Racial Segregation In The United States

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.

High school is often considered a microcosm of society. Beliefs, social order, and current issues present themselves through student’s interactions and the environment they learn in. One of the oldest and still prevalent issues in the United States today is race and equality. So it is no surprise when racial issues are exposed in public education. Although many believe the civil rights era fixed most discrimination, racism remains in schools. Even after court ordered integration, classroom disparities have led to harmful segregation to continue within schools.

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.

According to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, blacks had the same legal protection as whites. The Supreme Court contradicted this when they allowed so called “restrictions” in the South against blacks. Those who supported Jim Crow generally lived in the South. They believed that whites were above the blacks, in things ranging from intelligence to morality. They thought sexual relations between the two races would ruin the nation, and violence could be used on blacks if needed. So, hospitals, beaches, parks, prisons, public restrooms and even water fountains were separated by color of skin. In certain areas, there weren’t even facilities for colored people (Pilgrim). African Americans also had to treat whites with respect, whereas whites did not have to, and most of the time would not treat the blacks the same. Blacks had to use titles when speaking to whites, they could not eat with the whites, and black men could not offer to shake a white mans hand. Preachers did not help with the problem, but in some situations made it worse. They would preach that God supported segregation, “the whites were the chosen people, and Blacks were servants” (Pilgrim).

After the civil war African Americans hoped that the world they lived in would be an equal one; little did they know they had more struggles to conquer. Three major amendments were passed to provide African Americans with equality; the 13th amendment officially and finally put an end to slavery and any future involuntary servitude, the 14th amendment states that colored men and women were given citizenship, and the 15th amendment gave black men the right to vote. Although these amendments were passed, people in the south found a way to go around and make living for colored people hard and unequal. They did this by passing the Jim Crow laws. Jim crows allowed segregation in anything possible, this made it hard for blacks to easily visit public places, live in certain areas and one of the major topics, schools. Brown v. the board of education was a widely discussed case; many people referred this case back to an earlier court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson.

Segregation is separating a certain person from a larger group of people based on what they look like, for instance an african american person vs a white person. Segregation was shown in many different ways like, signs that would get put up by a drinking fountain with an arrow pointing one way for “whites” and an arrow pointing another way for “colored” people. In 1896 the case “Plessy v. Ferguson” brought a ton of attention to the law that basically said “equal but separate”. The Article “Segregation” said, “In 1896, the federal government sanctioned racial segregation, fashioning the constitutional rationale for keeping the races legally apart.

The Jim Crow laws were set in place in the South, after the emancipation of the slaves at the end of Reconstruction, following the Civil War. These laws were created to restrain the freedoms of African Americans that were newly established. There were laws for the segregation of schools, railroad cars, gambling and even marriage. The marriage law went as far as to separate white citizens from anyone with one eighth or more colored descent, with Asian races included. Parks, community activities, school supplies, and libraries were restricted. These laws continued to progress and restrict the rights of African Americans until the Civil Rights movement started making waves, pressing the federal government to take action. However, even with the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that separate is not equal, Jim Crow laws are still tucked away in legislature and are newly created at every turn.

Some laws robbed the african americans of their rights in school. For example Jim Crow law 7. Education The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately. Florida (Jim Crow laws page 179). This means that their had to be a white school and a black school and if you were a black and you wanted to go to a college in Florida and that college was a

As an inhabitant of planet earth, I have watched the people grow and prosper and then fall back to old habits. Years ago, we were separated by race and even though we claim that time is over, it is not. Our country is a great example of segregation because we not only segregate by race, but by gender and sexual orientation as well. America was founded on preconceived expectations of gender and race leading to a segregation of consciousness that structures opinions around the injustices of stereotypes.

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.

Race is invisible to white, because they don’t have to think about it. When white people are in poverty, they never think to consider their skin color as a factor to why they are. Whites are mostly oblivious to this happening in general, because it does not happen to them.

The Jim Crow Laws declare that "the schools for white children and the schools for the negro children shall be conducted separately" ("Jim Crow Laws"). Again, the deep south succeeds in tarnishing relationships between races by creating this distance. Florida proclaimed that as well as Texas whom expressed their opinions by "provid[ing] schools of two kinds" (Jim Crow Laws). Separating people due to their skin color, something they cannot control, is degrading and depressing due to the fact people cannot spread love. The Jim Crow Laws minimized blacks' access to

The Union was in a state of exceedingly high tension as it split into two on the issue of slavery. It was a question of moral integrity and whether it should be allowed to continue. Racism permeated the institution of slavery. The color of a man’s skin did not keep him from fighting for freedom in the wars that took place in America, although it was a way white people sought to justify their mistreatment of them. Slaves were viewed as inferior beings by southern whites and as the abolition movement gained momentum in the north, the slave owners began to see northerners as inferior as well for sympathizing with such barbarians. The Dred Scott case only serves to further this point; slaves were by law not seen as citizens. Consequently,

To begin with, Jim crow laws separated blacks and whites which put many people at a disadvantage. “Separation between the races also limited educational and professional jobs within America”. “The separate but equal doctrine advanced in such legislation, that it failed to uphold the “equal” part in practice”. These laws also caused many notable protests to occur over segregation policies in America (Racial Segregation 1). Blacks began to get fearful of going places that whites also went because they wanted to avoid any extra controversy from interactions with the whites (Stokes 83).

Segregation is the practice or policy of keeping people of different races, religions, etc., separate from each other. This was a huge problem because in the period after the Civil War