How Did African Americans Succeed In The 1890's?
Rebekkah George
Mrs. Lopez
English 1H
January 23, 2015 The Reckless Decade The 1890’s were a prominent time period teeming with racism, segregation, and many notable authors, such as: Emily Dickinson and Ida B. Wells. The fact that the economic systems of the African Americans continued to improve in the 1890’s infuriated the whites, leading them to create preposterous voting regulations. In order to vote, African Americans were required to pay an annual poll tax two years before the election actually took place; this was greatly difficult for blacks because they made the least out of all the people. That was not the only barrier that blacks faced regarding voting, they were also required to take a literacy test, which tended to be very hard …show more content…
Segregation also ran rampant during this time period, thus paving the way for laws to be made that instituted apartheid. These laws were specifically made for discrimination of public facilities, such as: separate drinking fountains, bathrooms, hotels, and restaurants. The courts believed that isolated, but equal facilities were constitutional; however, people now know that they were everything but equal. Many people wonder why there was even segregation in the first place, for it says in the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal.” To the courts and whites, segregation was used as a way to enhance and underline racial boundaries; it was an effort that whites used to emphasize that African Americans were vastly different than them, no matter what they thought, they were different “creatures.” Since apartheid and racism were eminent during this time period, it paved the way for many literary works to be written about it. For instance, Marrow of Tradition, a historical novel by Charles Chesnutt was written on the climb of white primacy and the “race riots” that took place in North Carolina. Many poems and …show more content…
She never titled her poems, so today they are titled by the first line. Along with Emily Dickinson, Ida B. Wells, a former black slave, also wrote on what captivated her; however her interests were not similar to Emily Dickinson’s, instead she found interest in civil rights. During this time period, black men were falsely accused of raping white women; Ms. Wells did not agree with this and soon began to contradict these accusations in articles that she wrote for The Memphis Free Speech. In those articles, she would clearly state that people were wrong and it was actually white women encouraging relationships with the black men. Once these allegations about white women came out, the white men became furious. They sent intense threats, thus leading to the burning of The Memphis Free Speech building. Along with writing about false accusations towards African American men, she also wrote about the lynching taking place during that time. She dedicated her time and career trying to prove that the lynching of uninvolved men, women, and children were actually premeditated murders designed to get rid of African Americans that were accumulating too much wealth and property, hence terrorizing the entire community. When reading Pudd’nhead Wilson, people must understand that racism was infamous in this time,
Mrs. Lopez
English 1H
January 23, 2015 The Reckless Decade The 1890’s were a prominent time period teeming with racism, segregation, and many notable authors, such as: Emily Dickinson and Ida B. Wells. The fact that the economic systems of the African Americans continued to improve in the 1890’s infuriated the whites, leading them to create preposterous voting regulations. In order to vote, African Americans were required to pay an annual poll tax two years before the election actually took place; this was greatly difficult for blacks because they made the least out of all the people. That was not the only barrier that blacks faced regarding voting, they were also required to take a literacy test, which tended to be very hard …show more content…
Segregation also ran rampant during this time period, thus paving the way for laws to be made that instituted apartheid. These laws were specifically made for discrimination of public facilities, such as: separate drinking fountains, bathrooms, hotels, and restaurants. The courts believed that isolated, but equal facilities were constitutional; however, people now know that they were everything but equal. Many people wonder why there was even segregation in the first place, for it says in the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal.” To the courts and whites, segregation was used as a way to enhance and underline racial boundaries; it was an effort that whites used to emphasize that African Americans were vastly different than them, no matter what they thought, they were different “creatures.” Since apartheid and racism were eminent during this time period, it paved the way for many literary works to be written about it. For instance, Marrow of Tradition, a historical novel by Charles Chesnutt was written on the climb of white primacy and the “race riots” that took place in North Carolina. Many poems and …show more content…
She never titled her poems, so today they are titled by the first line. Along with Emily Dickinson, Ida B. Wells, a former black slave, also wrote on what captivated her; however her interests were not similar to Emily Dickinson’s, instead she found interest in civil rights. During this time period, black men were falsely accused of raping white women; Ms. Wells did not agree with this and soon began to contradict these accusations in articles that she wrote for The Memphis Free Speech. In those articles, she would clearly state that people were wrong and it was actually white women encouraging relationships with the black men. Once these allegations about white women came out, the white men became furious. They sent intense threats, thus leading to the burning of The Memphis Free Speech building. Along with writing about false accusations towards African American men, she also wrote about the lynching taking place during that time. She dedicated her time and career trying to prove that the lynching of uninvolved men, women, and children were actually premeditated murders designed to get rid of African Americans that were accumulating too much wealth and property, hence terrorizing the entire community. When reading Pudd’nhead Wilson, people must understand that racism was infamous in this time,