African Americans: Persisting Racism From Post-civil War to Present Days

The Civil War did not bring relief to the relationships between whites and African Americans, especially in Southern states. Whites continued to oppress African Americans, whom they viewed as second-class citizens. Cases of violence in the US were frequent, whereas murders and violence against African Americans were a norm. In addition, the formal extinction of basic human rights and liberties raised the opposition within the white community of the US. In this respect, it should be said that the rise of African Americans’ struggle for equal rights and opportunities and provision of African Americans with basic rights and liberties provoked the emergence of racist organizations and movements within the white community. The Ku Klux Klan was one of the most notorious organizations that wreak havoc among the African American population of the US because of regular lynching and physical extinction of African Americans nationwide, especially in Southern states. The racial terrorism was the milestone of Ku Klux Klan ideology. Among the frequent and most notorious cases of violence, it is possible to mention the Colfax and Coushatta massacres in Louisiana in 1873 and 1874. These cases reveal the full extent to which African Americans were terrorized by whites, especially in Southern states. Naturally, in such a situation, they could not maintain the normal lifestyle as other Americans did and improve their socioeconomic position. Instead, they were doomed to stay a sort of outcasts in the American society. Moreover, many whites did not even perceive African Americans as members of the American society.

Therefore, the post-war period revealed that the liberation of African Americans did not bring consistent improvement to the position of African Americans. African Americans suffered from discrimination while massacres persisted. In response to frequent cases of violence, African Americans attempted to raise the civil movement to protect their basic rights and liberties. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the Niagara movement. The founders of the Niagara movement “produced a manifesto calling for an end to racial discrimination, full civil liberties for African Americans and recognition of human brotherhood”. In such a way, they attempted to improve the position of African Americans and change the public attitude to African Americans as second-class citizens.

Remarkably, during World War II, the US recruited many African Americans and they contributed to the overall victory of the US in the war but such a contribution in the victory of the nation over its opponents still failed to improve the position of African Americans. The Civil Rights movement grew particularly strong in the 1950s and 1960s. Under the lead of Martin Luther King and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans had started the civil struggle for their rights. The organized struggle proved to be very effective because it forced the authorities to take into consideration the position of the African American community and introduce legislative changes which granted African Americans with truly equal rights and liberties compared to white Americans. At the same time, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was just the manifestation of the first major success of African Americans in their struggle for their rights but it was not the end point of this struggle because African Americans and leaders of the Civil Rights movement were aware of the risks of the resuming of oppression and discrimination when the pressure on the authorities and public from the part of minorities decreases.