“All Men are created equal” a quote from the United States Constitution. Freedom is what the United States stands for it is what it was rooted from. However, we are into the 21st century and the idea that the United States still discriminates against a certain race is taboo to many. Everyone likes to walk around thinking that everything is alright and equal. Sadly this is not true. The African American, especially those found in the urban setting of Chicago is at a disadvantage. This is due to the erosion of the public education system along with fractured families along with other socioeconomic factors which have contributed to the cycles of poverty and ultimately creates a disadvantaged for African Americans in Chicago. For this research paper I’m going to focus on Chicago for its strong roots in the African American Community, but this isn’t just a one city problem the disadvantages to African Americans are spread out throughout the entire country in every major city in every state and there is no hiding from it.
From 1916 to 1970 there was an event-taking place across the country. This event called the great migration brought millions of African Americans north running from the segregation and racism in the south. Many laws such as the Jim Crowe laws gave African American a huge struggle to find peace in the south even in the early 20th century. Even though slavery was outlawed in all of the United States these laws gave black people un-equal rights and made it hard for
Another factor in the 1930’s that impacted African Americans is Jim Crow. The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy, with, starting in 1890, a "separate but equal" status for African Americans. The Jim Crow laws affected African Americans by creating a status of 'separate but equal.' African Americans were not, under the Jim Crow laws, allowed to drink from the same water fountains as white people. They had to attend different schools, restaurants, and sit at the back of the bus. The Jim Crow laws affected almost every area of the life of African Americans. The Jim Crow laws took the first hit in 1954 in the ruling by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional.
The reconstruction amendments established in the 19th century made many believe that African Americans would finally reach equality. However, the abolishment never changed society’s view on African Americans and instead, barriers such as oppression and segregation came out of it. Despite the ceaseless barriers faced by African Americans in the South, they were able to utilize methods in which gave the movement strength in the 1950s and ultimately, led to their gained civil rights.
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
During these years of radical reconstruction, the African Americans were going through some very tough times. The laws that were put on them were harsh and unreasonable. All they wanted to do was becomes socially and economically apart of the United States. Groups like the KKK were unfair towards the blacks and made their lives miserable by holding rallies and killing them. As a result of reconstruction, the blacks were not given social or economic equality because of laws like the black codes and Jim Crow laws, and the rebellious whites in the south. These African Americans struggled just to support themselves, but whites eventually accepted them at the end of the
The South was a complete mess after the Civil War. The early part of the 20th century brought many changes for African Americans. There was a difficult challenge of helping newly free African American slaves assimilate among their white counterparts. They suffered from crop failures, economic hardships, and the early failures of Reconstruction in the south. So as result many Southern African Americans migrated to northern cities in search of employment and a chance at a better life. However, Southern African Americans migrating to northern cities quickly discovered that they were not able to enjoy the same social and economic mobility experienced by their European immigrant counterparts arriving around the same time. There were many
The African American population in the United States have always seemed to have been oppressed and persecuted throughout the history of the country. They have been targeted and put down using emotional, physical and sometimes, extremely violent methods. The time period from 1865 to 1905 was a particularly bad period for Southern African Americans. Huge hurdles had to be crossed for the people that were newly allowed to participate in the United States as citizens.
African American’s, after the Civil War and abolishment of slavery, still found themselves in a racist and oppressive society. Though legally free, lots were still engaged in forced labor. Threatened with back lash by their so called “masters” they were trying to find their way as free people. Trying to find some sort of or create better reality in a vile society of people who still believed African American’s were only fit to be slaves. The onslaught of World War I gave African American’s an opportunity to leave the vile societies of the south.
After the Civil War, the southern United States was in pieces. The land had been demolished, the economy was in the gutter, and plantation owners no longer had a source of cheap labor. In order to keep the newly freed African-Americans socially below white people, Jim Crow Laws were made. Jim Crow Laws were laws that segregated people of color and whites. These laws prevented African-Americans from using the same facilities as whites, completing daily tasks, and limited the exchange between African-Americans and whites. Jim Crow laws were in place for about 100 years. From the end of the Civil War, to the end of the Civil Rights Movement these laws had an effect on the
During 1910-1970 the great migration was taking place, which was the movement of southern African American’s to the north/northern cities. The great migration was an event that seemed as if it was unstoppable and that it was going to happen. In the South African American’s faced racial discrimination, sharecropping, bad working conditions, low wages, racial segregation and political detriments. Everything in the north was better than the south. The north offered blacks, less discrimination, job opportunities, higher wages and a better standard of living overall. The great migration led to the improvement of the conditions for African American’s in America.
Over the years the African American citizen has come up against laws that have prevented them from being fully integrated citizens. One such law group of laws that made the most impact was most commonly known as Jim Crow laws. These were a group of laws that were put in place to enforce segregation mostly in the Southern
In 1865, when the civil war ended in America and slavery was abolished, the African American population in the South faced many challenges related to their new found freedom. Following the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, white supremacy resurfaced in the South (A&E Television, 2015). Beginning in the early 1900s through 1970 there was a mass exodus of African American 's from the South to the North in America. Although some African American 's were known to have moved from the South as early as 1850, there were two major waves during the 1900s (A&E, 2015; Gates, Jr., 2013). The Great Migration brought new opportunities to African Americans, but not without significant challenges.
In 1865, when the civil war ended in America and slavery was abolished, the African American population in the South faced many challenges related to their new found freedom. Following the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, white supremacy resurfaced in the South (A&E Television, 2015). Beginning in the early 1900s through 1970 there was a mass exodus of African American 's from South to North America. Although some African American 's were known to have moved from the South as early as 1850, there were two major waves during the 1900s (A&E, 2015; Gates, Jr., 2013).
During the start of the African American civil rights movement, Africans Americans still were faced with Jim Crow laws which segregated them from whites. Under the Jim Crow laws African Americans had different schools, bathrooms, trains, buses and many other things that were separated from the white population. The case, Plessy v. Ferguson went through the U.S. Supreme Court and turned out to make a legal policy “separate but
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after the Civil War, began the reconstruction of the United States. In 1865 the 13th amendment was passed, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except for punishment. With the passing of the 13th amendment all slaves were free, but it did not mean they were equal. African Americans still faced discrimination mainly in the south. The Southern States passed laws specifically limiting what they could do. African Americans were not treated like others, in most States formal education was unattainable to them. There were many inequalities formed by the southerners, because of this many African American civil rights activists arose like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.
The United States developed the official poverty measures in 1960. It was developed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had declared a war on poverty during the Civil Rights era. (The Path of Power- The years of Lyndon B. Johnson, (Caro, 16). The poverty rate of African Americans has been declining for many years. The Census Bureau releases two reports every year that describe who is poor in the United States based on cash resources. There is also the supplemental poverty measure (SPM) which takes account for the cash resources and non cash benefits from government programs aimed at low income families. (www.Census.gov/People and household). In 2012 there were over 46.5 million people in poverty and of those numbers 10 million were African