Social Limitations Faced By African Americans After Civil War

African Americans in the South faces many hardships in the years following the Civil War. Although more rights were granted to them, new laws and white terrorist groups were quick to take these rights and their sense of safety and wellbeing. Black people in the South faced social, political, and economic hardships post-Civil War due to white supremacy, the evolution of racist laws, and specialized taxes and business set ups. African Americans faced social limitations in the decades following the Civil War, mainly because of white supremacists. One of the worst groups formed against African Americans was the Ku Klux Klan, which is still around today even if they are not as visible. The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK for short, violently discriminated against African Americans and restricted many of their freedoms. They would burn black schools, churches, and homes along with any homes of
Although President Lincoln outlawed slavery with the 13th amendment, southerners found a loophole for their racist ways through passing the Black Codes. The Black codes were discriminatory laws passed to hinder African Americans’ basic human rights including the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The federal government passed the 14th amendment in an attempt to disband the Black Codes and give back the people’s rights, but a new, even more discriminatory set of laws was passed in retaliation: the Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws completely segregated the southerners who were people of colour and the white southerners. One court case that tried to battle these laws of segregation, Plessy vs. Ferguson, lost because the Supreme Court stated that the segregation would be allowed if the facilities were separate but equal. Although facilities were far from equal, it was maintained. The government tried to help in some cases but ultimately sided with the white people until well past