The Struggle of Blacks Against Racism.
Americans like to think of themselves as a progressive society, one that becomes more advanced and tolerant over time. This means of course, that at some point there existed a society that was less tolerant and less advanced. For Black Americans, this society existed in the south after the end of the civil war. Once the slaves were freed and given the promise of equality, they discovered that racism and intolerance kept them from achieving any sort of equal standing with white Americans. Under slavery, blacks had know discrimination and pain, but the pain became worse when it was glossed over with the hope of leading a normal, prosperous life. .
The problems with race relations originated in the south during the reconstruction era after the civil war. The 13th amendment had ended slavery and now there were millions of free blacks in the southern states who were in control of their own lives, or so they were told. The first piece of reconstructionist legislation was the 14th amendment, which guaranteed blacks citizenship and equal protection under the law. The reality in the south was, however, was very different than what was promised. Sharecropping replaced the old system of slavery with restraints that might as well been shackles around the ankles of the workers. Black farmers had to rent the land, tools, and seeds from the rich white farmers at such high prices that they were never fully out of debt. This way, white plantation owners could assert their superiority over blacks and maintain the same social positions that had been in place before the civil war. Racism kept the newly freed black farmers from gaining hold of opportunity and economic freedom which resulted in wide spread poverty among the sharecroppers. Without economic independence, they could never really gain power over the racist white land owners. .
In addition to sharecropping, white Democrats devised ways to keep blacks from voting which in turn kept them in power and returned the south to democratic rule.