Social Attitudes and Mores of the South, 1900s to 1950s

There was also a lot of laws also known as jim crow laws. These laws were acted to “keep people in their place” and there intensions were to be separate but equal. In the article “Jim Crow Laws Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site” One law that seems fine today wasn't back then, you couldn’t marry someone with a different race, just because of the color on their skin and if you do so the marriage will be voided and illegal. Some of the laws were so silly and outrageous rules like African American amature baseball players had to be within two blocks away from each other. That law was so outrageous because all they want to do is have fun and do what they love but they have to remember to be be two blocks away from them. Manners is very important to the south, you would always say yes sir or mam. African American people especially had to speak a certain way which was called Jim Crow Etiquette. For example they had to call white males Boss or Master. Which was extremely unfair because they were called rude names like Boy and old man instead of being called something that means you're the boss or your master or you have a higher stature. It was the same for woman too they didn't have a good name like miss or Mrs they were called auntie or girl. You can definitely tell a difference how white or african american people were treated and talked

The segregation took place in churches, railroads, and schools, prisons, etc. There was also segregation in public housing, which caused the creation of “Nigger Hill,” “New Guinea,” and “Little Africa.” The more western north barred African American from coming into the state in same way. After the Civil war, the north had shown its position on white supremacy through its actions. Abraham Lincoln and the winning politic party also believed the same ideas of White Supremacy as shown by Lincoln’s speech,” I am not…in favor of brining about in any way the social and political equality of the black and white… I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

The New South was mostly about development and growth that started to gradually increase after 1877 on into the 1900s. Iron and steel were the main contributors followed by tobacco and timber. Steel mills were popping up all over the south which provided numerous jobs and a better way of living. The downside was the effect it had on the farm industry due to the fact that cotton was cheap and so was labor. As a result most of the people preferred to work in the factories which paid higher wages.

Following the victory of Allied forces from World War I, black troops were sent home to a whole other war for Democracy. African Americans still faced many

Racism, as a generalization, was a common and mostly unified way of thinking in the Southern states for a very long time

After the war, laws were passed that defended the rights of African Americans, but that all changed with the Klu Klux Klan. Originally, “The Constitutional amendments were passed, the laws for racial equality were passed, and the black man began to vote and to hold office,” but, “The violence mounted through the late 1860s and early 1870s as the Ku Klux Klan organized raids, lynchings, beatings, burnings… As white violence rose in the 1870s, the national government, even under President Grant, became less enthusiastic about defending blacks, and certainly not prepared to arm them” (Zinn Ch. 9). Africans Americans were granted the equal rights that they wanted, but with the actions of the Klu Klux Klan, a white supremacy group, the US government began to back off from supporting the African American due to fear of more attacks (possibly becoming more violent). The African American also lived in poverty, “The average wage of Negro farm laborers in the South was about fifty cents a day, Fortune said” (Zinn Ch. 9). Not only were the newly freed blacks being hunted down by white supremacy groups, but also they lived in poverty. Yes, they life of some approved greatly and they were able to receive an education, but for the majority of African Americans, they were still living in the shadow and fear of whites.

The southerners were too busy fighting for the right to neglect equality to the african americans by creating the Black Codes and riots as well. The Black Codes were laws that were passed by the southern states in 1865 and 1866 after the Civil War. Their reason for the black codes was because the southerners did not want to treat the blacks as their equal. They soon started to rebel and causing riots after the passing of the 14th amendment which states, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” This amendment shows that the southerners were going against the Constitution and all because of neglect towards the blacks. The reason for the passing of their codes was to restrict the African-Americans from freedom and to keep making them work harsh labor for very low wages and income. They had always wanted to keep them as their property to benefit them for agricultural needs. This was a big factors that kept the reconstruction after the Civil War to be

After the Civil War the people of the nation especially the government wanted to help the newly freed African-Americans however something caused the ever-growing wave of equality to cave in on itself and retract. In the beginning many people were supportive of reconstruction. Laws like the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were passed ensuring African-American citizenship and their civil rights. Schools and churches were quickly built for them and the former slaves were even gaining positions in the government. It all seemed great until the election of 1876 when Ruther B. Hayes a republican and Samuel J. Tilden a democrat ran for the presidency.

The southern states were a slave society, and were known to being the way of life. It was the root to everything in the south, and southerners were very protective about it. In the south southerners “feared that without slavery’s expansion, the abolitionist faction would come to dominate national politics and an increasingly dense population of slaves would lead to bloody insurrection and race war” (The American Yawp, Chap.13), and southerners did not want to jeopardize their way of life. The south would press on the notion that racial mixing and racial wars would break out, and that blacks were a threat to white supremacy. Besides the racial fears the south would speak out on, they also stressed that slaves were property, which entitles them to their owner. People in the south also used the bible to justify slavery because it was present in the bible. The southern states believed in the ‘mudsill’ theory. James Henry Hammond speech on the ‘mudsill’ theory explained the theory. Hammond and other pro slavery southerners defined slavery as a good thing. Paternalism was another justification, to influence their belief that slavery was a caring establishment. That south argued that they took care of their slaves, and that the north did not treat their workers with such

The reaction of the South signalled a deeper division there. The Ku Klux Klan tried to suppress the blacks. State government also did this with their Black Codes. These included voting restrictions which made it difficult for blacks to vote. Thomas Nast noted this division and the hatred it contained in his cartoon in Harper’s Weekly in 1874. (Doc

In the late 1800s through the early 1900s the south is really corrupted with problems like Lynching, Jim Crow laws, and heavy racism. In the 1890s was the worst year for lynching in the black and white community. Blacks being affected by Jim Crow Laws after civil war, and the problems with reconstruction in the south just in general. Then there attempts to change and help the south, but failed and basically went back to the old south. This brings up the question “Did The South Really Change?”

They were even able to take out their enemies fast jet fighters (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). what is socking about all of this is that these men weren't trained with guns or knives, they had to use sticks instead (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). With all the racism still going on, one African American man said it would be an iron for him to give America his life if it didn’t want to given him basic civil rights (Reinhardt and Ganzel 2). Second of all after, returning home they were given an opportunity to join a movement for their rights (Reinhardt and Ganzel 2). The Soldier came home to a country that wasn’t granting them their full rights so some joined a movement to expand the rights (Reinhardt and Ganzel 2). Other soldiers ended up moving to the city instead so they could find work similar to what they did while at war (Reinhardt and Ganzel 2). The roles of African American minorities where change after the war because the opportunities of job openings that were given to them and because their civil rights eventually expanded.

The principles in the early South almost never changed until the Civil war, and ideals from the creation of colonies became law, never to be changed. In this way, the South walled itself from those who tried to settle there only to find themselves turned away from society and shunned. Such people would be mixed children, those who were not Christian, and Africans. Tolerance found in the north soon dwindled moving down to the south, a devoutly Christian region until around the mid 1700’s. Lack of communication and commerce with other nations as previously mentioned left the south at a weak point, finding themselves turning others away, while being alone in themselves. A key reason for the intense sense of culture in the modern South is this isolation found early in the history of these colonies, where a sense of pride for these Southern values becomes all-encompassing. A bold similarity between the two regions stands out, a core set of values, whether for the North and South. The Northern colonies had a focus on the sciences, and advancement of civilization, while the South wanted nothing more than to live on their precious land, and focus on the plantation life they had come to develop, not eager to branch out into any other

The treatment of minorities in both the North and the South were horrible, however in each place the actions were different and the groups that were attacked were different. Throughout history, the South discriminated against blacks, first as slaves and then as members of the community. The North, when America was first becoming a country, mainly discriminated against the Indians. Both these groups felt that they were above the minorities, and they both believed in scientific racism to qualify their actions.

African Americans in the early United States faced strenuous hardships dealing with discrimination and inequality. Even decades after slavery ended, African Americans never achieved true freedom. An opportunity known as World War I allowed black people to serve in the United States military. They thought they could gain their right to be considered a true American and gain acceptance from the white man. Little did they know, risking their lives would barely change anything. This was true with many other wars, as well. After they came home from fighting in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, segregation still existed along with discrimination, but their service did not go unrecognized. Little things such as military service helped change the minds of white Americans.