How Successful Were the African Americans at Overcoming Discrimination?

History Essay

Word Count: 960

In the south of America during the racist 30-50’s, racism, segregation and white supremacy were prevalent and largely accepted in society. As these discriminatory beliefs were so embedded in the culture at the time, it was extremely difficult for the repressed African Americans to overcome them, and this process took time and many different methods. Using mostly peaceful protests and the power of numbers, African Americans were ultimately successful in shifting the culture at the time to accept people of all races.

The nature of the discrimination during this time was that racism and segregation was extremely embedded in the culture. The Jim Crow Laws made segregation between black and white people legal and socially acceptable. The ‘separate but equal’ principle that was followed at the time meant that coloured people could not share the same public areas as white people, could not attend the same schools and churches and could not even sit at the front section of bus. Whilst in principle the ‘separate but equal’ ideology should have been less unjust, it often resulted in coloured people having inferior facilities and fewer opportunities to white people. As said by U.S. president Barak Obama, it was a time in which "there were couples in love who couldn't marry. Soldiers who fought for freedom abroad but couldn't find any at home.''
As this segregation was so deeply embedded into the culture and society of America at the time, and this made any efforts to overcome the racism extremely difficult.

In addition to this, the racial segregation in America at the time was also extremely intense, with organisations like the Ku Klux Klan committing terrible crimes in order to keep the coloured population ‘in their place’. This illegal organisation has thousands of followers and over the course of their terror, murdered thousands of Afro-American citizens. Black citizens that rebelled against white supremacy, who were said to have...