After the war concluded, the reality of emancipation was experienced but the conflicts between the African and Americans were far from being resolved. The years of post war were monumental since it was during this duration that equality between African Americans was experienced. Although the whites had gladly embraced the blacks during the war, when the black soldiers came back home and were treated like second-class citizens.
African American women are not entitled to rights of being an American citizen. They are not also given the privilege of being respected like the white women. This makes Negro women live in a world of their own and not in an integrated world. Although the dangers of being racially segregated have been well stated and experienced, little is being done to ensure equality.
In explaining that a black woman has no equal rights in Columbia Tennessee, a disputed erupted between a white shopkeeper and a navy veteran. They had a dispute regarding a black woman who had issues with paying her. The black navy was charged and he pleaded guilty for disturbing the peace of the. He was later fined fifty dollars. Later he was fined, he was later arrested and charged with assault and murder. There were protests and the next day they white police officer came, violated the blacks, and arrested hundreds. Women were left without their husbands and without any protection. This would in turn result to insecurities, and the black women were always vulnerable. Rape cases on black women were all but a normal thing. The white police officers violated the women, and when cases were filed against them the whites always won1.
As an African woman, there were only four black women in a class full of whites. Although the whites behaved normally, in reality the blacks were not getting the same treatment like the whites. This in turn, affected their results in class. Because the women could not get any decent jobs, they were employed as homemakers in by the whites. Here, the African women were exploited and paid meager salaries. In the cities, discrimination was at its worst. The middle class working women were also fighting for to sustain their lives in acquiring of basic commodities. There were black and white restaurants, black and white bathrooms, waiting rooms, and fountains.
The black women also stayed in fear of any actions they took. An African American girl narrates a story of a boy who was murdered for just whistling at a black woman. Another black man known as jerry was almost beat to death after he threatened an operator over the phone. A house of an African family was burned to ashes while its occupants in the house. This further emphasizes the point that the African woman would not at any time be satisfied while their men were outside the homes. As a result of these cases, the families were always on the move. They did not get the satisfaction of living in one place for a long time2. The oppression of the African women was so much that even the slightest crime or mistake could lead to a black being murdered. There were only remarkably few vocal women who aspired to make changes in the condition the Negro women were facing but they were making a great impact in what they were doing. They included Gwendolyn Brooks and the likes of Roosevelt3.
These vocal women were the foundation of the strength of the modern day African women.
Work cited
Flynn, Karen C. 2011. Moving beyond borders: a history of Black Canadian and Caribbean women in the diaspora. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Eisenmann, Linda. 2006. Higher education for women in postwar America, 1945-1965. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
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Caldwell, Katrina Myers. 2009. 'It will be social': black women writers and the postwar era 1945-60. Thesis (Ph.D. in English)--University of Illinois at Chicago, 2009.
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