FREE ESSAY ON POST CIVIL WAR RACISM

POST CIVIL WAR RACISM

The conclusion of the Civil War in favor of the north was supposed to mean an end to
slavery and equal rights for the former slaves. Although laws and amendments were passed
to uphold this assumption, the United States Government fell short. The thirteenth,
fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were proposed and passed within five years of the
Civil War's conclusion. These amendments were to create equality throughout the United
States, especially in the south where slavery had been most abundant. Making equality a
realization would not be an easy task. This is because many problems were not perceived
before and during the war. The reunification of the country would prove to be harder than
expected, and entry into a new lifestyle would be difficult for both the freedmen and
their former oppressors.
The thirteenth amendment clearly prohibits slavery in the United States. All slaves were
to be freed immediately when this amendment was declared ratified in December of 1865,
but what were they to do? Generations of African-Americans had been enslaved in America,
and those who had lived their whole lives in slavery had little knowledge of the outside
world. This lack of knowledge would not be helpful in trying to find work once they were
released. Plantation owners with a lack of workforce were eager to offer extremely low
pay to their former slaves. In addition, the work force of the plantation would often
live in the same quarters they did while enslaved. These living conditions showed little
change from the living conditions African-Americans had faced while enslaved.
While the former slaves lived on the ideal that they were now free, the fifteenth
amendment was under heavy fire. Those who felt threatened by the massive amount of
African-Americans who would now be participating in the government criticized this
Amendment, which allowed all male citizens the right to vote regardless of race.
Ex-Confederates, many of which were not allowed to vote after bitterly losing to the
north, argued that African-Americans were not ready to vote because they were ignorant to
the political system of the U.S. The political power of the south would be in the hands
of the formerly oppressed, as opposed to their oppressors, who would be practically
powerless. The debate on this topic would cause more tension in southern society, which
was already undergoing a difficult period of adaptation.
Another problem which arose in the south were laws which would further the oppression of
the African-American population. Commonly called Black Codes, these laws also punished
white persons who supported emancipation during the Civil War. These Black Codes were
often unreasonable or unneeded to keep order within society. They were simply created as
bitter retaliation by the ex-Confederates who were not pleased by the integration, which
had just taken place. Black Codes were created and enforced on a State level which became
superior to the Fourteenth Amendment. The laws would be psychologically damaging to the
African-American population, who would be forced to feel inferior. Unfortunately, the
white population would do more than hurt the freedmen psychologically.
Around the same time Black Codes were created, racist groups such as the Klu Klux Klan
were to emerge in the south. These groups would take their anger out on those who were
different than them, mostly focusing on the African-Americans. Violence was inflicted on
their victims, who were usually randomly selected by the group based only on their race.
Government officials were unhelpful to the Klan's victims, and corruption spread through
the police force as officers joined the group and granted access to prisons where black
prisoners would be selected and used as punching bags.