Effects Of Disfranchisement

When the 15th amendment passed, it allowed black men the right to vote. Although, this was a positive change, white officials responsible for the disfranchisement of black men trying to vote deterred its effectiveness. This disfranchisement went on for decades without any change. Things such as poll taxes and literacy tests enforced disfranchisement of poor former slaves who hadn’t received an education. These tactics were reduced for poor, uneducated white people by the used of a “grandfather clause”. This meant that if a man’s grandfather or father could vote, then the grandson or son could vote without paying the poll tax or passing literacy tests, thus excluding a majority of black men. Another plague on American history is the racial …show more content…
“White flight” was something white people did to avoid being near black people. They would move to the suburbs where only white people lived, and if black people attempted to move in they could receive major repercussions, including violence, from their white neighbors. These facts led to many neighborhoods becoming segregated, even though there was no law supporting the segregation. Law didn’t segregate public schools, but since the majority of white people lived near each other, and the majority of black people lived near each other, the public schools were automatically segregated because of the places they lived. Though de facto segregation was subtler than outright bigotry and racism, it still harmed black people. It was especially hard to expose, because white people simply would find excuses and justifications for their leaving. De facto segregation and racism still pretty clear to see today and still receives justification from white people, but is seen as acceptable because it’s not as out rightly hateful as segregation laws. The black community’s response to the injustices they faced varied, but it is safe to say that they weren’t okay with it, and wanted a change. However, actually getting change took decades, and even today, racism is obviously still around, if it will ever actually end. There were many black civil …show more content…
This option was supporting black people moving away from America, and to parts of the world where they felt their rights would be protected and they would not experience prejudice because of their skin color. These places were mostly Liberia and West African countries. Bishop Henry Turner advocated this option, but, like every other option, he received criticism. Critics of emigration said it was a powerless and weak, and that they were black Americans, and should be afforded the same rights as white Americans. Emigration was also financially difficult and seemed to be a far reached idea. It also seemed unfair to have to move to another country just so they wouldn’t face violence and discrimination. The second option proposed was accommodation. Accommodation tended to focus more on black people receiving vocational education and advancing in business, and less on telling white people to stop being racists. This made accommodation seem nonthreatening to many white people. Accommodation was widely promoted by Booker T. Washington, and he even co-founded Tuskegee University so that black people could receive education. Critics of this option said that accommodation was weak, unjust, and said it wouldn’t stop white people from being violent and