The Lives of African Americans in Satan's Dwelling.

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The Lives of African Americans in Satan’s Dwelling

Daniel Lim

Dr. Sullivan

November 3, 2003

Booker T Washington once said, “Cast down your bucket where you are” (Handout). This renowned statement called for whites to work together with blacks in order for mutual progress in society. Not only did they reject this statement in late nineteenth century though the early twentieth century, but they also degraded their treatment to African Americans to an extent that can be described as Satanic. At the close of the nineteenth century, African Americans experienced many social hardships, political suppression, and economic difficulties due to the formation of unequal institutions and the expansion of parallel ideals regarding racial segregation in the United States, especially in the South.  

Due to the growing social tensions, African Americans felt the implications of a growing sentiment of “separate, but equal”. Ironically, this attitude began to change to a “separate, but not equal” belief that coincided with violent activities to African Americans throughout the nation. For example, African Americans faced a structure in prisons called the convict-lease system that mirrored slavery. Moreover, a court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, ruled in favor of segregation in railroad cars, which resulted in a chain reaction of segregation movements throughout the South. Harsh conditions that stemmed from segregation resulted into such extremes in many realms of African Americans’ lives that a famous orator, W.E.B. Du Bois, began to demand for simple freedoms as illustrated in his speech where he “[claimed] the right [for] free men to walk, talk, and be with [people] that wish to be with [them]” (Du Bois 18). Not only did African Americans face racial segregations, but they also suffered from the negative effects of lynching as described by Wells-Barnett’s narrative where in

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Springfield, Illinois, [a] mob rioted for two days, the militia of the entire state was called out, two men were lynched, hundreds of people driven from their homes, all because a white women said a Negro assaulted her…Later after the police had found that the woman’s charge was false, she published a retraction, the indictment was dismissed, and the intended victim was discharged. But the lynched victims were dead, hundreds were homeless, and Illinois was disgraced. (Wells-Barnett 23)

From this account, Wells demonstrated that discrimination is omnipresent in false accusations of African Americans, which would often lead to lynching. She ...

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