“There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance. Don’t fool yourselves – it’s all adding up and one of these days we are going to pay the bill for it.” – Atticus Finch
Like earthquake tremors, Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), forewarned of inescapable racial unrest that would peak during the Civil Rights Movement. The powerful sentiments of that Movement in the 1960s were reflections not only of that time period but of a damning and unjust social order, with a violent history of prejudice, initiated by the Reconstruction Era at the end of the Civil War. Since that early time African Americans have struggled to realize their potent potential as equal citizens in the United States of America.
Lynching, beatings and burnings were commonplace for African Americans in the period known as Reconstruction (1864 – 1877). With Whites vehemently opposed to the new social order imposed by the Republican Congress, and grieving over lost loved ones and destroyed property, violence and oppression ruled the Southern states. Federal courts gave African Americans equal civil rights and the right to vote by adding the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution. However, Southern states were left to form their own governments.
State governments, composed of the old White Supremacy groups, quickly endorsed Black Codes, which were a precursor to the Jim Crow laws. Blacks found themselves at the mercy of these codes, which restricted educational opportunities, sought minimal judicial justice for crimes committed against Blacks, and forced Freedmen to become share-croppers instead of land owners.
With cultural norms returning to a pre-Civil War atmosphere, Blacks were left to fend for themselves. Reuniting with family and organizing communities, African Americans made significant strides in education by using private and church schools. Businesses were opened and supported by Black customers and several forms of art, most notably music, were celebrated and enjoyed openly.
This advancement of African American fortunes was constantly plagued by organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. Founded in 1866 as a Tennessee social club, this group transformed its mission to become that of righteous, Christian defenders of the old social order. Most noted for the murdering of Blacks and White sympathizers, the burning of churches, schools and businesses, this group became a source of fear and terror to new communities.
Reconstruction efforts ended in 1877 with a general lack of interest from the Federal government. Northerners, at this time, began to feel it was entirely up to the Southern states to continue addressing integration issues. The Southern states responded by instituting Jim Crow laws in 1880. These laws segregated members of different races in all areas of life, affecting the education of Blacks the most significantly. These laws were upheld by the 1896 Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that declared “separate but equal” cultural accommodations were constitutional.
Extreme, disparate segregation was the catalyst that finally created the human outrage that developed into the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950s through the 1960s. This era has been called the “Second Reconstruction” because of its power and the organization of thousands of oppressed peoples.
Earning the right to fight combat missions, Black WWII soldiers returned home victoriously in 1954 only to find an unchanged and ungrateful nation. In the defeat of Nazism and the theory of “scientific racism”, where one race feels it is inherently superior to another, heroic Black soldiers were still called “boy”, asked to step aside and tip their hats to oncoming Whites and to sit in the back of the bus. Refusing to take cultural steps backwards, soldiers, along with newly expanded Black neighborhood populations and business centers joined to centralize the power needed to end racism. In 1954 segregation was ruled unconstitutional in a landmark decision by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. Theoretically, Blacks would no longer be relegated to a sub-par education, living conditions or job opportunities.
With new momentum gaining to establish equal civil rights, organizations like the Ku Klux Klan resurfaced to once again terrorize communities. This time, however, leaders were caught and brought to justice for their crimes with assistance from the Federal government.
In full circle from the time of Reconstruction and the Freedman’s Bureau to numerous groups and organizations formed in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans began to protest in earnest. Heroes such as Dr. Martin Luther King preached non-violent confrontation, preferring to use marches, rallies and strikes to send a message to the nation. Malcolm X led the Nation of Islam, who believed only a separate black state would achieve equality. Other militants organized under the name NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and used litigation, legislation and education to advance equality. Racist treatment of African Americans, birthed at Reconstruction, was ultimately addressed during the Civil Rights Movement. The nation had finally started to “pay the bill” that was “adding up.”
Links:
HYPERLINK "http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/jimcrowguide.pdf" www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/jimcrowguide.pdf
HYPERLINK "http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/index.html" www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/index.html
HYPERLINK "http://www.academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/jcrow02.htm" www.academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/jcrow02.htm
HYPERLINK "http://www.shmoop.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird/race-quotes.html" www.shmoop.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird/race-quotes.html
HYPERLINK "http://www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/civil.html" www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/civil.html
HYPERLINK "http://www.bookrags.com/research/african-americans-world-war-ii-aaw-03/" www.bookrags.com/research/african-americans-world-war-ii-aaw-03/
