History, Civil Rights in the U.S.A – Coursework
Assignment 1 – Objective 1
Q1) Describe the disadvantages that Black Americans faced in the early 1950s
Black Americans suffered from many inequalities and disadvantages during the 1950's. In short they were discriminated. Jim Crow Laws were introduced in southern states where Blacks were segregated from public services such as cafes, toilets, restaurants and even denied proper healthcare, voting, satisfactory education standards and leisure.
Blacks were segregated to go to Black hospitals as they wouldn’t be treated at White hospitals. They were denied their rights to voting and the process was even made harder through literacy tests as Black education was poor.
Law was changed after there was great opposition from blacks in favour of equal black facilities. The “separate but equal” law was enforced, in which segregation was allowed as long as black and white facilities were both equal. This law was rarely put to practice. Blacks made less money in the 1950s as 18% of Whites were below the poverty line compared to that of 56% that were Black. Even though many Blacks would work in the same job placements as Whites and work the same hard labour yet they were paid marginally less, but this depend on the employer but it was very rare to give equal pay in the southern states. Many Black Americans also had to endure constant threats from the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). Blacks had to live in fear of their deaths. Whites were very rarely charged of murder of Blacks, especially in southern states. Children were even brought along to lynchings of innocent Blacks for informational purposes. After the American Civil War in 1865, black people in the American south were no longer slaves. But they had never gained equality with Whites. Blacks had remained second class citizens throughout their movement to America, with the worst paid unskilled jobs in farms and factories. A coloured person could not even use a normal vending...