To What Extent Were the Jim Crow Laws Main Problems for Black Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. Essay Example
To what extent were the Jim Crow Laws the main problem facing black Americans in the 1920s and 1930s?
When the Civil War ended in 1865, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed all men in America – black or white – equal. However, throughout the rest of the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century African-Americans were widely discriminated especially in the Southern states of the country. They faced serious social, economic and political problems and were regarded by most people as the inferior race. Although America was referred to by its president Woodrow Wilson as the “great melting pot” in 1915 and although it was supposed to be a country where “all men are created equal” as stated in the Constitution; this certainly was not the case. American society was divided by strict racial hierarchy with the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) on the very top, other European immigrants in the middle and with blacks descending mainly from slaves on the very bottom.
Historians argue why this was and why the desires of some leaders to create a homologous nation really stayed only desires. Some argue that the ethnic minorities faced discrimination in everyday life because it had legal basis in the so called “Jim Crow” laws, which promoted the “separate but equal” decision of the Supreme Court from 1896. These laws were introduced in the South to support the separation of the races and basically made the discrimination of Blacks legal. However, others argue that the reason for discrimination lay deeper in the American history and that it rooted from the established racial hierarchy. There were many half-secret organisations that fought for the white supremacy and some historians, such as David M. Chalmers argue that it was the existences of such groups that caused the discrimination against blacks. Some historians also argue that the federal apathy was another important obstacle blacks had to face. This was because of the laissez-faire policy and also because of personal
When the Civil War ended in 1865, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed all men in America – black or white – equal. However, throughout the rest of the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century African-Americans were widely discriminated especially in the Southern states of the country. They faced serious social, economic and political problems and were regarded by most people as the inferior race. Although America was referred to by its president Woodrow Wilson as the “great melting pot” in 1915 and although it was supposed to be a country where “all men are created equal” as stated in the Constitution; this certainly was not the case. American society was divided by strict racial hierarchy with the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) on the very top, other European immigrants in the middle and with blacks descending mainly from slaves on the very bottom.
Historians argue why this was and why the desires of some leaders to create a homologous nation really stayed only desires. Some argue that the ethnic minorities faced discrimination in everyday life because it had legal basis in the so called “Jim Crow” laws, which promoted the “separate but equal” decision of the Supreme Court from 1896. These laws were introduced in the South to support the separation of the races and basically made the discrimination of Blacks legal. However, others argue that the reason for discrimination lay deeper in the American history and that it rooted from the established racial hierarchy. There were many half-secret organisations that fought for the white supremacy and some historians, such as David M. Chalmers argue that it was the existences of such groups that caused the discrimination against blacks. Some historians also argue that the federal apathy was another important obstacle blacks had to face. This was because of the laissez-faire policy and also because of personal