During the period of reconstruction, the African Americans organized the Equal Rights leagues in the South. They had also held state as well as local conventions. This was for the purpose of protesting the discriminatory treatments. It also demanded suffrage and equality before the laws (Divine and Robert). The fate of the African Americans had been turned over to the individual states.
The African Americans, in the Reconstruction Era, who had been in the slave-holding states earlier noticed that education was one of the most important steps. Education was important for achieving equality, independence, as well as prosperity (Divine and Robert). As a result, they found different ways of learning. In spite of facing many obstacles like poverty and the white people in their way, they continued to fight for education.
During the Reconstruction, the freed slaves began to leave the southern portion of the country. A group from Kentucky had constructed the community of Nicodemus in 1977. In this place, they started to live on their own earnings (Divine and Robert). However, due to bad harvests as well as the restrictions imposed by the white settlers, many of them abandoned the community.
The restrictive laws in ‘Jim Crow’ enforced segregation on the basis of race. It had also restricted the system of voting for the African Americans. The segregation and the disenfranchisement laws had represented a system which is formal as well as codified of the racial apartheid (Divine and Robert). It dominated the African Americans South for around three-quarters of the century from the 1890s.
The laws affected all the aspects of the daily life of African Americans. The segregation was based completely in the schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants. The "Whites Only" and the "Coloured" signs had been the constant reminders of the racial order (Divine and Robert). The system was reinforced by acts of terrorism which were perpetrated by Vigilantes.
References for Ancient History
Divine, Robert A., et al. America, past and present. Scott Foresman/Addison-Wesley, 1990.
