Essay On The Gilded Age

Not long after the civil war, America had been launched into a whole new era of industrialization. Commonly referred to as the Gilded Age, outwardly it seemed as though many bright changes were coming along, while underneath it all there were problems that had still yet to be addressed. Between the War and Gilded Age, a new wave of flowed in stirring the nation into an uproar. African Americans were still finding their place in society after the institution of slavery had been removed, and education, an idea that had not been prominent in the minds of many, was on the rise.
Old World countries faced a huge growth in population, leaving almost no room for many citizens to live. With very few opportunities to advance in social rank, many fled

Those who remained in power in the south were determined to keep African Americans at a low social rank through systems such as sharecropping, which kept workers in perpetual debt, sometimes even under their previous masters. Blacks who had moved to the north in search of better conditions found that it was no better. There were almost no jobs available due to factories hiring immigrants for disgracefully low wages. On top of that, “separate but equal” was in its prime, after the court case Plessy v. Ferguson. This case gave those in power the right to separate people of color from all aspects of their life from establishments to schools to even drinking fountains. Even though African Americans were free they were still being treated as lesser human beings. However amid all this strife, there were black men who were still able to get educations and speak out against all the injustice blacks faced. Men like Booker T. Washington, who took time to teach useful trades to African Americans so they could have some standing in the job market. Or W.E.B Du Bois who formed the NAACP to demand not only economic, but also social equality. While blacks faced deeply rooted racism at every corner, they were able to take matters into their own hands and educate