Race Relations from Reconstruction through WWI
The reconstruction process beginning in 1865 brought on new race relations in America that would change the lives of every American. After the Civil War, newly freed slaves faced many challenges. Whites, especially in the South regarded blacks as inferior more than ever. While blacks were trying to move on and support their families outside the plantation that they were used to, Whites were engineering new ways to keep blacks as second class citizens. Sharecropping, which emerged as the dominant form of working the land, allowed freedom from white supervision and control but curtailed blacks from becoming wealthy and from owning land. Black Codes were supposed to give "persons of color" their freedom in a constitutional form. The real purpose, however, was to restrict the freedom of the black labor force and keep freed people as close to slave status as possible. These codes stated that although persons of color do have some rights such as the right to own land, make contracts, and to sue and be sued, they are not entitled to social or political equality with white persons. The codes were outrageous, actually stating that if a "person of color" makes a contract for service or labor, they shall be known as servants, and tho
Race relations between whites, blacks, Indians, and numerous European immigrants were very tense from the end of the Civil War to the end of WWI. White supremacy tended to be the ultimate theme throughout history. The Progressive Era, 1900-1917 brought a new wave of immigrants. Unlike their predecessors, the new immigrants nearly all lacked industrial skills. Because of this lack of skills they entered the bottom ranks of factories, mines, mills, and sweatshops. The new immigrants almost exclusively occupied the low-paid, backbreaking work in basic industry. More than 80,000 Japanese entered the United States during this era. American law prevented Japanese immigrants from obtaining American citizenship because they were not white. Mexican population also grew during these years. Race relations between these new immigrants and whites were similar to whites and blacks. Whites had the notion that they were ultimately superior. African Americans were stereotyped as creatures that lived for food, sex, alcohol, and violence. Booker T. Washington was very influential to African Americans during this time. He urged blacks to focus on economic improvement and self-reliance, as opposed to political and civil rights. Other African American leaders disagreed with Washington's belief of racial accommodation. W.E.B. Du Bois criticized Washington's willingness to accept the "alleged inferiority of the Negro." Du Bois believed in fighting for the right to vote, civil rights, and higher education. He along with other black men helped found the NAACP. This interracial organization protested legal segregation and the denial of civil rights to the nation's black population. Many immigrants came to America during the Incorporation of America, 1865-1900. Industrial expansion offered new opportunities to woman. African American and immigrant women found employment in the trades least affected by technological advances, such as domestic service. English speaking white women however moved into clerical and sales positions. African American men did not find new opportunities as the women. Actually they were excluded from many fields. The Chinese immigrants, most of who had come to the United States to work in railroad construction, were discriminated against even more than the African Americans. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which suspended Chinese immigration, limited the civil rights of resident Chinese, and forbade their naturalization. The "middle class" Americans felt that the many immigrants from all corners of the earth were inferior to them because they threatened to stability of American democracy, and they worried that alien cultural practices were disrupting what they viewed as traditional American morality. Once the Southern states returned to Democratic control in 1877, African Americans faced obstacles to voting, more stringent controls on plantati
Some common words found in the essay are:
African American, African Americans, Black Codes, Civil War, Rights Act, Progressive Era, Dawes Act, Du Bois, Exclusion Act, Severalty Act, african americans, civil rights, african american, congress passed, race relations, indian peoples, black suffrage, 14th amendment, civil war, 15th amendment, african americans congress, african american troops, ku klux klan, congress passed indian, civil rights act,
Approximate Word count = 1964
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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