Positive And Negative Effects Of Segregation

Segregation has changed society in many ways. Overtime, most people thought that it was okay for whites and blacks to be separated, but overall segregation is wrong. It was then officially known as constitutional. This led to the start of the Civil Rights War where African Americans fought for their equality. Segregation is wrong because both races were not equal, but a few were recognised for fighting back for their rights, and started boycotts to the stop the segregationists for protesting.

As reconstruction begin, many whites in the South seemed to ignore the fact that Blacks were no longer slaves. The Southern states created laws called ‘Black Codes’ that restricted the rights of the freed slaves. “Black codes were laws that were passed in each of the former confederate states following the civil war that applied only to black people.” (Hine, Darlene Clark, et al. 303) The laws highlighted that blacks have no right to vote in elections. However, after the troops were sent to the South, Blacks’ right to vote and involve in public office were secured. Many whites complained about the policy, and some of them created secret organization called Ku Klux Klan. This group tried everything including extreme and inhumane violence to

Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people,--a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people. The first decade was merely a prolongation of the vain search for freedom, the boon that seemed ever barely to elude their grasp,--like a tantalizing will-o'-the-wisp, maddening and misleading the headless host. The holocaust of war, the terrors of the Ku-Klux Klan, the lies of carpet-baggers, the disorganization of industry, and the contradictory advice of friends and foes, left the bewildered serf with no new watchword beyond the old cry for freedom" (Chapter 1). They thought the Black people did not enjoy their deserved rights, like the 14th and 15th Amendments. 14th Amendments provided civil rights for African Americans, and15th Amendments provided voting rights for African Americans. Ku Klux Klan preventing African American from using the 15th Amendment to enable them to vote. Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist arm of the Southern Democratic Party. The immediate goal of these groups was to keep white and black Republicans away from polling places. Their violent tactics, targeted at black leaders, escalated during Reconstruction. White mobs killed three state legislators during these turbulent times.

The Ku Klux Klan used cruel methods in order to create social change in their favor. A very common method used was intimidation; members of the Klan would march through streets and burn crosses in order to get their message across. Klansmen would dress in white robes in order to terrorize innocent citizens who were mainly of African-American descent. Although violent acts such as lynchings and kidnappings were common actions by KKK members, they would also recruit members that have political power. The Klan would encourage blacks to not vote with the intention of keeping their people in power. On the whole, the methods that the KKK used to create social change were cruel and should not be taken lightly.

An organization called Ku Klux Klan had a goal to eliminate as many african american people as possible. African americans found themselves in a very dangerous situation because not only was the law giving them very little attention but they were in risk of being mobbed out or killed by the KKK. It says, “ We believe you are not familiar with.. Ku Klux Klan’s riding nightly over the country, going from country to country and in towns spreading terror wherever they go by robbing, whipping, ravishing[rapping], and killing our people without provocation”. White people got together and attacked the blacks with violence to get rid of them.

Forever. 170). The Klan were white southerners who were organized and committed to the breaking down of Reconstruction. By methods of brutality, “the Klan during Reconstruction offers the most extensive example of homegrown terrorism in American history” (Foner. Forever. 171). The Ku Klux Klan as well as other groups killed or tormented black politicians or threatened the blacks who voted in elections. The Klan strongly disagreed with the northern idea that slaves should become part of the government. The Historian Kenneth M. Stampp states, “for their [the North] supreme offense was not corruption but attempting to organize the Negroes for political action” (Stampp. Era. 159). This corresponds with Foner’s idea that the South was not open to the idea of change but more so consumed with the idea of recreating a society similar to one of the past. However, the goal of white power groups was not just politics. The Klan wanted to restore the hierarchy once controlling the South. Foner observes that, “the organization took on the function of the antebellum slave patrols: making sure that blacks did not violate the rules and etiquette of white supremacy” (Foner. Forever. 172). Like the power the southern whites formerly held over the slave population, the Ku Klux Klan wanted to control the African American population still living in the South. They did not want the freedmen to become integrated into their society because they saw them as lesser people. By suppressing and

The Ku Klux Klan or KKK was founded in 1886 but by 1870 had spread to every southern state, its primary goal was to reestablish white supremacy, they did this through an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and black republican leaders, despite the lawlessness of its actions the KKK had almost unrestricted support from whites across the south.Jim Crow laws did not help this matter, Jim Crow laws were laws that mandated segregation in all public places. The conditions for African Americans were constantly inferior and underfunded compared to those of the whites Americans. In the pivotal 1896 Plessy VS Ferguson case the supreme court ruled that ‘Separate but Equal’ was constitutional however the facilities were never equal. In 1900 about 90% of blacks in America lived in the Southern States, where segregation was very strong. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s saw a rise in KKK activity, bombing black schools and churches, and violence against black and white activists. The treatment of blacks around America was another significant cause of the Birmingham movement, if blacks hadn’t faced such systematic and brutal discrimination then such direct action may not have been

The Ku Klux Klan terrorized African Americans in many different ways. “The Klu Klux Klan spread terror wherever they went by robbing, whipping, ravishing, and killing.”

The Klu klux klan was the largest terrorist group in American history to murder more than hundreds of thousands of people not only blacks but anyone who was outspoken about their support for civil rights. For example in document A the political cartoon depicts a horse that represents the kkk and two white men who were lynched; one of the men represents a carpetbagger and the other represents scalawags. Carpetbaggers were new people from the north who were working to form new governments and scalawags were white southerners who were supportive of reconstruction. The text states “... another brave, honest Republican citizen has met his fate at the hands of these fiends..” The man was left hanged in a jury room; the kkk would go to extreme measure to make examples out of others to control through fear.

During segregation, many African Americans suffered through bad treatment. Their school were not as nice as the white schools, and their public bathrooms were never cleaned unlike white bathrooms. Segregation has impacted society because people judge other people by their race and how the look. Many blacks have been misjudged by their race because some do not see blacks as equal to whites. Segregation has caused rights being taken away, unconstitutional hearings, and violence.

“The first incarnation of the KKK formed just after the Civil War, using terrorist violence as a means of maintaining white supremacy, but its influence "waxed and waned," as Gordon puts it, over the decades that followed” (Waxman 2). The Ku Klux Klan, aka KKK, is a white supremacist group who has done many cruel things to African Americans. Throughout many years, the KKK has grown power over politics, the news, and television as ways to try and exterminate African Americans. The KKK is a group that think the white people have the power over the African Americans, and that African Americans should not be treated as fair. Overall, the Ku Klux Klan impacted society through violence, white supremacy, and the nationwide attention the group was

The KKK in other words left many African Americans fearing for their lives they abused them and limited their

The Ku Klux Klan was a politically and racially motivated group that discouraged and frustrated attempts at racial equality (Bowles 2011). They were against all equality for anyone who supported a Union or was black. They were in control of the Southern states and they ran amuck abusing and murdering anyone they felt would threaten their way of life and the local and state governments sat back and supported their efforts to keep the blacks enslaved at all costs. In and article written by the Harper’s Weekly paper about the atrocities in the South it stated that,

In the South, the ku klux klan were openly killing and intimidating people who supported abolitionists or were anti-slavery. The KKK were against blacks as well as whites who supported reconstruction.