Essay: The experience of black people was that they were treated in their own country as if they were not Americans at all, 1920 - 1930

There were also laws in the south which prevented African-Americans from being treated equally as their fellow white citizens.  These were the “Jim Crow” laws.  “Jim Crow” was an abusive and insulting term – much the same as “nigger”. These laws saw to it that segregation was legal and ensured that blacks could be exploited as well as shown brutal treatment.

When black people were permitted to go to war, it seemed that they were being treated as Americans, which contradicts the statement that they were not.  Nevertheless, this ray of hope had its limits: the soldiers were kept in all-black units, black officers were not allowed to command the white troops and despite their loyalty in the war, African-Americans were not given any reward and still remained as poor and outcast as ever in the “roaring twenties” when most white people prospered.  During the Great Depression African-Americans suffered much in the stumble of farm prices and the mass unemployment.  At that time, black and white Americans in the South were poorer than those in the North due to the fact that the Southern part of America was covered with farmland and mainly based on the economy of agriculture.  Farm prices remained low during the decade of the 1930s.

At the time when black Americans were migrating to the North of the USA, even though they had higher wages and segregation did not exist in the Northern cities, African-Americans were still not given fair treatment by white citizens as the blacks were given the lowest paid jobs, were normally the last people to obtain a job and the first to be fired.  Therefore racism was common.

The “Back to Africa” movement was very popular because of its motives.  Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican-born leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, believed that black people worldwide were one nation, Africa being their homeland which needed to be set free from the colonial rule of European countries and he wished black people to return to their homeland.  In 1924 a deputation was sent by Garvey to Liberia so that the way to a settlement would be prepared.  “Black is Beautiful” was his slogan which stated that black was the colour of strength and beauty and not a sign of inferiority.  This persuaded many black people to follow the “Back to Africa” movement because it gave them hope.  Marcus Garvey’s dictum, in my opinion, hinted that as black people were not treated equally as American citizens, they should go back to their homeland – Africa.  His teaching did encourage black people to hold their heads up high.

The coming of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s outlawed African-Americans from having any justice.  As the government also consisted of members of the KKK, this explained why there was so much racism and segregation.  There were many unjust hangings of black people as well.

Thus, to make a précis and conclude, African-Americans had had the experience of being treated in their own country as if they were not Americans at all, because the State denied them of the fundamental rights of human beings and at times treated them worst than dogs, not even thinking that they are people.