How were Americans discriminated against socially, economically and politically?
After the American Civil War, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were added to the US Constitution in which was to abolish slavery, establishing citizenship and providing legal and political equality for African Americans. There were many uprising of white opposition to racial equality; this lead to further segregation and discrimination against African Americans. African Americans were discriminated against socially ranging from police punishment to the killing of thousands of African Americans, economically in which African American were exploited for their labour and lastly politically in which rights to vote were stripped away.
Initially, white opposition group such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was formed; their main purpose along US Supreme Court decision lead to the weakening of the 14th Amendment which established citizenship and stated “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of laws; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” As a result, it affected all changed that African Americans has made during the Reconstruction leading to the political and economic inferiority. Additionally, a system of laws was established to label area as either “white” or “coloured” which further prove the discrimination and segregation. Furthermore, the discrimination and segregation of races were prominent in everyday life. An example to illustrate this is the way in which African Americans were addressed often as “ negroes” or “nigga” ; this emphasised the harsh humiliation faced everyday. Moreover, according to historian Robert Weisbrot, segregation in use of facilities were also dominant throughout. In 1905 Georgia prohibited African American and whites from using the same park facilities ; playgrounds had to specify which race could use them. Furthermore, African Americans and whites could not visit the zoo at the same time . Telephone booths and public libraries were designated for whites only use. Not only that, there were separated doors to churches, toilets , stairs and elevator; African Americans were constantly reminded of the discrimination and segregation. Another form of social discrimination was the act of lynching which is an extra judicial homicide . The killing of African Americans were most prominent from 1888 to 1923 as over 2,500 African Americans were lynched by white mobs. Accusations of sexual harassment towards white women was also a factor that lead to the hanging of African American man. A prime example to illustrate the harshness was a teenager called Emmitt Till whom was lynched for saying a few words to a white women. All these forms of segregation exposed the harshness and concrete system of discrimination.
Discrimination economically comes in the form of inferiority and slavery. Many African Americans were under the system in which the whites are in compl...
