Paper Sample on African American Civil Rights Struggles

Introduction

World War I's events, both in preparation and its aftermath, can be the primary factor that shaped the civil rights movement in the south. The war created opportunities for African Americans both inside and outside the army to advocate for their civil rights. The African Americans received very harsh treatment in racial segregation, discrimination, and inequality of services. They were not accorded equal rights with the other races, which stirred the urge to advocate for their civil rights. After the American Civil war and the reconstruction era, what followed was a constitutional amendment which saw that the African Americans were granted citizenship. For a short time, they held elective positions and voted but shortly after, they were deprived of all the civil rights, and the racial segregation was intense in the early 19th century. However, they played a significant role in advocating for their civil rights when they were at stake in various ways.

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Before World War I

Racial segregation and discrimination were at a spike in the early 19th century more than any other time in America's history. As racism got to its peak, African Americans lost all the civil gains that they had achieved during the reconstruction. During the reconstruction, they had been able to influence most of the legal decisions through voting and other civil rights and following the end of slavery. However, in the early 1900s, many countries' reforms were affected, which deprived them of their hard-earned freedom and rights.

The Nadir of race relations and the great migration: anti-black violence, lynching, and segregation and the white supremacy expressions, heightened during the 1900s. During this period, the anti-slavery laws and movements that had been put in place were rejected by the white supremacists. They argued that African Americans' campaigns were illegitimate and ill-informed, which caused them to enforce racial discrimination. the segregation was enforced through enacted regulations called the Jim Crow laws. (Ortiz, 2005) In 1915, people started migrating from the south, heading Northwards where there were better conditions for employment and living conditions.

The Jim Crow laws: these were formally enforced laws enacted between the last half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. They were meant to formalize racial segregation, which became de jure in the south but remained de facto in the north. The laws enforced formal segregation in public institutions; schools, hospitals, job discrimination, banking services, and army promotions. By the time of the presidential elections of 1912, the African Americans were wholly disenfranchised to the extent that they could not vote in the poll. The law singled them out from participating in all the civil activities and exercising their rights.

Theodore Roosevelt and the race: the major occurrence during this president's reign was the Brownsville Affair, which raised a lot of criticism of his leadership and treatment of the African Americans. The Brownsville Raid, as it is commonly known, arose from the tensions after the murder of a white bartender through a gunshot and the wounding of another white man. Due to this incident, the president ordered a dishonorable discharge of 167 African American soldiers as evidence was planted on them. (Ortiz, 2005) This led to the loss of their pensions and employment in any other civil service offices. The actions by Roosevelt led many Americans and African Americans to be outraged and criticize his leadership. Before the occurrence, they were strong supporters of his leadership and policies, but after that, they highly criticized his policies and strengthened their struggle for civil rights.

Wilson and the struggle: Wilson, who was the president from 1913 to 1921 and the first southerner to become a president, had instilled a lot of hope in the African Americans about their fate on the segregation that had already taken root. He received a lot of support from the African Americans because he was familiar with the system that they were thriving in the south. However, he disappointed them by not interfering with the segregationist policies that existed and further advanced the segregation by appointing the white supremacists as his cabinet members while leaving out the blacks. The officials pressed for him to make the Jim Crow policies tighter to disenfranchise the blacks completely.

All the conditions and occurrences from the period before the world war kept the African American's urge to promote their civil rights burning, and as they got into the war, they had already begun to strategize. Civil rights movements and associations for advocating for the same began coming up on a small scale. By the time the war was coming to an end, they were already determined to unite the whites and the blacks and live harmoniously if they were granted civil rights.

After the World War

World War I rejuvenated the black community in their quest to unite America and make it a democratic country by ensuring that the African Americans acquired full citizenship. Furthermore, the black soldiers who fought in the war had not received the best treatment as racial segregation was still dominant among the white Americans and European migrants. For this reason, the soldiers fueled up the rebellion against segregation and racial injustice both at home and abroad. The newly formed NAACP helped in advocating for equal voting rights and against the mistreatment. Addressing one issue at a time, they sought to look into all the causes of inequality. The African Americans used every system available within their capacity to fight towards the end of segregation and promote civil rights in what came to be called the civil rights struggle in the south. They incorporated the church and other peaceful methods. Emmet Scott, who worked as the personal secretary to Brooker T Washington, recorded in writing the means of involvement by the African Americans during and after the civil rights movement. They formed groups such as the Red cross, young men and women Christian associations, and other groups.

The NAACP successfully contributed to the legal system's reform by altering some of the laws, such as the grandfather clause, which prevented them from voting. The clause stipulated that one could only vote if their grandfather had voted, denying most Africans the opportunity to vote in the poll. The court nullified the clause through a case, Guinn v United States because it was unconstitutional in its entirety. The NAACP also challenged the housing covenant that required the blacks to live in segregated houses away from the rest of the population. In this case, the supreme court still held that the convention was against America's constitution.

The Harlem Renaissance

The African American Artists, writers, and actors were also involved in the revolutionary battle, which was called the intellectual battle, which advocated against the intellectual bias that existed. There was great tension as the African American artistic expressions took the global attention force in the form of poems, songs, novels, poetry, and dance. This period was known as the Harlem Renaissance. (Huggins, 1995) Although this method did not impact African Americans economically, politically, or educationally, the expressions grabbed the entire world's attention and enhanced the lives of the African Americans intellectually. Many people moved from all over to the Harlem city to witness artistic expressions. The genre which captured the people most was the night club jazz, which received much appreciation. It is during this period that most of Black's writings were authored and published. (Lewis, 1981) One such author of the period was Langstone Hughes, whose fame arose from the poems that he composed during this period, against the injustices and white supremacist policies. In this way, they made their lives better and made themselves into a new people intellect wise.

Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act

African American women such as Lulu B. and Juanita also took part in the post-war period's political activism. Later in the decade, the two acts were enacted from the efforts of the black women and men who were advocating for African Americans' civil rights. The acts enabled many black people to get opportunities to participate in civil rights such as voting. The living conditions also improved, such as education, food, politics, and business. This was, however, later in the century.

Conclusion

Marcus Garvey also played a significant role in uplifting the spirit of identity among African Americans. After the first World war, he had experienced the inequality that had happened during the war and was more than assured that reintegration was next to impossible. (Garvey, 2013) Therefore, he believed that only a politically and economically healthy community would gain the respect and equality that they meant to achieve. His campaigns were campaigns of pan Africanism that saw to it that the Africans' identity in America was strengthened by keeping them united. His African pan movement advocated for the economic independence of the Africans. He argued that if they were economically strong, they would be respected and preached an independent black economy within the existing capitalism. He established the Black Star Line and a series of restaurants and grocery stores and a printing press all, meant for African Americans' economic development. He strongly opposed the justification that Wilson gave for the segregation in the south by appointing white ministers at the blacks' mercy.