Introduction
In response to the Jim Crow laws, the local laws that were enacted to be applicable in the Southern states between 1876 and 1965 supported de jure racial segregation. At this historical moment, every public facility in the South adopted the policy of separate but equal in a practice that deemed inferiority for the African Americans to the white Americans. The inferiors were thus disadvantaged on social, educational and economic grounds. Some of these laws are segregation of public transportation, restaurants, and public schools amongst others. However, these concepts started changing in the early 20th century when the segregation started taking a downward curve. The history of the Southern states had begun. The changes in the historical changes and the factors that facilitated such changes have been discussed below.
Discussion
The Nadir of American Race Relations
This was the period from the Reconstruction in 1877 through to the early 20th century in which racism in the Southern United States was deemed to being worse than any other past period especially after the Civil War. The African Americans had lost a lot of civil rights in the Reconstruction periods. There was thus notable increments in anti-black segregation, lynching, violence, legal racial discrimination and white supremacy. The actual nadir was witnessed when the Republicans quit to support the rights of the blacks around 1890 which progressed to the year 1940. At this same period, there was a financial Panic in 1873 which really affected and transformed the South and was followed by agricultural decline that coincided with the Progressive Era, the American imperialist aspirations and also the sundown town that spread to every part of the country.
Reconstruction
White Southerners in the 20th century came up with a reconstruction concept for the tragic period. The republicans at this period were pushed and pulled by the desire for revenge and profit used troops that aimed at forcing the Southerners to welcome the corrupt governments that were being led by those they perceived to being unqualified blacks and Northerners. At this time, historians such as the renowned William Dunning from the Columbia University strongly believed that the blacks had no capability to govern. William in his own words stated that the black skin meant membership to which they were created with minimal civilization. D. W. Griffith and Margaret Mitchell were on the supporting side on the Dunning School’s view of reconstruction.
Looking back from today’s date, the consensus regards the durations of the Southern states as a time where idealism, practical achievements and hope were coming to reality. The 14th and 15th amendments promoted by the Radical Republicans had been motivated by a desire that had developed seeking to free up the blacks. African American historians such as Eric Foner, Kenneth Stampp and W.E.B Du Bois were the sources for these perceptive. They were supportive of the fact that corruption was not a consequence of being of the black segregation. To them, the Democratic governments and the Northern Republican governments that were always on the scrutinizing end of the Southern State were corrupt as well. In this regards, the governments in place supported and provided education and institutions of social welfare that ended up improving the education for the blacks and whites. It made several attempts to the improvement of social conditions for especially the poor. While the blacks at this moment had started to benefit from the social class improvement, they were in no way allowed to partake levels of representation that were equal with every state’s population.
The Failures and Challenges Facing the South during Reconstruction
The paramilitary forces had played a key role in strengthening the whites’ role in taking of power in the 1870s. During the early 1900s, the whites disfranchised many poor whites and many blacks through various constitutional amendments and legislation. The voting structure at this moment was structured in such a way that the blacks had minimal voting rights especially in the areas where they resided in great numbers. The poor whites were not spared either during this time in history. In 1911, there was a very racial decision in which the blacks were forced not to engage in the Kentucky Derby bearing in mind that the African Americans had been more successful than the whites in many races. Looking at such an event, the most talented and ambitious black people endured difficult moments in advancements.
The Legacy and Factors that Facilitated the Historical Advancements
During the period of Reconstruction, black literacy had improved and was still improving as a result of the improved social conditions. In 1909, the NAACP was established and it was strengthened by situations in which they won massive anti-discrimination lawsuits by the year 1920. There were influential African Americans such as Wells-Barnett and Du Bois who were vigorously active in organizing, advocating and journalism for which come in handy in the measures and strategies to spur abolitionism. It is such actions as well that advocated and ensured that the Civil Rights Movement which later came to be in the 1950s and 1960s had garnered its roots.
All this events in the nadir duration were a massive disaster for both the whites and the blacks mostly. At the twentieth century, racism had established massive roots making it to be embedded in the politics and culture of the Southern States from the moment when the antislavery campaign had begun and the history of the entire nation. The cases of family instabilities and crime amongst the black communities can be traced to this moments. Despite all this events, the whites got the feeling of the suffering of the blacks and started to understand their cultures through and around the Harlem Renaissance and through the acceptability and the fame that the jazz genre of music received. Jazz music was entertaining; it was accepted even by the whites even though most singers at the moments were black. They enjoyed it and during this moment, they were engaged with the African Americans and they learnt about their perceptions, cultures, and beliefs and understood their humanity aspect.
Conclusion
The transformation of the historical concept of the Southern State was founded by the social change that was associated to the African Americans. This early 20th century witnessed the advocating of the African American seeking a ground on which they would have the chance to be given equal opportunities as the whites. Though there were challenges that were in their way, they in the end acquired their goals through active and influential African Americans, the usability of the Harlem Renaissance and the influence of the Jazz music which acquired the acceptability by the whites.
Works Cited
Woodward, Comer Vann, and William S. McFeely. The strange career of Jim Crow. Commemorative ed. Oxford [u.a.: Oxford University Press, 2002. Print.
