The twentieth century has been called the nadir period of African Americans, however it was also a time of growth within the African American people. Scholars have debated that one side should have more emphasis placed on it that the other. On the side of the nadir, Civil rights were lost, racial discrimination took place, and lynchings became more relevant. Yet through all of these struggles African Americans managed to challenge oppression and create their own independence.
Black codes and Jim Crow laws were established to enforce racial segregation and limit the rights of black people, such as denying them “the right to vote, testify against whites, serve on juries, or be in town past ten in the evening” (Foner, P.535). Richard Wright’s documented account of “Living Jim crow” entails him being unlawfully searched while he was doing his job as well as providing key concepts in what is was like to be a black during this era, wright states “I learned to play that dual role which every Negro must play if he wants to eat and live”( Wright, “Jim Crow,”1937) this is important because it’s referred to as a Jim crow education which entails that one had to learn to “lie, steal, and dissemble” (Wright, “Jim Crow,”1937)just to make it through daily life.