Essay On African Americans During The Gilded Age
A) Mark Twain called the late 19th century the “Gilded Age.” This was a time of greed and guile, with robber barons making a fortune off of the backs of their workers, corporation making shady business deals and having shadier business practices (DH). Many groups during this time suffered. Two groups that faced major difficulties and problems are labor Union members and African-Americans. Labor Union members faced many difficulties during the Gilded Age. Labor Union members literally had to fight for control of the work place, which meant many very violent strikes happened during this time. Labor workers wanted to unionize to help get better working conditions and fairer wages. Employers during this time were very opposed to the
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idea of unions and lucky for many of the employers the federal government sided with them on most occasions. The Unions members during this time lucky had numbers on their side and when one place started to strike other places around the United States would join in to support their fellow workers. This unfortunately this had poor results because the railroads would start to riot and then the federal government had to step in, with the closing of the railroads the U.S mail was not getting delivery and that is against United States federal law. Then the United States would sent in the army to put down the riots. Over time the United States would change its view on unions, but that would only happen when the American government moves away from laissez-faire. African American during the gilded age suffered greatly in the southern United States.
Even with the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the ending of Slavery many Africans Americans were still treated as less than people. The southern states passed Jim Crow laws that were based on the black code laws (which were deemed unconstitutional). The Jim Crow laws followed the “separate but equal” idea, which meant that whites and African Americans would have separate but equal stations, this was not the case however. Many of the stations given to African Americans were under-funded or out of date in the case of schools and the books the schools would get. Over time the federal government would step in and start to disband this laws, but the southern states would just find ways to keep them coming back. It would ultimately take a civil rights movement in the 1960s for the laws to be completely disbanded. The Gilded Age was not kind to African Americans, but these laws would drive people to bring about the end of Jim Crow and to give equal rights to all Americans no matter what skin color you are. The Gilded age was a time of greed and guile. Mark Twain called it so, not out of respect, but out of disgust. This time period was a time of people abusing power and making great financial gain. The gilded age did have its upsides thought paving a pathway for modern American government and
politics.
idea of unions and lucky for many of the employers the federal government sided with them on most occasions. The Unions members during this time lucky had numbers on their side and when one place started to strike other places around the United States would join in to support their fellow workers. This unfortunately this had poor results because the railroads would start to riot and then the federal government had to step in, with the closing of the railroads the U.S mail was not getting delivery and that is against United States federal law. Then the United States would sent in the army to put down the riots. Over time the United States would change its view on unions, but that would only happen when the American government moves away from laissez-faire. African American during the gilded age suffered greatly in the southern United States.
Even with the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the ending of Slavery many Africans Americans were still treated as less than people. The southern states passed Jim Crow laws that were based on the black code laws (which were deemed unconstitutional). The Jim Crow laws followed the “separate but equal” idea, which meant that whites and African Americans would have separate but equal stations, this was not the case however. Many of the stations given to African Americans were under-funded or out of date in the case of schools and the books the schools would get. Over time the federal government would step in and start to disband this laws, but the southern states would just find ways to keep them coming back. It would ultimately take a civil rights movement in the 1960s for the laws to be completely disbanded. The Gilded Age was not kind to African Americans, but these laws would drive people to bring about the end of Jim Crow and to give equal rights to all Americans no matter what skin color you are. The Gilded age was a time of greed and guile. Mark Twain called it so, not out of respect, but out of disgust. This time period was a time of people abusing power and making great financial gain. The gilded age did have its upsides thought paving a pathway for modern American government and
politics.