The Jim Crow Era

Between 1877 and 1920, white southerners were persistent about limiting the rights of African Americans by setting out objectives they soon wish to accomplish that demanded blacks to remain inferior throughout society. The Jim Crow era was characterized by legalized segregation, lynch mobs, and white supremacy which caused a dark oppressive period of American race relations from 1890 to 1910 (Campbell). The period which the states of Confederacy were controlled by the federal government and social legislation which granted African Americans new rights consisted of a time frame called the Reconstruction period. The Reconstruction period resulted as one of the main causes of why the Jim Crow era began rising throughout the nation. In 1865, the
It cannot be justified upon any legal grounds” (Course Reader 19), stated Justice Harlan in “Plessy v. Ferguson.” The Plessy v. Ferguson case that took place in 1896 supported the “separate, but equal” approach when Homer Plessy, an African American male, repudiated to dismiss himself from a traveler cart that was specifically made to accommodate travelling whites. Nearly three decades before this event was marked down in American history, the fourteenth amendment was enlisted in the Constitution of the United States and granted citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws to all citizens including African Americans. After the trial, the Supreme Court reached a 7-1 ruling, which confirmed that the Louisiana made law along with the “separate, but equal” approach did not violate the fourteenth amendment. However, if the fourteenth amendment granted equality to all American citizens, the law that was established by white southerners in Louisiana theoretically ought to have been seemingly been measured as unjust. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court ruling proved that southern whites were still diligently and willingly demanding that African Americans remain inferior throughout society despite the laws that were invented to protect their
Due to the lack of the government, but majority of whites, African Americans would remain in poverty their entire lives and furthermore into the following generations. Harry S. Truman, the 33rd United States President, impacted the African American community significantly, but expressing his voice. Truman issued “To Secure These Rights: The Report of the Committee on Civil Rights” which outlined how African Americans were deprived of rights due to racial discrimination. In 1947, Truman proclaimed within his report, “Discrimination depresses the wages and income of minority groups. As a result, their purchasing power is curtailed and markets are reduced. Reduced markets result in reduced production. This cuts down employment, which of course means lower wages and still fewer job opportunities. Rising fear, prejudice and insecurity aggravate the very discrimination in employment which sets the vicious circle in motion” (Course Reader 45). President’s Truman’s observations to how corrupt society was were proven accurately due to the percentage of African American families who were a part of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Generally, African Americans were not given the chance of building a good foundation for their families because they were constantly being torn