Essay On Disenfranchisement

“Jim Crow Laws were statues and ordinances established between 1874 and 1975 to separate the white and black races in the American south,” (U.S. History). The origin of Jim Crow Laws came from a song a black man once sang that was called “Jump Jim Crow”. This became a minstrel show performed by white men who used a very offensive black face. Black face is when a non colored person would color their faces black with a form of face paint or makeup to represent themselves as a black man and the name Jim Crow became the title of the event. “The term came to be a derogatory epithet for African Americans and designation for their segregated life,” (Urofsky Jim Crow Law ). Said by DR.David Pilgrim “ African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens”. The Jim Crow Laws were a physical separation between whites and colored people because whites were considered to be the ‘chosen people’. For example, in a photo from the Library of Congress in the shape of an arrow is a sign pointing to display that there is separate waiting room for those colored , so whites could wait in their own room. It was these type of signs that constantly reminded blacks of the racial order. All sort of things like hospitals, prisons, and schools were all made to a quality less than the whites had to demonstrate the African Americans inferior status. Jim Crow Laws that continued this chain of separation were, blacks could not eat at white restaurants, a black male could not shake hands with a white man or have any relations with white women. These laws allowed whites to be able to beat and punish those who disobeyed them, and it was that which led to the hundreds of race riots and lynchings of African

The whites thought that sooner or later if we let them vote that they’re going to take over. The Jim Crow Laws system stopped the blacks from voting. That caught the Civil Right leaders and that brought attention to Mississippi. That made it acceptable for that 7% of black people to vote. In Document B which was a “Freedom Summer Pamphlet.” The students that wrote it wanted social tangible changes. They wanted changes they can “touch”, like freedom. Also in Document A but the second one, there were white citizens that wanted to defend white supremacy. A white council group that had 5 things they wanted to change which was, Prevent Race-Mixing. They didn’t want blacks and whites together. They also wanted to avoid violence, maintain and restore

A freedmen is taking part in sharecropping as he gives most of the crops he produced to the land’s owner. He hopes for a better life, but he knows he will be forever indebted to the landowner. While some things changed for the better, the acceptance of African Americans was still scarce. During Reconstruction, the life of freedmen did change politically, but not socially or economically.

The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the

Pertaining to the rights of African Americans a new south did not appear after the reconstruction. While they were “free” they were often treated harshly and kept in a version of economic slavery by either their former masters or other white people in power. Sharecropping and the crop-lien system often had a negative impact on both the black and white tenants keeping them in debt with the owner. Jim Crow laws, vigilantes and various means of disfranchisement became the normal way of life in the South. It was believed that white people were superior to black people and when they moved up in politics or socially they were harassed and threatened. There were various activists that held different beliefs on how to obtain equality some of which

Sharecropping was a system of farming used after the slaves were set free. Landowners would rent out a portion of their land to former slaves. In return, the farmers would sell the landowners their crops. The landowners took advantage of their tenants by overcharging for land and underpaying for the crops. The tenants began falling deeper into debt. They could not leave until they paid off their debt, which was nearly impossible.

What was the Compromise of 1850? Since "The Missouri Compromise of 1820" the northern states abolished slavery, however in the southern territories it was still legal. The southern and northern states were constantly arguing because of this topic, that 's why " The Compromise of 1850" was created. The Compromise of 1850 consisted of a series of bills that aimed to deal with slavery in the Confederacy. The Compromise made slavery illegal in California and in the District of Columbia, while in New Mexico and Utah the local ruler would have made the big decision. The Fugitive Slave Act was included in the Compromise and stated that any federal official who did not arrest runaway slaves

Because he was an inexperienced politician, he didn’t know how to handle the crash. Although he wasn’t directly involved in the scandal, his reputation suffered. Even today, people remember him as a bad politician because of the Gold Market Scandal. Next, Grant’s secretary Orville E. Babcock used Grant’s power to help people evade taxes in the Whiskey Ring Scandal. After the Prohibition, alcohol manufacturers were heavily taxed. Manufacturers cheated the government by reporting fewer sales and keeping the extra tax money. But when Grant found out about the scandal he said, “ Let no guilty man escape!” (Alter 37). After Babcock was charged, Grant was willing to acquit Babcock’s case because they had fought together in the Civil War. By contradicting himself and favoring his friends, he promoted corruption in his cabinet. The people saw him favoring Babcock and they lost their trust in him. An untrustworthy man can never be remembered as a great leader (Alter; Schuman).

The tactics used civil rights movement of both the 1950’s and 1960’s were different helped them succeed in different ways. During the late 1950s the tactics that were used were political, while in the early in 1960s they used social and political tactics to get their goals achieved, but in the late 1960s the tactics that were used were primarily economic and social,

The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan. The clan spread fear and terror towards the blacks in a systematic way. Their reign of terror was felt throughout the south. It spread fear using guerilla tactics, whipping, beating, and lynching. The Klan’s purpose

People always want to demand their essential rights from government’s restriction by passing new laws. There was a period when people demanded their rights in the 1900s. Within the United States, most African Americans’ rights were denied by state governments. Hence, in the 1960s, they took a stand on requiring their rights through the Civil Rights movement around the country. During this movement, the Voting Rights Act was significant and for the reason is that this act gave African Americans a chance to participate in US politics by their votes. Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions.

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

In the speech “We Shall Overcome”, the speech was written by Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, the speech was addressed to Congress on voting legislation and to the United States as a whole. The speech was given on March 15, 1965 in an era where there was much bigotry, racial violence against blacks. The speech was televised a week after the after math of the deadly violence that had erupted in Salem Alabama, which was supposed to be a peaceful protest, that was given by the Negros a protest for equal rights to vote, turned into a violent protest. Many people were brutally beaten and there were also some that lost their lives, because of it. Lyndon B Johnson begins his speech his by convincing his listener that he will flight for what is owed to the Negros. That is the equal right to vote regardless of your race. The speech “We Shall Overcome”, speech gets to the core of the problem within the Legislation itself. He wants to see that everyone will abide by the 15th Amendment that gives Negros the right and the privilege to vote without any recourse, without worrying

Peaceful resistance to laws positively affect a free society. Throughout history, there have been multiple cases of both violent and peaceful protests. However, the peaceful protests are the ones that tend to stick with a society and are the ones that change the society for the better.

The disenfranchisement of Black Americans is as old as their presence in The United States. This disenfranchisement manifests itself in many different ways and is perpetuated on an institutional and individual levels. The oppression that blacks face have been consistently resisted by Black people and our allies. One of the more favorable ways of resistance towards institutional racism in the past and in the present has been to create legal reform. Laws such as the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment, also referred to as Reconstruction Amendments, are some laws that alleviated the oppression black people faced. Even though those amendments were put into place the individual and institutional injustices that blacks faced were still prevalent. The