Struggle for Equal Rights by African Americans
Although the Modern Civil Rights movements gained increased recognition in the 1940s, this is not to mean that the 1940s was the onset of the struggle for civil rights in the USA. On the contrary, the 1940s was the peak of the campaigns and civil rights movements against the continued oppression of African-Americans in the country. African-Americans were regarded as vital economic inputs in plantations in the Southern states, thus pitting coloured communities against the dominant white race. The debates on slavery and marginalization of African-Americans did serve as trigger factors to the American Civil War. While the Southern states were supportive of slavery, the Northern states called for the upholding of the rights of all racial groups in the country. Although the passing of both the Fifteenth and the Fourteenth Amendment sought to foster equal rights among all groups, this was not necessarily the case.
The emergence of many civil rights movements in the country can be linked to the marginalization of coloured communities by the dominant white race. African-Americans were viewed as inferior, less intelligent and less human as to the white race. These acts were justified through ideologies such as whiteness and white supremacy which led to the creation of black codes and segregation. Black codes were policies during the Jim Crow era that regulated the conduct of the African-Americans. It is worth noting that persons who went contrary to the black codes were lynched, caned or frog matched in public. However, with the rise of African-Americans philanthropists such as Booker Washington, Dubois, Marcus Grave, African-Americans became organized to resist these oppressions. These individuals called for the equal representation of African-Americans in government structures.
The Returning Soldiers 1919 reflects the commitment by leaders such as W.E.B Dubois to rally African Americans informing civil right movements. In the aftermath of the First World War, W.E.B Dubois called all the returning soldiers to continue fighting for democracy in the country. In the article, Dubois states “We sing this country of ours, despite all its better souls have done and dreamed, is yet a shameful land.” (Dubois, 1919) The leader continues to state that lunching people were barbaric and unparalleled to any inhumanity. It means that as early as the 1920s, many African-Americans leaders were opposed to the disfranchisement of minority communities in the USA. The statement “It has never really tried to educate the Negro. A dominant minority does not want Negroes educated” by Dubois captures the unwillingness of the authority to change the plight of minority groups.
The resistance by the dominant white race to end segregation and discrimination is linked to the belief that coloured individuals are inferior to the white race. Black individuals were further regarded as vital inputs as they provided cheap or free labour in the plantations and industries. The whites also believed that African-Americans were uncivilized and thus unable to make civic and other important decisions. It is only after the introduction of The Fifteenth Amendment that black individuals were allowed to participate in civic matters. In the previous settings, they were required to take literacy tests to determine their intelligence levels. These events were discriminatory and only subjected African-Americans to increased social and economic problems. However, the minority groups believed that these issues could be addressed through the eradication of both segregation and discrimination in the country (Locke and Wright, 239).
Nonetheless, tVideoVideodeo, “Red Tails” points those African-Americans are not inferior to the white race. On the contrary, tVideoVideodeo, “Red Tails” points out that coloured individuals could excel in engineering among other complex areas. Such experts served as a motivation to other coloured individuals on the need to fight for their rightful position in society. These events mainly took place during the 1930s and the 1920s. These periods were also the peak of segregation as evident in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Some many restrictions and laws prohibited people of colour from using social services meant for the white (Locke and Wright, 176). Such discrimination was evident in the access to public and social services such as health care, education and transports services. The publishing of the Green Book thus sought to provide a guide to Africans-Americans in a country dominated by the racist majority.
From the outlined information, it is apparent that there have been many efforts to address the segregation and marginalization of African-Americans. From an ethical lens, there is the view that marginalization leads to social and health problems like stress and depression. Moreover, these acts are contrary to the provision of the American constitution that calls for the equal treatment of all racial groups in the country. Although slavery was abolished, this is not to state that African-Americans have attained similar positions to the dominant white race. Cases of police brutality, economy, social and political marginalization is still evident in the country. Current, there is an ongoing civil rights movement, Black Lives Matters that seek to address cases of increased police brutality in the country.
Works Cited
Locke, Joseph, and Ben Wright. “The American Yawp.” (2015).
Du Bois, W. E. B. “Returning Soldiers.” 1919.” The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader (1996).