The Sharing Of African Americans In The Late 19th Century

In the late 19th century, ideas of white supremacy in the southern United States was at an all-time high. White southerners showed prejudice towards African Americans, often in violent ways such as lynching. They would regularly accuse the African Americans of severe crimes, like rape or murder, to warrant their actions. Even white citizens who supported black Americans put themselves in danger of being subjected to lynching as well. This racial injustice was mainly due to white southerners being insecure about African Americans having newfound political power, civil rights, and this often ended in violence. White southerners used violent tactics against African Americans, the most common form was lynching. The whites would often make false
The white southerners saw this exercise of civil liberties as a threat to their own power over the country. Ida B. Wells said that “Under the authority of a national law that gave every citizen the right to vote, the newly-made citizens chose to exercise their suffrage. But the reign of the national law was short-lived and illusionary.” 1 This statement refers to how it was completely legal for blacks to vote, the whites made it very difficult for them and used any possible means to invalidate their votes and eventually deter blacks from wanting to influence politics. The lynching of African Americans also occurred because white men saw that ethnic groups were gaining power in politics and were worried about losing their previous influential roles in government, even though in reality these insecurities had no reason to exist. White southerners not only believed that blacks were beneath them by societal standards, but also failed to recognize their humanity. This is discussed in the Tillman speech, “We of the South have never recognized the right of the negro to govern white men, and we never will. He is not meddling with politics, for he found that the more he meddled with them the worse off he got.” In this particular speech, Tillman shows the white agenda of refusing to accept the new change of culture within America
Most people would argue that education is a right for each citizen of a developed country, but back in the late 1800s, blacks were often not allowed a quality or comprehensive schooling experience. Mary Church Terrell wrote that “Already one State has enacted a law by which colored children in the public schools are prohibited from receiving instruction higher than the sixth grade…”2 This fact shows that not only were black adults being punished for their race, but also the innocent children who were not allowed more than an elementary education. This rule sets the children up for failure later on in life because the white children had more value in the eyes of society and therefore knew much more than their darker skinned counterparts. Ida B. Wells said in her speech “…with every office of the executive department filled by white men – no excuse can be offered for exchanging the orderly administration of justice for the barbarous lynchings and “unwritten laws”.”1 With white men completely controlling all executive seats in Congress, it would be a smart assumption to think that they know what they are doing with their authority, but act uncivilized when it comes to serving justice. Wells also mentioned, “…that justifies them in putting human beings to death without complaint under oath, without trial by