The Pullman strike was one of the largest strikes in American history and formed in the town of Pullman,Illinois in 1884 . The American Railway Union decided that because of the intolerant treatment of the workers they would help to conduct a strike , ceasing all the hitching of Pullmans cars to trains. The Pullman strike had a huge significance in America at that time, it was the first time the Federal Government passed an injunction to halt a strike, and it also lead to the plummet of the ARU. 2. Jim Crow laws were enforced laws implemented into individual southern states during the late 1800s after the reconstruction . at face value the laws were to create " separate but equal" conditions for the people but it was truly a disgusting system of laws meant to control blacks . All of which, was a reenactment of slavery reproduced by the white southerners to hinder the blacks advancements made during the reconstruction the absurdity of these laws still puts me in shock , blacks were stripped of any kind of dignity they had left, and were treated like animals . They could not segregate in public places, worked the most despicable of jobs, and they even went as far as to undermine their right to vote. …show more content…
This was a very sly sociological game they were playing with them, taunting them the whole way , wishing and hoping they would protest or act out in order to punish with a
Even in booming communities such as the city of Pullman that George Pullman started back in 1880, even encountered violence and riots. Due to an economic depression in 1893, over half of the workers of this company had to be fired, while the rest had their pay checks majorly cut. This made them very angry since they were now unable to pay rent in Pullman or support their lifestyles. This caused an official strike in the year 1894, where workers were led by Eugene Debs, the creator of the failed Industrial Workers of the World union. Pullman resisted from negotiations, motivating the laborers to start boycotting train cars as part of the American Federation of Labor. Unfortunately, strikes began turning violent again as army troops were required
The Chicago Times provided more accurate coverage of the Pullman Strike compared to the Chicago Tribune. The Pullman Strike, which took place in May 1894, was sparked by protests from Pullman Palace Car workers against wage cuts, and layoffs that excluded managers (Brown, 61). Despite these financial challenges, the Pullman company was also still able to pay investors its annual dividend (Brown, 62). Initially, the strike was only local, but escalated when Pullman workers joined the American Railway Union (ARU) (Brown, 62).
The Dred Scott decision, Plessy v. Ferguson and the Brown v. Board of Education all have made a huge impact on the civil rights movement. Many will argue that if these specific cases never evolved then we might not be where we are today as a country.
William Garrison is one of the most well-known abolitionists in the mid-1800s and many historians praised him for his work. However, Garrison wasn’t really effective in reforming the status of the black communities. In the video from PBS, his work was exaggerated and discredited many other historians that help with the civil rights movement.
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 extremely violent nature of the Pullman Strike led by ARU caused the public to protest strikes, especially against the newcomers who were working in the railway industries (Winston). After the successful Great Northern Railway strike, the ARU participate in the Pullman Strike, demanding the rollback of the recently reduced wages (Winston). During the Pullman Strike, the mobs burned and looted railroad cars (Winston). The strikers were mostly composed of foreign workers since railway industries provided harsh working conditions, so only new immigrants accepted the jobs (Winston). Furthermore, the Pullman Palace Car Company hired primarily black strikebreakers, attempting to initiate racism of the strikers (Winston). Most notably, local presses associated the strikers as anarchists and communists who came from foreign countries, while highlighting the racist behaviors of the strikers (Winston). Consequently, American citizens started to associate labor movements as the actions of foreign communists and anarchists to overthrow their country (Winston). Also, the association which came from the Pullman strike indirectly contributed to the cause of the Red Scare (Winston). The public believed that the violent actions were attempts of Communists to overthrow America to establish a communist state (Winston). Since Eugene Debs led the American Railway
This amendment was the law that the radical republicans really hit on the nail, this amendment was the most in favor of the former slaves and its intent really tried to integrate them into society the most. This law made former slaves full citizens of the United States, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges if immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" (Doc A). Now, according the law, all people (including former slaves), have all the same rights and should be treated equally. Even though the Radical Republicans made these efforts, the Former Confederates fought back just as hard. The Former Confederates consistently carried through with finding loop holes to oppress people of color. Southern states quickly started stripping former slaves of their rights with things like the Jim Crow Laws. These were laws that separated and segregated black and white people from using the same facilities, rooms and schools (Doc D). These were made to prohibit black people's citizenship to keep white people superior to black people. This attitude was ingrained into our society, creating a prominent hierarchy, these actions followed through into modern society. The Black Codes created a major impact, reverting the movement of Reconstruction and Amendment 14 back to what it was
In 1894 workers participated in a widespread strike and boycott against the Pullman Palace Car Company, a U.S. company that made and ran passenger railroad cars. For a time, the Pullman Strike essentially stopped the railroads from running in much of the western part of the country. An antitrust law—a law intended to curb concentrations of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition—was ultimately used to end this
The black codes, written on July 3, 1865, were “a series of discriminatory state laws” (Open Stax page 458) which made it illegal for African American men to be in town limits unless they had a written document from their employer saying that they were allowed, (Document B). These documents aimed to maintain the social and economic structure of the previous slave society in the absence of slavery itself. The black codes made strict regulations on when African American men were allowed to be in town without a white employer, including not letting them “be on the streets after 10 pm” and that they could not “live within the town limits” (Document B). The black codes aimed to reverse the effects of the 14th amendment by allowing them to own land but only under strict guidelines. In Document C, it states that “you all are not free yet and will not be until Congress sits” meaning that African Americans were not viewed as freedmen by Southerners, but still as their slaves because Congress did not enforce the 13th and 14th amendments. The black codes also influenced white men to beat and shoot any black men or women that tried to escape the South. This was cause because white plantation owners did not want to lose their workers because then they would have to pay a significantly higher wage to any other workers. The black codes also forced freedmen and women to sign contracts saying that they would only work for one employer, making it difficult for any man to raise enough money to buy their own land. As the book states. “blacks could not positively influence wages and conditions by choosing to work for the employer who gave them the best terms” (Openstax pg 459). These contracts lowered the competition between plantation owners so they were not influenced to raise wages based on other owners. The black codes deprived African Americans of their rights to vote, serve on juries, carry or
The newly passed laws became known as “Black Codes” and socially, they directly impacted the lives of all freedmen and indirectly benefited the white race. These laws restricted the rights of free African-American men and women (Doc A). In Opelousas, Louisiana, some of these restrictions were the denied right to keep or own a house in the town, the denied right to enter the town without special permission, the denied right to hold public meetings, the denied right to carry firearms or any kind of weapon, and a requirement that every negro must be in service of some white person (Doc A). The elite members in the South did everything they could to prevent blacks from gaining civic power, and the reasoning for supporting these codes ranged from fearing black political influence to the comfort of knowing farmers still had a stable and reliable work force. Even in the post civil war North, people believed blacks were unfit to be government officials (Doc E). Pro-freedman presses ran racist letters arguing blacks were not fit for the proper exercise of political duties, and their generation needed a period of probation and instruction in order to learn the ways in which society ran (Doc E). Many northerners felt blacks were incompetent to hold important jobs; therefore, the government was in no way aiding the reconstruction efforts to provide equality to all people in America.
These laws consisted of, “The Mississippi legislature next passed a vagrancy law, defining vagrants as workers who "neglected their calling or employment or misspent what they earned." Another Mississippi law required African Americans to carry with them written evidence of their present employment at all times, a practice that was hauntingly reminiscent of the old pass system under slavery.” (Encyclopedia.com) These laws ensured that blacks could work in the workforce like whites but they would ultimately be put under a new caste system that helped the whites gain back inferiority against blacks. And incomes between blacks was distributed really unfairly as shown in military forces when white soldiers would be paid thirteen dollars a month and black were only paid ten dollars a month.
The law was put in place to end discrimination on sex, race in hiring, promoting and firing. The law also ended segregation in public places. The 35th president JFK supported the act but it was strongly opposed by southern members of congress. When JFK passed away and Lyndon Johnson took office legislation added one more piece to the bill that gave Black Americans the right vote After LBJ took office he made sure that JFK’s Civil Right bill be his first priority. The Civil Rights Acts brought about several more bills that included the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that prohibited literacy test and discriminatory voting practices. Another extension of the act was the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which banned the discrimination in the sale of rental and financing of property. With the extension of these new bills blacks finally had a chance to own a little piece of the American Dream. When blacks began to settle in their new roles in society. Blacks began going to white schools it was all still meet by race problems and scrutiny even though legal segregation was laid to rest. Throughout all the civil rights demonstrations and marches and all these new acts and bills that has been put in place America still has race issues and they continue
Four years later, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. In response to Rosa’s arrest, the black community of Montgomery, Alabama established a boycott, which lasted for over a year.
Although laws promoting equality were passed, they were merely considered nothing to the people who carried animosity toward the blacks. Living their daily lives under the policy of “Separate but Equal” (Kallen 37), the blacks were treated terribly by their fellow white neighbors. The “Separate but Equal” law, passed in 1896 by the Supreme Court, stated that blacks could be segregated from whites in all public facilities as long as other facilities that were equal in quality were provided (Kallen 37). Prohibited from performing in theatres, attending performances, riding in streetcars, using the restrooms, going to school, playing at the park, and eating at restaurants, blacks were completely segregated from their community by the enforcement of laws known as the Jim Crow Laws (Kallen 38). During this time, the blacks were tired of the oppression and the derision of their natural rights that they were receiving and it motivated many to make a change in society and to have a voice.
The Pullman Strike was an effect to the Pullman Palace Car Company hit a depression and cut workers’ wages 25-40 percent while keeping the rent and housing prices the same. Many of the workers joined the American Railroad Union. Debs, socialists that followed Karl Marx’s classless society, backed up the workers which resulted in them being jailed. The strike is an example of a secondary labor boycott. The workers cut off the town from food and goods. President Cleveland ordered troops to break up the strike. The federal courts issued an injunction