The Jim Crow Era

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During Reconstruction, social and political standings caused liberties to grow or diminish depending on who was involved. Constitutionally, there was an increase in rights for the black community. However, the influence of Jim Crow era culture and the notion of white supremacy limited the functionality of the rights of free blacks. The Jim Crow era put the government in control of what was equal and just for freedmen. The Fifteenth Amendment was put in place so that black males could vote, but this right was heavily shunned by white politicians who felt that government was exclusive to white people. Andrew Johnson’s support of a total white-controlled government led to the Fifteenth Amendment not being fully practiced in the south. In a similar …show more content…
Blacks were granted voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment, but this right was often not recognized or made extremely hard to achieve by means of a poll tax or literacy test (Foner). The poll tax was a fee that black people would have to pay in order to vote. The poll tax was designed to prove that the voter was positively contributing to society (Silverstein). Blacks were required to take a literacy test before they were allowed to vote. These tests limited the possibility of a black person’s vote being able to count in any given election or government decision. However, many black males did overcome the literacy tests and poll tax and became highly active in the southern government. Black men could now hold office and work for equal rights while in office. The foundation of the Jim Crow era was based on the idea that blacks could not manage and control their own lives and that they needed the guidance of a white person. Black males’ participation in government proved the notion of the Jim Crow era wrong by showing that they could thrive without the supervision of a white person. Black male’s involvement in politics angered white southerners because they disagreed with the new rights of blacks. Although the majority of people in government were white, 2,000 black men served at various levels of government; …show more content…
The institution of the Freedmen’s Bureau was the first step by the government to aid blacks in integrating into society. The Freedmen's Bureau’s was welcomed by blacks because it was a “major step towards access to service which were previously unattainable” (Colby). One of the greatest achievements made by the Freedmen’s Bureau was the education of black people. Educating black people was a controversial topic of the time. The opportunity for education was mainly reserved for white people because those that were strict believers in white supremacy thought that black people could not handle being educated. Among those that believed black should not be educated was the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan felt that blacks did not deserve an education because that would place them in an equal social standing to white people (Ward). Their form of opposition to the education of blacks was deeply rooted into the continuation of white supremacy. The Klu Klux Klan led mass waves of murder against blacks that would try and use their right to vote or receive an education (Schuelke). The Freedmen’s Bureau was eventually defunded by Andrew Johnson because of his belief that black people did not have the same right to education as white
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