African Americans During The Reconstruction Era
Though the Civil War set the stage for the abolition of slavery, changes for blacks in America were slow and often met with resistance. The Reconstruction Era was expected to reunify the country and the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments made to the constitution, passed between 1868 and 1870, were intended to assure that African Americans maintained their freedom, ability to vote, and equal protection under the law. However, this period introduced greater social divides and an extreme opposition to the black race. By the late 1870s, the federal government withdrew from the South. Legislatures filled with white supremacists passed new laws that enforced segregation, these laws became known as “Jim Crow.” Jim Crow laws influenced
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Because so many people migrated in a short period of time, the African-American migrants were often resented by the urban white working class; fearing their ability to negotiate rates of pay or secure employment, the ethnic whites felt threatened by the influx of new labor competition. Sometimes those who were most fearful or resentful were the last immigrants of the 19th and new immigrants of the 20th century. The policy of immigration to was unsettling for Americans, especially when the differences between them and the migrants were strikingly obvious. “White Americans .”693 The conditions African Americans confronted in the North were improved but still full of hardship.. Government policy kept African Americans out of many neighborhoods through redlining; the restriction of neighborhoods in which people of certain racial and ethnic groups could get approved for a mortgage. White homeowners and realtors prevented migrants from purchasing homes or renting apartments in white neighborhoods. In addition, when numerous blacks moved into white neighborhoods, whites would quickly relocate out of fear of a potential rise in property crime, rape, drugs and violence that was attributed to neighborhoods with large black populations. These tendencies contributed to maintaining the "racial divide" in the North, perhaps accentuating it. By the late 1950s and 1960s, African Americans were hyper-urban, more densely concentrated in inner cities than other groups. Since African-American migrants retained many Southern cultural and linguistic traits, such cultural differences created a sense of "otherness" in terms of their reception by others who were already living in the cities. Stereotypes ascribed to black people during this period and ensuing generations often derived from
Because so many people migrated in a short period of time, the African-American migrants were often resented by the urban white working class; fearing their ability to negotiate rates of pay or secure employment, the ethnic whites felt threatened by the influx of new labor competition. Sometimes those who were most fearful or resentful were the last immigrants of the 19th and new immigrants of the 20th century. The policy of immigration to was unsettling for Americans, especially when the differences between them and the migrants were strikingly obvious. “White Americans .”693 The conditions African Americans confronted in the North were improved but still full of hardship.. Government policy kept African Americans out of many neighborhoods through redlining; the restriction of neighborhoods in which people of certain racial and ethnic groups could get approved for a mortgage. White homeowners and realtors prevented migrants from purchasing homes or renting apartments in white neighborhoods. In addition, when numerous blacks moved into white neighborhoods, whites would quickly relocate out of fear of a potential rise in property crime, rape, drugs and violence that was attributed to neighborhoods with large black populations. These tendencies contributed to maintaining the "racial divide" in the North, perhaps accentuating it. By the late 1950s and 1960s, African Americans were hyper-urban, more densely concentrated in inner cities than other groups. Since African-American migrants retained many Southern cultural and linguistic traits, such cultural differences created a sense of "otherness" in terms of their reception by others who were already living in the cities. Stereotypes ascribed to black people during this period and ensuing generations often derived from