African American Annotated Bibliography free essay sample

The African American race and the events they have been involved in from 1865- resent day, have single handedly contributed to and shaped the race they are today and the issues they deal with now. There are six specific areas of history that had great impact an effect on shaping African Americans, their culture, the society, and even social status to date. These events include The Civil War, this marked the beginning of freedom for blacks or so they thought. It directly relates to and shows how blacks were given something or promised a way of life but treated completely different. It also sparked all types of injustices one being segregation and the long standing feud between southern and Northern whites. The Reconstruction Era, this time in history played hand in hand with the civil war, it ended slavery as we knew it for the time being, and deemed blacks free by law to live as regular citizens. We will write a custom essay sample on African American Annotated Bibliography or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Plessy vs. Ferguson, this court case was the ground work for cases to come where blacks were revolting against the southern whites and the laws they created to keep the race under an invisible line of slavery and inferiority. Living under Jim Crow, this time also hand in hand with the Reconstruction era, gave blacks a false sense of hope after being released from slavery. The Harlem Renaissance was the time that blacks began to flourish and realize their true greatness and self-worth after being told for so long that they were inferior. And finally, The Great Depression, this time while hard on all Americans, played its on part of African Americans, Many blacks fled to the North in search of freedom and equality and found that even there while things were better the whole country was under duress and found no relief. Smith, john David. When Did Southern Segregation Begin? Boston: Bedford Books, 2001 African Americans Hester 2 Peoples natural assumption is that segregation began or was a natural outcome of Reconstruction. Even scholars can’t in point the exact origins of when this era began or the issue of where, why, and how this behavior became normal between black and white southerners. The focus is on racial interactions following Emancipation, the complex relationship between race and class, and how segregation practices varied from state to state. Thomas, Brook, ed. Plessy vs. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford books 1997 Plessy vs. Ferguson was a case in 1896. Plessy was an African American who refused to sit in the â€Å"colored† train car and instead tried to sit in the â€Å"white† carriage car. Plessy was of course arrested for violating an 1890 Louisiana Statue that provided for segregated â€Å"separate but equal† railroad rules. If you used facilities not delegated for your race you could be held legally liable by the statue of the state. Plessy was found guilty in a court to of law against Justice John H. Ferguson residing, on the grounds that the law was a reasonable exercise of the states police powers based on custom, usage and tradition in the state. Plessy ended u filing a petition for writs of prohibition in the Supreme Court of Louisiana against Ferguson. Plessy stated that segregation stigmatized blacks and stamped them with a badge of inferiority. The court found for Ferguson and the Supreme Court granted the cert. This is one of the many events that paved the way for things like the civil rights movement. It put blacks in a state of mind that made them realize they may not be what the Southern whites profess tem to be. It also paved the way for court cases like Brown vs. Board of Education African Americans Hester 3 Which not only deemed segregation unequal but also moved for the desegregation of the school systems. The Ku-Klux. (1871 Aril 1) Harpers Weekly, p. 281 retrieved from http. //education. Harweek. com/KKKHearings/Article23. htm This article spoke to the Reconstruction Era and its effects on the southern African Americans. It showed the era from the perspective of Southern whites who were free, and according to the thirteenth Amendment, legal citizens. This era not only launched movements like segregation, but also caused the whites to create â€Å"security blanket† type organizations like the KKK or Ku Klux Klan. In addition to that it sky rocketed a long standing feud between the Northern and southern States. United States Congress. (1866 April 9). Civil rights Act. Retrieved from http://www. digitalhistory. un. edu/exhibits/reconstruction/section4/section4_civrightsact1. html The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was created to protect all people in the United States regardless of race or color. There was however one line in this otherwise race saving document that would start a whole other issue. This line stated that slavery or involuntary servitude was