Racial Segregation And Segregation

From the earliest years of European settlement in North America, whites enslaved and oppressed black people. Although the Civil War finally brought about the abolition of slavery, a harsh system of white supremacy persisted thereafter. In the early twentieth century, African Americans in the South and in many parts of nearby border states were banned from associating with whites in a host of institutions and public accommodations—schools, hospitals, old folks’ homes, rest rooms, waiting rooms, railroad cars, hotels, restaurants, lunch counters, parks and beaches, swimming pools, libraries, concert halls, and movie theaters. Some recreational areas posted signs, “Negroes and Dogs Not Allowed.” Racial discrimination deprived Southern blacks of decent jobs and schools and of elementary rights of citizenship, including voting. White intimidation and violence, including lynching, remained an ever-present threat. Outside of the South, blacks had legal rights, but they suffered from widespread discrimination and from de facto residential and school segregation.

Segregation in America grew worse and worse after the Civil War, but it was even worse in modern times. One example of this is stated in Source B,” America watched footage of brutish, white Southerners mercilessly harassing African Americans bent on getting an education.” This shows how merciless and uncaring segregationists were at the time. Moreover, it shows how violent segregation can be, and why it’s wrong. Furthermore, Source C stated,” Jim Crow laws led to the disenfranchisement of African-Americans voters.” However, the segregationists argued that it was right, purely for the belief that their skin was better. This further proves that segregation is bad, as it takes away the rights that everyone should have regardless of race. In all, segregation was a terrible, yet powerful influence over Americans.

Many aspects of African-American’s life were segregated from that of the rest of the population. African-Americans could not use the same water fountains or purchase items from the same markets as the “whites”. Certain shops would have a sign in front of them that would inform anyon that may chose to shop there if there race was allowed to be there. Most shops that allowed African-Americans would force them to use the back entrance etc.

Ever since the colonial era, conflicts between whites and blacks has gotten worse. During the 1900’s discrimination against African Americans in the southern parts of the United States has become even more widespread. By 1907, every southern state required racial segregation on trains, in churches, schools,hotels, restaurants, theaters, and other public places. By 1910, every southern state had taken away or had began to take away the right of African Americans to vote. Discrimination against African Americans in the southern states was just the beginning of how African Americans lived.

At a time when African Americans were faced with laws plainly stating that the Black race was inferior to Whites and when Slavery had been transformed into Jim Crow and the convict leasing system, the African American struggle was at its worst. After States had formed Black Codes in order to limit African American rights and wages, Jim Crow laws were introduced to further racial segregation. An African American during the Jim Crow era could be incarcerated for an act as simple as vagrancy and placed into the convict leasing system which proved to be a treacherous post-slavery and devastating to the dream of equal rights. Though White society had once again found ways to repress the African American community, it was by way of education, journalism and art that African Americans were able to form a common and activist voice. Radical and eloquent minds of African Americans began to form publicly and also became socially accepted as artists, writers and politicians. It is the social struggle which propelled these extraordinary humans across the lines of racial and social injustice in the United States. It is in the struggle that we understand ourselves.

The United States has come a long way since the 1960s civil rights movement, yet many large, metropolitan areas within its borders still experience vast amounts of racism and segregation- especially in the area of residential living. The topic of this research draws attention to the issue of racial residential segregation, particularly in the city of St. Louis. Even though there are official laws against discrimination in jobs, housing, school, etc., much of this prejudice is still very prevalent within social norms. The goal of this research is to analyze the posed question: Why and how does a person of African American descent experience racial residential segregation in their quest of finding housing? In this study, the experience and treatment will be measured as being dependent on race within the residential sector.

I decided that while this was something common and had backing maybe I should do more digging before bringing it up with anyone else. So, I decided to try a different approach, I copied all the patient files, then ran them through a program that sorted them by race. Now I didn’t think this would go anywhere as the country is now much more integrated than it was during the time period any of the articles or books I found were written in. Imagine my surprise when I find that the repeat visits from minority races all have issues such as insecurity in their job and social life, many of them seem to have a dislike for how they look or act at times and they let this control them but then they dislike themselves even more and some of them have inferiority

Race is invisible to white, because they don’t have to think about it. When white people are in poverty, they never think to consider their skin color as a factor to why they are. Whites are mostly oblivious to this happening in general, because it does not happen to them.

Bradley, Stefan. "Watching Jim Crow: The Struggles over Mississippi TV, 1955-1969." The Journal of African American History 90.1-2 (2005): 171+. World History Collection. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

I believe that most Segregation is fear based and a small portion of it is race based. There are many people that have not allowed themselves to connect with other races and cultures. Their knowledge of other races and cultures is likely derived from other people opinions, as well as our Countries history, and stereotypes that are played out on a daily basis in the world.

When the civil war ended, there were two plans as to how to readmit the rebellious southern states back into the union. President Lincoln’s ten percent plan was by far the more lenient of the two, while the plan that congress wanted was much more oppressive. Both the north and the south had been ravaged by the war, and tension still ran high between them.

Racial Segregation; made-up differences. Racial segregation is the idea that every race is certainly different, but it also leads to the idea that certain races don’t belong and are barely human. Some people, civilized, educated, yet ignorant people, thought that everyone normal was white.

The contemporary debate regarding the distinctive patterns of poverty among African Americans revolves around the question, “is it class or race that causes (and perpetuates) such misfortune of African Americans?” Scholars have looked at patterns of residential segregation in their attempts to answer such a question. Massey and Denton explore racial residential segregation in the United States throughout the 20th century. They argue that the making and concentration of the (African American) underclass in inner cities resulted from institutional and interpersonal racism in the housing market that perpetuates already existing racial segregation. Similarly, Reardon and colleagues conclude that residential segregation by income level occurs all across racial groups, but it is especially problematic poorer Blacks and Hispanics from their investigation of neighborhood income composition by household race and income at the turn of the 21st century. Thus, residential segregation by both class and race perpetuate structural disadvantages and misfortunes of African Americans in today’s American society.

Racial segregation has been embedded in southern society ever since the birth of the America. However, even though documents such as Brown vs. Board of Education and the fourteenth amendment has been instituted into the constitution, we are still facing racial segregation throughout America that is unconstitutional and unjust. The south of America, especially Alabama, are facing several claims of racial tension in their prison system and their way to solve the tension between the black and white population is through segregation. The prison system has faced a lot of backlash, as 65% of their inmates consist of African Americans and 35% of them consist of white Americans. From time to time there has been violent encounters between white and black Americans, which have led to many unfortunate deaths. In order to simmer down the tension, the prison system thought it would be necessary to isolate inmates by race. The decision of segregation in Alabama’s prison system takes us back into history, when African Americans’ faced separate but equal law (Plessey vs. Ferguson) that separated whites from blacks in public facilities. This action is total nonsense and Alabama’s governing systems needs to find methods in which can diversify black and white American’s together to unify with each other through actives and interactions.

In the 1960’s, black and white individuals were not recognized as being equal. The two races were treated differently, and the African Americans did not enjoy the same freedoms as the whites. The African Americans never had a chance to speak their mind, voice their opinions, or enjoy the same luxuries that the white people attained. Through various actions/efforts like the lunch counter sit-ins, freedom rides, and bus boycotts, the black people confronted segregation face on and worked to achieve equality and freedom.