Two Americas were formed as people were separated by race. For example, schools were segregated (Florida), Blacks couldn't eat in White restaurants, phone booths were separated by race ( Oklahoma), and even Coke machines were segregated (instructormarks, 2014). Plessy v. Ferguson officially ushered in a new era in which America was segregated. The "nadir" of African-American history is the dismantling of Reconstruction and its efforts to protect and include African Americans as equals. It not only sparked what is considered to be the most distinguished time in African American history, but it depicts the true violence and hardship the Blacks faced as “free” people. The "Red Summer of 1919" was such a heartbreaking time in our history. It begs the question of what was the cause. White supremacists were intimidated by the mass number of Black migrants moving to industrialization. It has been reported that approximately six million Black people moved from the American South to Northern, Midwestern, and Western states roughly from the 1910s until the 1970s (The Great Migration (1910-1970), …show more content…
Whites also feared retaliation from the Blacks for their enslavement prior to emancipation. They were convinced that Black soldiers were being influenced and encouraged by the enemy to come back to the States to start an uprising to gain control over the Whites (The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered, 2019). This led to acts of violence like arson, murder, property damage, etc. Lastly, hatred plays a big role in why the “Red Summer of 1919” occurred. White supremacist groups that rioted were fueled by their dislike for African Americans, which in their mind justified the pain and suffering they inflicted onto the other race. The case of Joe Ruffin, a wealthy farmer, depicts just how much African Americans hated him. After trying to help diffuse a situation between two white officers and a church goer, Joe Ruffun found himself unconscious by one of the cops. His son assumes he died and seeks revenge by killing the officer who attacked his father. The other officer is then beaten to death. An angry mob of hundreds of white men rushed to the town to seek revenge. Because they couldn't catch Ruffin, they caught two of his sons and lynched