Laws, called Black Codes, were imposed to severely restrict the rights of African Americans. ... Whites enjoyed comfortable and clean accommodations, while blacks were not so fortunate. ... Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old boy from Chicago, went to visit his uncle in Mississippi. ... The boy was physically taken from his uncle's home, and three days later his lifeless body was found brutally beaten in the Tallahachie River. ... Black organizations such as the NAACP worked to keep the case in the news to make an example of Southern racism. ...

• Word Count: 1230
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Whites did what they could to push blacks as much out of their community as possible and blacks tended to avoid areas where their presence could create conflict. ... The African American boy subsequently died from his injuries, but police refused to arrest the white man who initially threw the stones, igniting a race war between the whites and blacks of Chicago. Participants of the Chicago race riots, on both sides, (white and black), took to the streets ready for violence, and anything in between. ... Police officers arrested "twice as many blacks as whites and they were considered bia...

• Word Count: 1061
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In defense of frequent claims by Southerners that blacks are slaves due to being born inferior, Douglass argues that slavery and education are complete opposites and that slavery actually creates the inferiority by promoting ignorance. ... Even as a young boy Douglass becomes frustrated at the fact that he does not know his birthday but all the white children do. ... By sharing his perspective on education, his narrative is one of the key influences that helped other blacks understand the importance of education and how one can only truly be free once they are capable of grasping the reality a...

• Word Count: 1456
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Frederick Douglass was the most important black American leader of the 19th century. ... However, the prefaces also implicitly place black narratives under the control of white editors. For this reason, in all of his subsequent autobiographies, Douglass replaced Garrison and Phillips' endorsements with introductions by prominent black scholars. ... For instance, as a boy, not yet ten years old, Douglass learned the importance of knowledge when he overheard Hugh Auld chastising his wife Sophia for teaching a slave to read I quote "a nigger should know nothing but to obey his ...

• Word Count: 2277
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate