Effects Of Segregation On African Americans In The 1930's

Despite great efforts to abolish racism, discrimination against the African American people was as strong as ever in the 1930’s. The 1930’s was a hard time for white people, but considerably harder for the African American people. There were an abundance of problems for African Americans. Each day they would be judged by the way they looked. The harsh judgment, they received was astonishing and knowing that they lived this way is unbelievable. Between the uncivilized living situations and the cruel way of life, African Americans seemed to have more problems. White people had problems of their own, but nothing compared to an African American's daily life. There was discrimination and segregation on every turn. Racism caused unfair court trials,
a diversion of education between races, and a world of isolation for black people in the 1930’s. The trials and cases for people in the 1930’s were based on the race of the defendants. For African Americans, the courts were unfair and racist. In the Scottsboro trials, racism played a major role. The trial was for nine black boys who were accused of raping two white women on a freight train. During the 1930’s, there were homeless people riding freight trains looking for work. The white and black homeless people started fighting and that resulted in everyone getting thrown off the train and nine black boys were sent to jail falsely accused of assaulting two white women. “Within a month, the boys were tried in Scottsboro, and eight of them were convicted and sentenced to death; the case of the youngest boy, only thirteen years old, was declared a mistrial” (Scottsboro). As expected, the black
Dreaden 2 boys got thrown in jail for the accusations. These assumptions were made only because two white women accused the boys of such an act. The two women who accused these boys were Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. There is no explanation as to why the women would falsely accuse the innocent boys except for racism and discrimination. “At least one of the defendants was found to be physically incapable of rape. Also, a doctor testified that a physical examination of Bates and Price just after the alleged attack showed no evidence that they had been raped” (Scottsboro). Eight boys were sentenced to death because two women were being racist and judgemental. There was no evidence besides the claims of the two women and further investigation showed that it was all untrue, yet the trial went on and eight boys paid the price for a false case. This does not only show the racism in trials, it also shows how very few people tried to help the African Americans in court. There were some groups that believed the court trials against the African American people were unfair. “Working through the ILD, the communists were one of the first groups to protest the verdicts in the 1931 trials- and they were the only group to offer help at that time” (Scottsboro). This one group would help testify against racial segregation trials, but that was only one group and there were as a large amount of unfair cases. Some cases took an abundant amount of time to prove not guilty. “ It took until 1938 for the National Association for the advancement of Colored People (NAACP), founded in 1909-1910, to win a Supreme Court case in which in inequality of education could not be ignored” (Fireside 101). It was extremely unfair towards the African Americans in trials, because of the racism from the judge and the prosecutors. This is just one of the ways that racism was used in the 1930s.

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Besides the unfair court trials, African Americans were facing a major problem in education.
African American’s educational privileges were greatly limited. Most people did not believe that the African Americans could handle the high educational standards. “Only African Americans and some white progressive educators dissented from the mainstream assumption that tax money spent on black education was a waste of money” (Education). While white kids went to school, the black kids were not allowed join them. “American education was racially segregated in the 1930s precisely because of the white presumption that blacks were inherently incapable of learning at an advanced level” (Education). There were two separate schools, one for the white kids and one for the black kids. The white kid’s schools would be big with qualified teachers and good school supplies. The black kid’s schools would be small with limited teachers that were hardly qualified and had very limited school supplies. Some places did not have schools and some were just not equal to others. “The white teachers that would teach at the white kid's schools, would receive a high pay for short hours and limited work. While black teachers, who would teach at black schools, would earn low pay for long hours and hard work” (Education). Black teachers would work very hard and because of their race, they would only get minimum wage. Most places did not provide black people with any source of education. “Two hundred thirty
southern counties did not have a single high school for black students in 1932- even though every one of these counties possessed a high school for whites” (Education). People believed that African Americans could not handle the high standards, so they never gave them an opportunity to try. Although the counties did not provide schools, the black people received some sort of education but they had to achieve it on their own. “Black communities throughout the country built schools for themselves and hired instructors for the most difficult subjects” (Education). Black communities Dreaden 4 were not extremely wealthy, therefore they only had instructors for the harder subjects. Everything else had to be self-taught. African Americans were not educated as well as they could have been. They also had to provide their own education because no one else would. This was all because of the color of their skin.
Not only were they partially cut off from education, they were isolated from everything and everyone.
African Americans were segregated and isolated from the white people. African Americans were at risk of being injured because of their race. There were raids that would cause extreme damage to the African American people both physically and mentally. “Raiders burned black schools and churches. They whipped or murdered African Americans and their white allies. They threatened blacks who tried to register to vote or demand civil rights” (Fremon 21-22). African Americans were constantly harassed by these people, and no one would step in to defend them. Raiders destroyed the small amount of possessions the African Americans had. African Americans were killed during these outrageous acts racism. They could be burned down with the schools and churches or be beaten by raiders in the street. “In North and South, American Negroes were mistreated and segregated” (Nardo 75). This mistreatment was normal for the African American people. White people were not harassed like the black people were. White people would give the African American people insulting looks. They were not just harassed, they were also separated from everyone else. Most forms of transportation had separate places for the different races. African Americans were confused and insulted by these actions, and did not believe it was necessary. “The case arose from resentment among black and Creole residents of New Orleans
and was supported by the railroad companies, who felt it unnecessary to pay the cost of separate cars” (Plessy v. Ferguson). The African American people would often get a
Dreaden 5 separate place to sit, and it was normally somewhere in the back. Meanwhile the white people were put upfront. This racist act was so the white people did not have to sit near the black people. The area where the white people were seated was clean and closer to the exit. The seating area for the black people was often dirty and far from the exit. “Homer Plessy and others ‘in whom color is not discernable,’ wrote Tourgee, might be assigned to either a white or colored coach depending on the conductor’s whim. Light- skinned blacks would not be able to tell how they fit into the law’s black- and- white division” (Fireside 48). As the light-skinned blacks proved, they never knew which side to go too. The white people would not count them as white because they had African American in them. The black people would give them more respect because even though they were light-skinned, they still had African American in them. Racism caused unfair court trials, a diversion of education between races, and a world of isolation for African Americans in the 1930’s. The African American people were given punishments for crimes they did not commit. African Americans were falsely accused of crimes and judged because of their skin color. They were not given an opportunity to be educated unless they provided it for themselves or lived somewhere where there was a school for African Americans. The African Americans were treated poorly. The racist acts of people in the 1930’s is unbelievable and must of been difficult for the African American people. Racism was a major problem in the 1930’s.