American society starting from the time of the American colonies in the beginning of 17th century has faced the issue of race and this society had been divided mostly by race. The only thing is the perception of the term of “race” changed through the times. Even nowadays with the politics of equality, appeals to “Say NO to Racism”, American society still feels and experiences the legacy of segregation and specifically slavery. In this respect, the period between Reconstruction and the Great Depression is one of the most crucial for the American history in terms of fighting against social discrimination and segregation.
After the Civil War and XIII, XIV and XV Amendments the US government led by Abraham Lincoln began to provide the policy of equality and to prohibit all possible discrimination based on the issue of race. This was during so-called Reconstruction period, but it lasted a bit more than a decade and starting from 1880s politics of Rutherford Hayes, 19th President of the United States, ended up the Reconstruction era. He allowed Southern States to provide their own policy in terms of economic and social development, which directly influenced the issue of race (Gratz, Grutter and Bollinger). The position of Blacks did not actually turned back to prewar times, however, the Southern society kept the attitude of segregation. According to historian Rayford Logan, African-American by the way, the Blacks on the South were separated from the society and the groundwork of the relationship between Blacks and Whites “were carved Exploitation, Disfranchisement, Segregation, Discrimination, Lynching, Contempt.” (Gratz, Grutter and Bollinger).
The economic conditions of “secondary” races remained unfavorable. They could not get hired to the manufactures of South and they were rejected from Northern industrials. Well-known American dream kept as ab unreachable goal for these people as they were simply stored at the bottom of the American society (Gratz, Grutter and Bollinger). Sure thing there were exceptions between discriminated races, Blacks in particular, such as the Knights of Labor. This organization accumulated a significant number of African-American workforce, who struggled to improve their conditions at the workplaces and for economic empowerment. By 1890, the Knights disintegrated leaving some small unions of Black labor throughout the Southern States. Yet, these unions formed another barrier for the “secondary” race’s acknowledgement within society and economy. As a result, the Blacks advancement had been postponed for almost half of the century, until the end 1920s and Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement.
The racial segregation worsen after 1890s. The United State Supreme Court ratified the law of Plessy v. Ferguson that actually made it eligible to segregate people by their color in everyday life. In some states it came to the fact that taxi drivers could not even carry two people of different races at the same time (Gratz, Grutter and Bollinger). Everything became separated: from waiting rooms to drinking fountains. After all, on the eve of 20th century the US society had identified the White race as a dominant one, the race that holds the power, the upper race. Definitely, it had influenced the American foreign policy. The Spanish-American war started the US policy of imperialism. It tied up the society with nationalism views and Anglo-Saxon superiority. The federal government decided to bring the democracy and American way of living into the controlled countries. Yet, they also tried to implement the ideology of Whites upper race.
Work Cited
Gratz, J., Grutter, J., and Bollinger, L. "Expert Report Of Eric Foner".University of Michigan (2012): n. pag. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. Accessed at http://diversity.umich.edu/admissions/legal/expert/foner.html
