An Examination of Racism in the Deep South of America From the1930's to the 1960's through a variety of texts.

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An Examination of Racism in the Deep South of America From the1930’s to the 1960’s through a variety of texts.

Race: a group of persons having a common ancestor… family, kindred people, genus,                                                                                                                                                                         species, breed, variety, or class of persons…”

That is what the dictionary says, so why so much hatred, politics and fuss??

The Anglo – American slave trade, started in the 16th century when the first Hispanic people settled in Mexico and the Caribbean.  From there, the other Europeans who migrated took black Africans to work on their cotton and tobacco plantations.

This started the very wealthy “Slave Triangle” in which many Captains sought profit.  The ships would sail empty from England, Spain, France or Portugal to the African countries to catch slaves.  After filling their holds with human cargo they would set sail for the Caribbean. Once there, the Captains sold the slaves to the dealers in return for cotton or tobacco, which they would sell for a large profit back at home.

These slaves were then the full property of their masters and he or she could do anything they liked to them and treat them in anyway they wanted to.  One example of this is an advertisement in the ‘Royal Gazette (Kingston Jamaica)’ saying;

Runaway, about 15 months ago a Negro man of the Mungola country named Jamaica…also about two months ago, two Negro men named James and Sambo…a reward of ₤10 for Jamaica and a Half Joe each for James and Sambo…Also stolen or strayed…a Bright Bay Northward HORSE… also a small JACK ASS… a reward of a pistolẻ will be given for each…”

This shows that their masters treated the slaves with about as much respect and sense of belonging as a horse or donkey. Such disregard upset many Americans and so some spoke out against it.  In 1861, because they would not agree to abolish slavery, the Southern States left the Union of American States.  This created even more outcry until Abraham Lincoln , the then President of America declared war on the Southern States.

The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865.  It destroyed most of the agricultural land in the South and drained it of its wealth.  After the Civil War the United States of America was formed.  During the next 5 – 10 years the Northerners set in place a number of laws giving back human and civil rights to the black people.  Initially this idea worked, but due to the hostility of the Southern confederacy these changes  eventually failed.

The “Yankees” that is the Northern Army and Governors called the changes they made “reconstruction”, but after they left, using a number of loopholes in the Law, the Southern Governors set in place many new rules.  These were called the Jim Crow Laws and they “segregated”  the black former slaves from the white people completely, thereby undoing all the good work done by the Northerners.  The following time of white supremacy was called “redemption”

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This time of “redemption” and “segregation”  was a hard time for the blacks;

  1. Their voting rights were taken away
  2. The money for black schools was diverted to white education.
  3. There were separate buses for coloured and white people, or no bus at all.

An example of this is given in the Novel Roll of Thunder where the Logan children have to dive into a ditch up to their chests, or in the case of ‘Little Man’- swim, to avoid the oncoming Jefferson Davies school bus and its ruthless driver.

It was around this ...

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