...Caprice Golden Professor History August 14th, 2024. The Role of Racism in the Failure of Reconstruction The Reconstruction era in United States of America history, spanning roughly from 1865 to 1877, remains a crucial and controversial period marked by efforts to rebuild a nation that was torn apart by civil war and to redefine the social and political landscape of the South of the United States of America. Central to the debate surrounding Reconstruction is the question of whether racism played a decisive role in its perceived failure. Reconstruction emerged in the aftermath of the Civil War with ambitious goals in mind: to integrate millions of formerly enslaved African Americans into American society as full citizens, to rebuild the Southern economy that was devastated by...
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...lives of those who truly are rehabilitated, especially African Americans, limiting their success thereafter release. Lastly, one must examine the historical basis of racism in the Criminal Justice system. As a future Social Worker, effective efforts to address these above-mentioned issues require an in-depth understanding of high incarceration rates of African American males. Also, there must be understanding of the differences in sentencing practices of African Americans versus Caucasians. The Emergence of High Incarceration Rates Shortly, after the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, Conservatives viewed civil rights allowed by blacks resulted in disobedience to the law. In addition, Civil Rights Leaders took action in an effort to desegregate public schools, restaurant, and other establishments that blacks were not allowed to frequent. During this era civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were viewed as people who had no regard for the law. According to Alexander, “beginning in the 1960s, crime rates rose in the United States for a period of about ten years.” (Alexander, pg....
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...The American Reconstruction occurred between the years of 1865-1877, when the American government tried to reunite and build the country back up again. As the Civil War ended, the South was in ruin and many of the large plantations were destroyed and no longer had their free labor. The economy and wealth in the South had been destroyed. The government now had to face the great task of rebuilding the South, uniting the North and the South into one cohesive unit and integrating into society the African-Americans, who had been enslaved for so many years. These were not small tasks to accomplish and while there was hope, the reconstruction era failed to achieve these goals. There are two main reasons why these goals were not met. The first was that President Lincoln had shown great leadership during this time and held much promise, but was assassinated before he could complete his job. The second was that although it once looked promising, there were not enough measures put into place to integrate and equalize the former slaves. Although the reconstruction era began to rebuild after the Civil War, it was not able to achieve all of its goals. It took many years after the era to finally unite the States and have...
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...authority depending on the circumstance. The events that happened between the beginning of the Civil War and the Civil Rights Era forced our government to step up and make decisions that would further shape the future development of our country. The United States Government was set in place to maintain a certain measure of control for the country. The Government regulates schools, businesses, utilities and modes of transportation and is necessary to maintain a certain standard of living. Since the formation of this country, there have been many changes to our Government to aid in our growth. Although, there have been incidences where the Government had to be more autonomous based on certain situations that arose. The Civil War, the acts that were passed, the reconstruction period after the war and the Civil Rights Movement for total equality were very important incidents that shaped the way the United States is today. The American Civil War had occurred because of different views and opinions between Americans. The U.S. Federal Government was supported by twenty mostly Northern free states where slavery had already been abolished and by five states that had become known as the Border States. It had taken four years but the Confederacy had surrendered and slavery was abolished everywhere in the nation. In the events leading up to the war, during the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery...
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...1st, 2016 HIS-202 Trochim Reconstruction Reconstruction was a time era, 1863 to 1877, in American history where there was an attempt to resolve issues from the Civil War. It was a period of putting back the pieces. The Confederacy and slavery were demolished and the development of the Constitution strengthened the rights of citizens. The movement tackled the return of southern states that had estranged, the status of previous confederate leaders, and the Constitutional status of the African-Americans. Controversy on how to handle the situations and by the 1870s Reconstruction had been considered a failure for the lack of equally integrating the recently freed slaves into the legal, political, economic and social system. The Dunning School perceived Reconstruction as a failure for different reasons. They claimed Reconstruction took freedom and rights away from qualified Caucasians and gave it to unqualified African-Americans. Revisionism focused on economics, and ultimately downplayed political and constitutional issues. They claimed that the movement was an attempt by financiers, railroad builders, and industrialists to use the Republican Party to control the national government for their own selfish economic needs. There has been much debate as far as which interpretation is best. Dunning’s interpretation is best because although it views the failure of Reconstruction, it also draws attention to what Reconstruction achieved. Reconstruction allowed for former slaves to...
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...been given their freedom, but the action to reconstructing the South in the time frame of the Reconstruction period of 1865-1877 had introduced a new set of remarkable challenges. When the President Andrew Johnson was in office in the years of 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures had passed a very strict set of “black codes” to control the work labor and behavior of former slaves and other blacks. During this time of the Radical Reconstruction, which had started in 1867, the newly liberated black people gained a voice for the very first time in American history, winning the election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress. In less than a ten-year mark, however, conservative forces–including the KKK–would reverse the changes by Radical Reconstruction with a violent repercussion that had restored white supremacy in the South. Lynchings in the United States were raised after the American Civil War in the late 1800s, following the emancipation of slaves; they declined after 1930 but were recorded into the 1960s. After...
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...Just after the mid 1800’s the newly unified United States was still going through the reconstruction of their nation after the civil war. While the country was coming together, questions were being raised about the revolutionary changes regarding social and constitutional ideas. A better understanding of whether there were any revolutionary changes as a result of the civil war can be gained by looking at the decisions made regarding state's power or federal power, black rights, and the untold racism at the time as a result of blacks gaining rights. On a political level a revolution occurred but because of the radical rise of racism after the civil war and even the amount of racism today, socially there is still a long way to go with the battle against racism. During and after the civil war the federal government realized it had to make a change and rule over the state governments. At the end of the secession from the north the government realized that they can not standby and watch the south become its own sovereign country...
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...HIS 300---African American History FINAL EXAMINATION ❖ Utilizing your notes, returned quizzes, doc sharing, webliography and textbook, respond to the following in SHORT ANSWER (few sentences to one paragraph, depending on nature of question). ❖ Answer ONLY ONE QUESTION FROM EACH CHAPTER. ❖ The TOTAL NUMBER OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED IS 13 (THIRTEEN). ❖ Maximum points granted to those responses that provide “specific references” and cite respective sources. ❖ 15 (Fifteen Points a Piece) + 5 (Five) free = 200 points. Chapter 10: • How and why did southern and northern white people differ over slavery? On what did white people of both regions agree and disagree about race and slavery? • Why did seven southern states secede from the Union within three months after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860? • If you were either a slave or free, would you have welcomed the secession of the southern states? How might secession affect the future of your people? Chapter 11: • What did black men and women contribute to the Union war effort? Was it in their interests to participate in the Civil War? Why or why not? • What was the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation? Why was it issued? Exactly what did it accomplish? • Why did at least some blacks support the southern states and the Confederacy during the Civil War? Chapter 12: • What did the former slaves and the former slaveholders want after emancipation...
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...Chang Kim Separate Pasts—Growing Up White in the Segregated South Racism has been a long lasting issue in history that is still relevant to present time. Racism was a huge issue during the segregation period in the 1940s-1950s, which led into other historical events such as the Rosa Parks bus boycott, KKKs, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., and etc. These historical events are significant because it demonstrates how racism fuels violence through anger and hatred and impacts the community as a whole by not necessarily having an opinion of their own. The small rural segregated town, Wade, began establishing social patterns after the Reconstruction period. In Separate Pasts, McLaurin illustrates some of the disadvantages the black community had to face during an era segregation existed and how the system of segregation was challenged through the personal relationships he had formed. During the 1950s in the small town Wade of North Carolina, everything was calm and tranquil because there were no media to broadcast the black and white community and the blacks were accepting of the standards. However, once protesters started becoming more noticed up and down the streets of Wade, and the blacks started challenging the systems against racism and segregation. The black community fell into a horrible stereotype of being barbaric, uncivilized, and uncultured. The African Americans also had very small power and authority compared to the whites. They were constantly working and...
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...African Americans Journey to attain Equality and Civil Rights African Americans Journey to attain Equality and Civil Rights African-Americans have been fighting to end segregation and discrimination ever since slavery began. The “isolation” on which they endured to attain civil rights and equality was crucial at this point in time. In relationship to their work to end slavery, the technology, politics, military, culture, and society played a huge role. This role was persistent when African Americans were slaves and when they began to break free from being known as property. At times, the ending of isolation had resulted of periods of tension and struggle. African Americans have worked hard to end segregation through the non-violent strategies of sit-ins, boycotting, and their massive resistance to give in to their freedom (Bowles, 2011). The enduring fight and struggles to end racial discrimination plus attain equality and civil rights have, and will continue to be an ongoing battle for existing and future African-Americans. The strategies that African Americans used to end this discrimination have been influential and will be forever known in history as strong individuals because they endured beatings, were thought of as property, and had to fight for any type of rights but they still fought for freedom and against the injustice of slavery. The fight for slavery started many years before the first slaves came to the United States. The history of slavery in the United States...
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...The civil war and the inception of the US constitution played a critical and pivotal role in the reconstruction of the modern US society. From these events, it was possible for the United States to become a single state and a unified nation, which finally ended slavery and thus expanded the applicable ideals that led to the declaration of independence. Historians argue that the civil war remains to be a critical event in the United States history; this is because this war was able to end the animosity caused by the inevitable climax of conflicts and sectional tensions. This paper will discuss the evolution of the modern US society from the inception of the constitution through the civil war and reconstruction. United States constitution remains to be the oldest constitution in the world and since its inception in 1787; it has played a critical role in the development of the modern US society (Sammis, 1997). Historians argue that the United States constitution has helped in providing a remarkable degree of political stability in the US, a country known for its social diversity. According to law experts, since the inception of the US constitution it has been possible to silence matters that seem to be sensitive in regards to the modern way of living. Moreover, the US constitution enabled the sanctions of the slavery, which remained to be the cause of the animosity before the civil war. On the other hand, before the US civil war, the then US President Abraham Lincoln had began...
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...The Great Migration of African Americans was a necessary precondition for the civil-rights movement. These Americans moved from the Southern states to northern cities in hope of finding racial equality that was not present in the post-civil war South. Places like Memphis, Tennessee saw inequality the worst. “This time the white man must make some intelligent and courageous adjustment in the Negro’s behalf; or he must be prepared, at a greater social cost, to sink to levels of brute force in confronting the Negro.” (Trouble in Dixie, Sancton p. 13-14) These Americans were denied basic constitutional rights such as due process and the right to participate in the electoral system by restricting the right to cast a vote. It was the migration...
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...Racial formation is the process by which socio-historical designations of race are created and manipulated. When dealing with racial formation, one dominant group always has the power to impose racial definitions onto others. In America’s history, this one dominant group has been Caucasians. In the book, “Ethnic Notions,” Marlon Riggs explores the evolution of caricatures imposed on African Americans throughout the history, claiming the impact of such caricatures “did as much harm as any lynch mob.” In many ways, this claim speaks the truth. The mammy, sambo, pickaninny, zip coon, and uncle are a few important caricatures that prove white America’s innermost fears regarding race and white superiority. The mammy caricature is one that defeminizes African American women. Drawn as a smiling, hefty servant, her loyalty to her white owner’s family trumps that to her own children. The mammy was used as evidence of the “humanity” of slavery’s institution, for she was posited as content with her lowly position. This caricature reflects the fear of mixing races. By desexualizing African American women, like the mammy, then white men would then be less likely to become sexually involved with them. Many blues artists in the 1920s-30s stood up against the mammy caricature, such as Ma Rainey; her image stood to sexualize the mammy. The sambo caricature was depicted as a perpetual child, one who was incapable of living an independent life outside of the institution of slavery...
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...the United States, equality has been spread amongst African Americans throughout the world. This was achieved by the African Americans themselves, with their strong effort in fighting for what they felt was right. Following their strong attempts, “A terrible price had to be paid, in a tragic, calamitous civil war, before the new democracy could be rid of that most undemocratic institution” (G. Loury, 2015). A huge part of this time period was the Civil Rights movement. This movement was led by strong leaders that helped secure equal opportunities and privileges for African Americans. Although slavery was not officially outlawed until the 13th century amendment was passed, at end of the war slaves were set free. In M. Stevens (2015), “Fasts about the Slave Trade and Slavery, The Gider Lehrman Institute of American History,” slave trade and slavery itself has been thoroughly described. Steven starts off by stating that the United States had the highest natural increase in slave population. He then goes into slave trade, and explains what a slave would go through on a normal work day. This ties into the fact of the actual cost of slaves, and how vastly it changed through the years. The following line from the text demonstrates this idea, “During the 18th century, slave prices generally rose. Though they fell somewhat before the start of the revolution, by the early 1790s… Prices rose to a high of about $1,250 during the cotton boom of the late 1830s, fell to below half...
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...the Issue of Race Thesis: Southern contemporary fiction contained a lot of truths about the race relations between Black and White Americans in the twentieth century. Introduction Since the beginning of the twentieth century, there has been a significant shift in the focus of southern literature, both fiction and nonfiction. In the nineteenth century, most Southern fiction works were mainly on the Civil War and the Reconstruction. However, as that generation died away, the new crop of authors who had never experienced the civil war or the Reconstruction became more objective in their writings about the South. Contemporary Southern writers such as Harper Lee, Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner wrote fiction, but the stories written had a lot of truth about the way communities in the American South lived like in the twentieth century. As a result, one cannot fail but notice that there is one recurring issue in almost every novel in contemporary Southern fiction; the issue of race. (Sundquist 1994) Authors usually write stories which are a reflection of the attitudes and the norms of their time and contemporary Southern fiction reflects this. The southern part of the United States has always had a large percentage of people of African descent living there. At the beginning of the twentieth century, two states actually had an African-American majority; South Carolina and Mississippi. However, the White community was, and still is the socially and economically dominant group...
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