Segregation and inequality was the most depressing period for any Black American, they were treated with no respect whatsoever and made to feel like dirt in their own country. Even though they were divided from white people, this did not make them have equal opportunities, especially in schools where black children wouldn’t even get a clean book to write in or a pencil to draw with. The majority of the kids who left their schools were illiterate because nobody had bothered to teach them how to read correctly, this meant that they couldn’t get a job because of an awful education and if they couldn’t get a job then there was no money to be able to afford clothes, food and housing. It was vicious circle which lead white people to think even inferior of them.
This made all Black Americans feel trapped in their own country and no one could do anything to change the laws. Segregation was legally enforced in 20 southern states, this meant that there were plenty of separate diners, laundrettes, areas on buses and even entertainment. Mixed marriages were forbidden so that is why when Black Americans were based in England for the war, white men hated them for socialising with their white women. The most offensive term that existed in the early 1950’s was ‘Jim Crow’. It came from the legally enforced segregation of 1896 where two men, Plessey and Ferguson argued over the imposed laws. The Supreme Court gave legal approval to local state laws for segregation over blacks and whites, this guaranteed that they would never obtain equal status, treatment or opportunity in their own country. From that day, the way that a black American would get the bus had changed immensely
Many black Americans assumed that if they fought for their country in the wars then they would gain recognition and a new type of respect. Unfortunately this was not the case, they were given menial jobs like toilet cleaning, bomb defusing and were still pulverized. Black people tried everything possible to gain a little bit of respect in the 1950’s but it still wouldn’t come. When the elections came each year, the hated race did not have the right to vote so therefore they didn’t get their opinion of the way the government was being run across to the nation. Very rarely was a black person proved to be the innocent individual in a court case because all of the jurors were obviously white so they all voted for the white person. There was no way of escaping the torment that these people suffered; some sort of savoir was needed to help.
The Ku Klux Klan was the most feared organization for any black person all over the south of America. It was an anti black terrorist group who set out to brutally torture any person of the opposite colour and who would have no limits to their violence. A disturbing fact is that the gang’s membership reached an all time peak of around 5 million after the war and continued to rise into the 1950’s. The Klan’s favourite methods of dealing with black people included whipping, branding and lynching but they would also burn down houses belonging to the blacks just so they could them show how powerful the gang really were. It wasn’t only members of the KKK which did these acts of evil, members of the authorities teamed up with the Klan to kill and to also prevent Black Americans from gaining equal opportunities, they would march through the streets in support of white supremacy and to make the fear for black people rise.
Once WWII was over, the black people of America had enough and wanted to put a stop to their suffering, they had succeeded in a victory aboard and wanted the same for their home country. The KKK continued to be the blacks most feared organization, every white person did what they could to make black people feel as destitute as possible. Racism was South America’s biggest problem, and it wouldn’t stop unless the Supreme Court put an end to it. Due to the Jim Crow laws, black people would never achieve any form of equality and self well being. America had made its black citizens the most disadvantaged and dejected people in the early 1950’s.
