My Grandmother

Segregation played a major role throughout the lives of the African Americans. They were viewed as unequal, and were set apart from the norms of society. In the South, the African Americans were forced to use water fountains for blacks only. They were refused service at many local restaurants, and forced to give up their seat on the bus to a white individual. African Americans wanted and needed to take action to gain equality. Throughout the years, they tried all they could to obtain equality and enjoy the same freedoms as the white population.

I never knew how important my grandma was to me until she was gone. I called my grandma, Mawmaw. She was short with white hair that she would always curl with rollers in the morning. She was a widow, because my grandpa, Pa, passed away when I was five years old. The perfume she wore made her smell like Warm Vanilla Sugar from Bath and Body Works. I never thought I would have to live my life without her until the day she passed away.

Following the end of the Civil War and adoption of the 13th Amendment, white southerners were not happy with the end of slavery and the prospect of living or working equally with blacks whom they considered inferior. To keep-up, the majority of states and local communities passed Jim Crow laws that required “separate but equal” status for African Americans. These laws sanctioned legal punishments for associating with the opposite race. Jim Crow Laws were established between 1874 and 1975, an idea practice condemned black citizens to substandard treatment and facilities. Education was segregated as were public facilities such as hotels and restaurants under Jim Crow Laws. In reality, Jim Crow laws led to treatment and accommodations that were almost

According to the thirteenth amendment, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The purpose of the thirteenth amendment was to end slavery or any form of involuntary servitude everywhere among the United States. There was new hope for African Americans throughout the country but unfortunately their freedom had a limit and coincidentally, President Lincoln was assassinated shortly after. Jim Crow laws were established among the states and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the southern states of the United States up until 1965. This is how white southerners

In Spite of the devastating history of segregation in the United States. A lot has changed in the past fifty years since segregation ended. The United States shifted from arresting African Americans for using “white only” facilities to integrated schools all over the country. Influential individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr helped pave the way for African Americans to live as equals to along with their white counterparts in the United States of America.

When Confederate states wanted to join the Union after Civil war, they were required to undertake “Civil War” Amendments. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were developed, with each supporting equality within the states. However, these Amendments proved to be insufficient in the provision of equal rights to African American citizens (Medley,2003). In the late 19th Century, laws limiting civil rights of the Blacks swept through state legislatures. Segregation then became a requirement in both Southern and Northern states.

The Civil War and period of Reconstruction caused major social changes to occur throughout the nation. Document 1 speaks of the creation of the 14th Amendment, which says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property.” The Amendment was made for creating full equality for the freedmen and was speaking to all the people of the United States. Many whites still did not approve of the freedmen and continued to treat them as less than, regardless of the Amendment. Things such as the Black Codes arose, which were legal codes passed in Southern states that

In the wake of the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were ratified which abolished slavery and in theory granted people of all races the citizenship rights, equal protection, and suffrage that society owes them. However, that did not stop a wave of backlash policies from passing especially in Southern states that felt their way of life was threatened by the newfound independence of black Americans. These laws served to perpetuate racism and white privilege, and further divide the racist,

The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 abolished slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 granted African Americans citizenship and equal protection under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 granted African Americans the right to vote. These amendments were passed in an effort to combat racism and reshape public perception of blacks, however, these laws were hard to enforce and Southern states developed their own laws like the Black Codes to control the newly freed slaves. Jim Crow-era laws in the South like the poll tax and literacy tests prevented many blacks in the South from voting. Anyone who tried to break Southern traditions was subject to violence and intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan.

Happening mostly during the peaceful times, segregation is a scar on the body of the United States of America that seems to heal but still disturbs even decades after. Not slaves anymore, at the beginning of the XX century black people were still not equal members of the society. During the Great Migration, African Americans moved from the Southern states where they resided historically to the North, where industrial cities that offered more jobs were located. Despite the fact that black people could pursue most of the careers available for white people, including artistic pathways, the demands of the society and the expectations from the black professionals were not equal to those from whites (The Civil Rights Act of

¨Segregation not only harms one physically but injures one spiritually. It scars the soul. It is a system which forever stares the segregated in the face, saying you are less than, you are not equal to.¨ -Martin Luther King Jr. ¨Whites only¨ ¨Colored only¨ two of the most commonly seen signs everywhere from 1877-1950s on trains, in diners, water fountains, schools, parks, bathrooms, etc. African Americans and Whites were segregated at every turn. Laws in America during the early 1900s were unjust due to Jim Crow laws and the Plessy Vs. Ferguson case which brought negative impacts for African Americans.

The United States officially ended slavery with the thirteenth amendment, which also abolished slavery. While free in post-civil war south, African-Americans were not treated any differently than when they were slaves. There was a variety of proposals that could grant freed African-Americans compensation. During the century following the end to slavery, African-Americans faced many barriers to political, social, and economic equality. In the south, so much animosity existed that confederate states had to divide into military districts. Free African-Americans were still subjugated by “Jim Crow Laws” which enforced racial segregation and placed African-American citizens to inferior schools and other public services. White Southerners moved quickly to take away the African-American people 's newfound freedom. They wanted to return blacks to their prewar status

The African American society as a whole found many obstacles of racial segregation during the middle of the 20th century. Throughout history, African American faced problems with segregation because of the color of their skin. For example, in the beginning of the 1950’s a court case came up called Brown v. Board of education, this famous court case stopped the segregation in schools that caused black kids to receive an unequal education in comparison to white kids (History.com). Before this famous court case the Jim Crow Laws forced kids to attend

achievement in a nation of equals. The Thirteenth Amendment put an end to slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to former slaves. And the Fifteenth Amendment granted the right to vote to black men. Often referred to as the Civil War Amendments, they guaranteed fundamental rights to African Americans under the Constitution . Southern whites had not accepted this easily had the North of federal government. Slavery had been the entire South’s economic and social structure and could not be changes as quickly and easily as proposed. To the Southern landowners four million unpaid laborers were gone. To the Southern society former slaves were to be now equal. Most of which were illiterate and would have difficulty integrating political

Who in your life has caused you to become a better person? For some people it's a parent who has shaped you since the day that you were born. For others it's the stranger who always says hi to you when you see them on the street. Maybe it’s the couple down the block who struggles to make ends meet, but always has a positive attitude. It may even be the person who has hurt you the most. These people make us a better person even when we least expect it. I never realized the effect my grandmother had on my life until she stopped recognizing me.