Segregation in the South
Introduction
According to Merriam-Webster the word “segregation” was first known to be used in 1555. It is defined as the separation or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group by enforcing or voluntary residence in a restricted area, by barriers to social intercourse, by separate educational facilities, or by other discriminatory means.
The United States underwent vast transformations, especially in the South. New political, social, and economic systems emerged that transformed the South from a rural, slave-based society, to an increasingly urban, industrialized, free labor society. The changes to the social, political, and economic landscape of the South prompted an unprecedented era of racial violence throughout the region (Jett, p.40). The Southern states deemed slavery was crucial to safeguard white superiority. Most Southern whites who had aspirations of becoming a very prominent slave-owner, were terrified of a society with considerable numbers of African-Americans who were not slaves. Segregation moved by way of public accommodations, all the way through the South. DeFina & Hannon (2011) and others showed daily interactions of whites and blacks in the South, during reconstruction of the south identified racial prejudices were increasing steadily, after the Civil War and especially during the 1880’s. Town after town across the south flatly banned African Americans within their city limits after dark. Legal, political, social and
The Reconstruction Era and The Jim Crow Era were both times of Rapid growth in the United States that were characterized by changes not only on the intrapersonal level, but also on the cultural and legislative level. The Reconstruction Era occurred directly after the civil war and spanned twelve years from 1865 to 1877 , while the Jim Crow Era occurred from 1877 to 1954. Some of the common themes of these eras were race relations and tension between northern states and southern states. The first topic that this paper will be covering is race relations during these two eras. Race relations were a central theme in the two films The Birth of a Nation and Within Our Gates making it a natural fit. The other topic that will be covered in this paper is the role and responsibilities of northern states during the reconstruction era. In this paper, Northern states will be defined as any state who supported the union during the American Civil War.
There were many forms of discrimination in America. Discrimination was everywhere in the 20th century, and the population most affected by this were African Americans. Two of the most critical injustices committed in America during the 20th century were the development of the Jim Crow laws and school segregation. However, these injustices have been rectified as a result of the Civil Rights Movement and the decision of the supreme court of Brown v. Board of Education which brought important changes to African Americans.
The first segment is about the "old" South and the plantations, slavery, supported by law, church, schools, and press. The second is the new order of Reconstruction, occupation and a changed federal Constitution. The third one is the third regime, following Reconstruction, which was the longest, characterized by the regime of "Jim Crow.” The last segment is the newest phase, comprising the demise of Jim Crow and the renewed intense devotion of the federal government and civil rights leaders to establish racial equality. This segments of Southern history has been involved to the relationship between the white and black race, specifically the legal and social status of blacks, and this work is essentially a study of the third segment - the rise and entrenchment of Jim
“In the South, anti-Black violence declined. Black candidates were elected to political offices in communities where blacks had once been barred from voting, and many of the leaders or organizations that came into
Let’s examine the reality of violence during the Reconstruction Era. In the document, “Southern Horrors- Lynch Laws in All its Phases, by Ida B. Wells-Barnett we see countless examples of the continued violence in the south against African-Americans. The slogan “This is white man’s country and the
In a progressive society like the United States, looking to the past is common, to learn from our mistakes but some undeniable issues of the past repeat and are omitted from our society because of their unpleasant nature, a great example of this is the Jim-Crow Era. In this paper, I will be discussing the main events of the Jim-Crow era, its initiation, the new style of slavery in the south, and the way it re-shaped the lives of African Americans all across the country, its re-enforcement in the beginning of the twentieth century, its major supporters, like the Ku Klux Klan. Confederate state leaders, and its major oppositions like the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, and the idea of the United States setting a global example of
The Southern States of the United States of America have been victims of perceptions and stereotypes that tend to describe them as different from the rest of the United States, especially in terms of culture. These portray the South as rural, uneducated, conservative, racist, and violent. While there are varied opinions on these perceptions this paper will seek to look at whether the South is rural, racist and violent. It is true that incidents of gruesome violence have occurred in the Southern states. Similarly, these states have a significant population of rural dwellers, as well as an expansive amount of underdeveloped territory. However, it is important to note that these occurrences are not autonomous to the southern states but are also characteristic of other states outside the southern region. At the same time, the prosperity, racial tolerance, quality education, etc. observed in states outside the South are equally observed in Southern states. Therefore, the position held in this paper is that the collective generalization or notion that the south is rural, violent and racist needs revisions.
The South still had a disliking for blacks and the South began to form Black Codes. Black codes were restrictions put on blacks in the South. “Black codes denied blacks the right to vote, the right to own guns, the right to serve on juries, and some even forced them to work on plantations if they did not have a job” (Radical Reconstruction. youtube.com). Black codes unfairly restricted the rights of African Americans and they were morally wrong. There was much variation of the Black Codes depending on which state of the South. Some states did not even allow blacks to own property. “The Black Codes partially reverted the South into slavery” (Radical Reconstruction. youtube.com). Once the government realized what was happening they decided that reconstruction had to be enforced. “Congress sent the military creating radical regimes throughout sectionalist states” (Sparknotes.com). At this time in history the south was divided into five military districts and there was a United States general put in place for each. There were many disobedient white Southerners
After the American Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, Americans entered a new period of Radical Reconstruction under the faulty presidency of his successor, Andrew Johnson. With the Emancipation Proclamation being put to use, America went through an abrupt and rigid shift from a slave heavy society to one now being forced to adopt new ideologies which centered around racial equality and acceptance. However, as with all new ideologies, an opposition also emerged. Due to Johnson’s incredible leniency and failure to monitor the southern colonies, anti-black efforts continued to grow rampant through state government actions to keep African Americans out of the political and social sphere. In this case, it was the
The American Civil War is still referred to by historians as one of the bloodiest stains on the nation’s sociopolitical landscape. From beginning to end, the normal fanfare of atrocities that any war brings such as poverty, starvation, and bloodshed were made more gruesome by the reality that neighbors were fighting neighbors and brothers raising arms against one another. Caught between both sides was an entire race of people; though there were many political ideologies involved, the issue of slavery and the rights of African Americans lit the fuse and kept the fire burning. Incidents involving the terrorizing of black Americans were numerous throughout the course of the Civil War, though none was more controversial than the Confederate
Following the Civil War, the northern and western states turned to industrialization as immigrants began to take on jobs. However, the South remained mostly agricultural. The South experienced industrial and urban change before World War I, yet still lagged behind the rapid pace of growing cities in the United States. The white South continued to look to past when Congress admitted the ex-Confederate states back into the union and federal troops had withdrawn from the South. The white Southerners were able to freely pursue a system of race relations, which meant that blacks were segregated in most aspects of public life, denied the right to vote, and limited to working as landless farmers. Keith Weldon Medley’s essay discusses the Supreme Court’s
During the Late Nineteenth Century, white southerners used strict laws within the legal system and violence to prolong the economic and political oppression of African Americans which led to the Jim Crow Segregation system being created. Although the southern whites were trying to maintain the oppression, blacks relied on each other’s help and the help of the military to fight back and keep order and peace as best as they could.
Between 1880 and 1930, lynching became not only a phenomenon but a way of life in the southern states. Lynching was racially motivated as it targeted mostly blacks. Within this 50 year period, 1000s of blacks and hundreds of whites were killed by lynch mobs within the southern states alone. Lynching was bloody and ruthless and a horrifying way to be executed. In Fitzhugh Brundage’s book, Lynching in the New South Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930, he talks about how lynching peaked and expanded throughout Georgia and compares mob violence between Georgia and Virginia in that time period. Brundage states that “Lynching in the American South during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was but one manifestation of strenuous and bloody campaign by whites to elaborate and impose a racial hierarchy upon people of color throughout the globe” (Brundage 2). Whites used lynching as a means for social and economic control. They did not want blacks to have any power and wanted to keep them oppressed. This book explores the differences in lynch mobs between Georgia and Virginia, and how the whites used lynching as a way to keep economic control in the hands of the whites.
From the KKK and lynchings to public persecution, the 1920’s equaled hell for African Americans. Even though many African Americans moved North after World War I, 85% still resided in the Southern former slave states (Kyvig 19). African Americans still had few rights and racism was at a high. Members of the KKK resorted to lynchings; “lynching of blacks more than a hundred times a year between 1885 and 1900, and between fifty and seventy-five times a year from then until 1920” (Kyvig 169-170) to get their opinions of blacks across. They were also pitted against the government with laws; police forces took the side of racism by arresting African Americans for doing no wrong and letting whites get away with crimes against them.
The Nature of Southern Segregation Eyes on the Prize v. I, narrated by Julian Bond, was launched by the episode entitled "Awakenings." It documents two events that helped focus the nation's attention on the oppression of African American citizens: the lynching of 14 year-old Emmett Till in 1955 and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, motivated by the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to relinquish her seat on a public bus to a white person. The legal and social separation of whites and blacks in a wide range of situations in order to keep blacks from advancing economically, socially, and politically and to prevent them from exercising their legal and political rights (Altman 215). The Nature of