Racial Segregation And Discrimination Of African Americans

In the 1960’s, black and white individuals were not recognized as being equal. The two races were treated differently, and the African Americans did not enjoy the same freedoms as the whites. The African Americans never had a chance to speak their mind, voice their opinions, or enjoy the same luxuries that the white people attained. Through various actions/efforts like the lunch counter sit-ins, freedom rides, and bus boycotts, the black people confronted segregation face on and worked to achieve equality and freedom.

Despite nearly one hundred years passing since the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern States were still faced with the most distinct forms of racism. The so-called “Jim Crow” laws that were present in United States at the time, served to segregate blacks and whites from all aspects of public life, including schools, public transport and juries. Often faced with extreme right-wing terrorist groups such as the white supremacist Klu Klux Klan, many among the African American community chose to live in a society of oppression that to actively campaign for equal rights for all humans regardless of the colour of their skin. It wasn’t until the 1950’s and 60’s that the people attempted to challenge the established order by engaging in influential protest movements with the help of key activist groups and their leaders. In particular, one key example of a powerful protest campaign was that which occurred in 1965 in Selma, a small town in Alabama. Here, the African American community united in an effort to ensure that all citizens were equal before the law in regards to their ability to register to vote. Their work in banding together and marching from Selma to the state capital Montgomery, was vastly important to both the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, as well as the assurance of the Black vote within the United States. Consequently, this essay seeks to emphasize just how influential this act of protest was to the movement as a whole, whilst analysing the

Segregation, an word that has haunted countless AfricanAmericans for years upon years. Segregation is the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart. It has cut AfricanAmericans short from many opportunities, leaving us dumb founded.

Upon being elected president in 1860, Abraham Lincoln sought the abolition of slavery. The Confederate states were against this, so they started a Civil War between them and the Union states. The Union states won, but the Confederate states did not take it lightly. The white people discriminated and segregated black people. The black people had separate schools, drinking fountains, and eating establishments. The Jim Crow Laws promoted segregation and violence and as time went on the Civil Rights Movement came about.

From the 1920’s to the 1940’s it was pretty hectic. There was so much going on during this time including segregation. In 1925, the US Army Air Corps allowed them to join. Soon after that, white men from the south did a study on the african americans that got let in the air force. This study concluded how african americans were barely fit for combat, and subservient. In 1939 the naacp started a campaign. “The NAACP took aim at the military’s segregationist policies. Negro newspapers and civic groups around the country began a public campaign to integrate the armed forces.”

African Americans as a whole agree that racial segregation has affected their chances of employment, residency, education and access to proper health facilities. Many have stories and experiences of being qualified for a job but being turned down for being African American. Several experiments have been conducted where an African American would attempt to view homes in diverse neighborhoods and be turned down and white co-workers or friends would call immediately after and be invited to come in. Many African Americans have experienced mental health institutions and health clinics closed down in their neighborhoods while liquor stores, tobacco companies and fast food companies continue to market and open rapidly. The unequal separation of

There were African Americans thought they should go about living in society and dealing with segregation and inequality in the twentieth century. Two African American men both voiced their very different ideas about how the former slaves needed to react to gain equality and how they might go about abolishing the segregation laws in the early twentieth century. W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were those two men with different views on how to deal with those issues. African Americans, at the time, either felt like segregation and inequality needed to be waited out and sooner or later it would go away or that it was unacceptable and that everyone should have the same rights as the whites, immediately. Both views had very good points and both aided in the abolishment of segregation. However, reacting to segregation and inequality seemed to have a larger impact in less time than no reaction and just trying to let it fade did. This is also related to the issue of which way would be best to help improve the lives of all African Americans, educationally and in other aspects.

Many aspects of African-American’s life were segregated from that of the rest of the population. African-Americans could not use the same water fountains or purchase items from the same markets as the “whites”. Certain shops would have a sign in front of them that would inform anyon that may chose to shop there if there race was allowed to be there. Most shops that allowed African-Americans would force them to use the back entrance etc.

Racial subordination of African Americans was a major national problem during the first half of the 20th century. In particular, during the 1940s, the South was the center of an intense racial struggle. The fight for equality by African Americans was still rife during the time (Berg 5). Published in 1947, Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” illustrates this struggle as the author writes about a narration of a young black man who struggled with the aim of getting ahead in a society that was for the most part dominated by the white. Specifically, the author uses the protagonist’s characterization and setting to create insight into the racial tension of the Deep South during segregation. The story is set in the Deep South, during the 1940s, to help illustrate how racial discrimination was a systematic problem for African Americans.

Segregation caused distress and anger between the races in America. Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites all throughout America. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) backed desegregation of public places 100% (Stokes 80). After the reconstruction period was over, America had extreme economical and industrial growth (“Racial Segregation” 2). Brown vs. Board also helped desegregate America in schools. Segregation affected many people in many ways and created violence and distress between blacks and whites within the country.

Body 1: During the Civil rights era the oppression of African American citizens was a very common thing. So, much so that seeing coloured citizens being abused, treated badly or being in a segregated area was just a normal part of everyday life. Most of this segregation came from the “Jim Crow” laws. These laws were ironically named after a group called the “Virginia Minstrels” which was a group of white men who smeared black cork on their face and played songs and danced. These laws effectively created two separate societies the African Americans and the Caucasians. This meant that blacks and whites could not ride together in the same rail car, sit in the same waiting room, sit in the same theatre, attend the same school or eat in the same

Without the history and events that happened in the past, America would be nowhere near it is today. There has been so much struggle in the country, especially regarding race. Segregation has been difficult to fix and has been a struggle for so many years. African Americans specifically had to deal with so much inequality and unfairness throughout their lives and are still dealing with it now. Back then, before the Civil Rights Movement, blacks lived in fear because of the violence and anger towards them. Besides the fact that blacks have been trying to fight for their own freedom and equality for so long, people think the Civil Rights Movement is over and was fully successful, but the fight still exists, just in a lesser manner. To focus on

African American still faced an equal world of segregation in various forms. As far as Jim crow laws which at a local and state level barred African American from classrooms black and whites had separate classrooms they didn’t share bathrooms nothing it was an invisible line in between the two like in the poem “Big Boy Lives Home” if they cross that line they will be punished .They were separate because of their skin color. All these African American people wanted was to be equal and freedom to use the same facilities as whites. “On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman issued two executive orders. One instituted fair employment practices in the civilian agencies of the federal government;” (African American Odyssey, President Harry Truman

Throughout history, people of minority ethnicities have been discriminated against. Furthermore, this is largely caused by high ranking administrators operating in the prison system and our economy, which favors non-Hispanic, non-Arabic Caucasian people more than other races or ethnicities.

The Negroes are not that different from the whites. They care as much about their family and their community as much as we do. So why do we discriminate against them and their values? Likewise, every person, black or white, has carried out a wrongdoing of some sort in their lifetime. But, a person’s prejudice makes them believe that blacks and whites are not equal, even though they are all human. It’s harmful to view others in such a way because racial discrimination places one group over another. Knowing this doesn’t stop people from continuing to discriminate people despite there being more similarities than there are differences. This is ironic because the people being discriminated could say the same thing terrible things back to the offenders.