In what ways were some of the following reasons more important than others in affecting the social, political and economic position of black people in America?

Alicia Fleming 11E Assignment 1 Question 1

Assignment 1- Question 1

There are four main reasons, which affected the social, political and economic positions of black people in America. They included the attitudes of Southern states after the civil war, slave status, Ku Klux Klan and the immigration of Europeans up to 1914. I will list them in rank of importance:

Slave status
Attitudes of Southern states
Ku Klux Klan
European immigration

Many black Negro Africans had been captured and exchanged for goods by the British. The British ships sailed to America and on arrival they became Black American slaves. They were cleaned and sold off, like animals and when a slave was purchased they became the property of plantation owners; they were treated like objects and not humans. The slaves were used as free labour, to harvest crops, or to work in the household. Strong discipline was used to keep them in order and it was illegal for them to be taught how to read or write. Even children born to slaves would automatically become slaves themselves; they only knew the life of a slave. This is known as slave status. Slaves became accustom to their lifestyle, which produced a slave mentality. They were dependant on their owners, could not use their own initiative, were uneducated and had low self esteem. Even when slavery was abolished in the North in 1863, many slaves were confused and continued to feel their role was to be subservient and inferior.

During the civil war blacks faced prejudiced within the Union Army. They were often given weapons and equipment of a poor standard and were not given a sufficient amount of supplies of food and medicines.

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The attitudes of Southern states after the civil war did not alter. Blacks were still seen and treated as inferior, which also contributed to the slave mentality. During the Period of Reconstruction, the Freedmen’s Bureau was established and Black men were granted equal civil rights and the right to vote. They established hospitals and schools for blacks and state land was opened to all black settlers’. White Southerners resented the new rules, which were in favour of the blacks and they introduced strict black codes. Blacks could not own guns, could not testify in court, could be arrested for being ‘impudent’ to whites and were only allowed to own property in allocated areas of towns called the ‘blacks’ part. Many blacks were forced to work on plantations as paid workers, however the owners had no money to pay them. They worked in return for a share of the crops; this was known as ‘Sharecropping’, but they had to pay for seeds, tools out of this. Due to earning so little blacks became dependant on ‘Country Stores’, where they bought clothing and food on credit from the plantation owners. This led to poverty, as the blacks owed heavy debts.

Blacks were usually lynched if accused of a crime; sometimes one that they did not commit and the police would do nothing.

Blacks were affected politically, because the whites also found ways of preventing blacks being able to vote. They added a pole tax, which the blacks could not afford and a literacy test, which many blacks could not pass. The law “grandfathers’ clause” stated men whose grandfathers were slaves could not vote, which excluded most if not all blacks from the voting system.

In 1890 the Southern states passed a series of laws called the “Jim Crow Laws”, which encouraged discrimination against blacks. Marriage between black and whites was illegal, segregation was introduced; where blacks could not utilize the same restaurants, hotels or theatres as whites. However in 1896, one man named Homer Plessy challenged a Louisiana railroad company after he was made to sit in a ‘blacks only’ carriage. Nevertheless the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of the railroad company and the decision was known as the Plessy Vs. Ferguson ruling; stating “separate but equal”.

The Ku Klux Klan was established in 1867 and was a brutal organization, which was intent on keeping white supremacy in the South. They used violence and intimidation, such as whipping, lynching, burning, kidnapping, mutilation and the murder against the blacks. Police could turn a blind eye to this brutal treatment and occasionally would be part of the organization. So to would members of the court, so the blacks were no longer safe in the hands of the “law”.

The least important factor that affected the blacks was the European immigration. Many blacks moved to Northern states for better occupations, although most of the well-paid jobs had been taken by immigrants. However, the influx of blacks to the North caused housing shortages as immigrants occupied many residents and this forced the blacks into the worst housing and lowest paid occupations.

From the reasons I have discussed I have come to the conclusion that the slave status had the most affect on blacks, because it would have taken many generations for slave mentality to ebb away. For all black people freedom was only another form of slavery.

Word Count: 868