Southern Culture In The 1930's

     Certain black codes pertained to whites as well. It was unlawful for a black to marry a white, or vice versa. Anyone found convicted of the crime could be sent to prison for life. Many contracts were drawn up as ‘permissions’ for certain blacks. If a freedman ever broke a work contract, he would be forced to forfeit his wages for one full year. Any civilian was permitted to capture and return freedmen who broke their contract. They were rewarded five dollars plus ten cents for every mile he was captured from his owner. However, if anyone was found attempting to persuade a black to break his contract, or give a deserting black any aid, he/she could be convicted of a misdemeanor and forced to pay a fine.

The majority of the slaves were employed in agricultural areas in the South. By the mid-19th century, a large number of slaves worked in urban areas as well, and about 5% worked in more industrial occupations. The hours of the slave workers were long. The average life expectancy of African slaves was at least 12% lower than whit Americans in 1850 and the infant mortality rate was 25% higher for slaves. Oftentimes slave marriages and families dissolved due to separation. This concept is horrible when you take under consideration that family was the entire basis of African culture.

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

From the 1930s to the 1950s, African Americans were being severely persecuted and ostracized. The Jim Crow Laws allowed for legal segregation and continued control over blacks in the South. Those laws severely restricted the rights of the African American in the southern half of the United States and essentially continued to restrain them even though the United States Constitution forbid it. The North did not have such laws, but blacks still suffered. When African Americans migrated to the North, they were disillusioned by the fact that they were still not equal. The African Americans were instead delivered a subtler form of the discriminatory actions within the South. African Americans struggled for equality everywhere because of white

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.

What is segregation? Segregation is set apart or separation of people or things from others or from the main body or group. (dictionary.com) In the 1930s African Americans did not have the right to vote. The policy of segregation meant that blacks had their own churches, schools, football teams, and even their own cemeteries. The Great Depression also took place in the 1930s. The economic crisis of the 1930s, the Great Depression, is one of the most studied periods in American history. Racism was at a high point in the 1930s.

Traditional views of the Antebellum South oftentimes ignore class divides within the American South. African-Americans and Whites are oftentimes viewed as being divided by race with all Whites and African-Americans being equal. However these ideals ignore the seventy-five percent of southerners which did not own slaves and the steep divides between African-American slaves with different roles. Primary sources from authors who experienced the Antebellum South, the American Civil War, and, or Reconstruction alert their audiences to societal divides which existed within each perceived race. Following the abolishment of slavery, economic class divides among whites were mitigated and whites view of African-Americans became standardized. Whites began to only recognize African-American as a rival to their power in all capacities, and as such vilified all African-Americans.

They passed voting restrictions and 'Black Codes' and Jim Crow laws to suppress the rights and opportunities of African Americans at the state and local levels”(Document 2). This quote shows how the southern whites won’t accept the blacks as equals. The Black Codes specifically restricted their freedom and make them work with a lower wage than whites. The Jim Crow laws also led and enforced segregation between the whites and colored. The colored and the whites have separated places in public as in water fountain, Movie Theaters, bathrooms, trains, and other public places. They also passed extreme voting requirements for the blacks in order to vote to stop them from voting such as the grandfather clauses (which you must have a father or grandfather that voted before) and vote taxes and etc. These are the loopholes that the south used to restrict blacks and bypass the 14th and 15th amendment. This didn’t improve the lives of many

The Southern way of thinking for many whites remained constant from the 1900s to 1950s. There was racial intolerance and discrimination. Southern tradition was embedded into everyone, black and white. The causes for these prejudiced positions stemmed mainly from fear and many cared over from the time of slavery. The blacks on the other hand, were split. Some agreed with the complacent doctrine of Booker T. Washington, while others pushed for the social and political equality stressed by W.E.B. Du Bois. Whites expressed these attitudes by lynching and insinuating race riots. Blacks countered by, for example, creating their own "country" called Mound Bayou where blacks lived and prospered independently from whites. For many people, Southern

During the civil rights movement there was a set of laws called the Jim Crows. These were a set of laws which enforced segregation between the white and the blacks. The term Jim Crow was a derogatory term used to describe the African-American people. The laws affected both whites and blacks but the laws affected the blacks more negatively than the whites, the blacks were mainly affected in very unpleasant ways. In the South of America the Jim Crow laws were more strongly enforced than in the Northern part of America. African-Americans travelled North to gain a better life but with travelling bought danger and risk. In the constitution equal rights were stated, but they were not followed white people thought that the African-American race was placed on the Earth to work and that they did not deserve any respect. They thought that the black people were thought as workers, animals and slaves even after slavery was abolished.

Black Codes enforced in the South severely restricted African Americans rights. Black Codes made harsh labor contracts and made it so blacks could only practice being a farmer or a servant. When an African American committed a crime the penalties were much more severe than whites. These penalties often ended in death. Any white farmer could force a black man under 21 or a woman under 18 into an apprenticeship. No colored person could carry any firearms or make and sell liquor.(Doc,K)

In the same way, the issue of racism was more opposed to people and was more openly abused in the past compare to present. African Americans were mistreated, and were slaved for a long time, and they did not have any rights until the 18th century. In 1865 and 1866 Southern states passed a laws called "black codes" which was meant to limit the rights of black and segregate them from whites; however, during the 1865 African American believed that the process of reconstruction would bring equality. The main object of reconstruction was to help African Americans become equal citizens, but reconstruction failed to help them, because the Southerners were not willing to accept the laws that were placed to give rights to the African Americans.

They were made to use separate facilities such as restrooms, restaurants, and waiting rooms. Blacks were prevented from renting land outside of the towns. They were forbidden to go anywhere they wanted. They were prevented from marrying any one outside of their race.

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).

The Jim Crow laws perpetuated segregation. This set of rules to show the dominance of the white race were absolutely appalling. They were mainly operated in the southern portion of the United States, but not exclusively. The Jim Crow laws “were in place from the late 1870’s until the civil rights movement began in the 1950’s” (“Jim Crow Laws”). Blacks and whites could not use the same drinking fountains, restrooms, or attend the same restaurants, churches, and schools. It was considered rape or an unwanted advance for a black man to offer his hand to a white woman. Another law was that african-american couples could not show affection towards each other in a public area because it “offended whites” (Pilgrim) along with countless more. There