EOTO #3 Reax.

    In today's class, we were taught the stories of the positives and negatives African Americans faced after the Reconstruction Era. First hearing the negative events and components towards African Americans starting we have the Negro Motorist Green Book. This book was founded in 1936 by Victor Hugo Green and continued to be published until 1966 after the Civil Rights Movement. In this book, the resilience of African Americans was displayed against the discrimination of the Jim Crow Laws. This idea of resilience created a sense of community and security amongst the African Americans of our nation. There was a constant fear of discrimination and prejudice every day of their lives in things as simple as taking road trips for African Americans. 

    This fear was formed from past events such as the next topic discussed, the Wilmington Massacre of 1898. In this massacre, between sixty to three hundred African Americans were killed in what was the only legal overthrow of an American government in our nation's history. Wilmington, North Carolina was a densely African American populated town in which African-Americans had control over its local government. However, a group of white supremacists took action in their displeasure of an African American-controlled government and rioted. This riot drove out African Americans from Wilmington if they were not killed, by the whites destroying their homes and businesses. The actions in Wilmington further led to harsher discrimination of blacks through voter suppression, the Jim Crow Laws being extended, and total disenfranchisement of African Americans. A final topic discussed in the negative times post-Reconstruction for African Americans was the film, The Birth of a Nation. In this film, African Americans are depicted as monsters riddled with crime and violence towards the whites while the Ku Klux Klan were deemed as heroes of our nation. The NAACP filed to ban the film to avoid further discrimination and public hatred toward African Americans. Still, the file was denied and the movie was produced and played nationwide. 

    Now changing to a more positive note for African Americans, the post-reconstruction era also held many positive events for the black population of America. First off, Executive Order 9981 signed by President Harry Truman, in which segregation was banned in the military, was a firm starting point to end segregation in our nation as a whole. During WWII, in which over a million African Americans fought, many black soldiers were treated unfairly and given harsh tasks and most were forced away from combat on the battlefield unless needed. Truman, as a veteran, felt connected with the black veterans of WWII, and in 1948 he signed Executive Order 9981. This left a hole in our nation as the idea that blacks fought for democratic rights in foreign nations but were denied the same rights back in their homeland started to spread across the United States. 

However, African Americans were still on the path to the elimination of segregation with Thurgood Marshall making his way up the ranks in our justice system. Marshall later became a Supreme Court justice where he heard cases such as Brown v. Board, Smith v. Allwright, and many more pivotal cases in our nation's history. Marshall served as a role model to many African Americans so that they too could make something of their lives in prejudiced America and never give up on their dreams even if they were denied equal access and rights. 

Plessy v. Ferguson Reax.

      In the courtroom today, the case of Plessy v. Ferguson was heard and was of great importance in our government system. Homer Plessy was a mixed-race man who purchased a first-class ticket for a train in New Orleans, Louisiana. Plessy then boarded the designated white only car leading to the authorities being reported on him and him being arrested in an alleged rough way. Plessy was then charged under the Louisiana Separate Car Act of 1890. Now that is where we stand today, Homer Plessy is being accused of a crime for his actions under the state of Louisiana by Judge John Howard Ferguson as the United States Supreme Court will hear Plessy's argument. 

The attorneys of Plessy commenced their argument by detailing the history of segregation in America and how it still affects the criminal justice system of our nation. The Jim Crow Laws were the basis of their argument as in 1896, they still were heavily enforced in the United States. This argument led to the question "Why are we clinging to unjust regulations of the past?" being asked. These unjust regulations spoken of are highlighted by the Jim Crow Laws along with the Black Codes that held a stronghold on state and local governments. 

   Plessy himself argued that he was only one-eighth of an African American, meaning he should not be deemed a colored man when the majority of his ancestors and family were white. However, in Plessy's argument as well, man is the same besides the color of their skin, and it is only just for us to see man beyond the color of their skin for who they truly are. In a less personal manner, Plessy's side argued from the Declaration of Independence and how it details that "all men are created equal" and be endowed with "certain unalienable rights". Adding on to their argument, the attorneys detailed that segregation was solely based on race with state law intending to segregate the United States and its communities based on race. This argument highlighted the separate but equal doctrine that whites and blacks were completely separate and still were not equally provided for. For example, the newer, more expensive train cars are designated for whites, and the significantly older and beat-down train cars are designated for the colored. Why designate certain allocations of resources to one race when African Americans have worked to provide for the American economy and segregation is a costly institution in our economy? Plessy's attorneys left us with their final thoughts that it is required to allocate more resources to African Americans to improve their way of life to establish a more equal playing field for all.

    On the flip side, Ferguson and his attorneys filed a strong argument to support the state of Louisiana's actions towards Mr. Plessy. Highlighted in their argument was the fact the separate but equal doctrine provided to all individuals regardless of their race does not suggest the inferiority of race. "The state constitution is fundamentally sound and must not be challenged" argued the attorneys of Judge Ferguson. In essence, the argument being made was based on the laws established in the past were already set in stone and had no loopholes or problems with them. Another argument made along with the separate but equal doctrine was that eliminating segregation was not the best solution for society at least not right then. Segregation had been around for years before this case and there was no massive hole in the American society or economy so why fix what isn't broken? It is in fact, not hurting either race with African Americans building high-standing communities like those in Galveston, Texas while being segregated.

    Upon hearing the arguments of both sides, the court decided to rule in favor of Mr. Plessy as it was deemed the state of Louisiana forced separation with a bias against African Americans. The court emphasized that African Americans did not demand direct equality with whites, they just demanded better living conditions and rights under the separate but equal doctrine. Therefore, there was no argument to overturn the history of segregation that the United States had held for many years, as described in the Ferguson side's argument. Just an argument to shift state and local government's ways of perception and treatment of African Americans leading to a ruling in favor of Mr. Plessy.

Mock Trial Brown v. Board

    Ladies and gentlemen, your Honor, we are gathered here today to discuss the case of Brown v. Board of Education. I stand before you all to detail how the economy of our beloved United States of America is in support of segregation between the prosperous whites and significantly poorer African Americans. To explain, we start back in 1921, thirty-three years before this case when down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the largest public disturbance since the Civil War occurred. Dick Rowland, a shoeshiner, was accused of attacking a white female, resulting in his arrest. Mobs gathered to display their displeasure at Rowland's arrest, leading to a horrific massacre involving the first aerial bombing in American history. Three hundred people were killed that day, and another eight hundred were injured, along with thirty-five city blocks destroyed. In those city blocks was Black Wall Street.

    Tulsa was heavily populated with African Americans with high economic success. Therefore, this mass destruction of their homes, businesses, and cities left devastating effects on the African American population in our nation altogether. In essence, the already majority of lower-class African Americans grew exceedingly poorer as a whole. 

    Due to the work of a Black man, their society and social class have been destroyed with little to no chance of being repaired. We must not let this trend continue up our distinguished social classes, which could lead to devastating effects on our economy. The average wealthy white man has already been targeted enough by the less wealthy Black men through loss of jobs. Why take this opportunity away from those who have the money to spend on prestigious schools leading to high-level wage professions, which in turn benefits our economy? 

    Instead, these opportunities are being handed out like souvenirs to the poor Black men of our society, who make on average seven times less than white men. Those who have not worked for certain opportunities, such as a degree from prestigious educational institutions or high-paying positions, should not be entitled to those opportunities. Those who have worked their entire lives and dedicated much time and money should be rewarded with those opportunities to avoid an economic collapse in our nation. In turn, there are positions for poor Blacks to work in, such as day laborers, barbers, waiters, and others, as they will have a place in our economy. However, with their lack of education and experience in the high-up parts of our economy and nation, there is no role for them to be allocated resources that can be entrusted to an experienced and wealthy white man.

    In addition, by separating communities by race along with income level, a sense of stability can be achieved in our economy. As explained prior, the racial wealth gap is a bolded example of the difference between whites and blacks in our economy. A seven-to-one ratio is one of quite extreme imbalance, so why entitle African Americans to take the seats in our public schools that they cannot afford? Especially when there are schools in place for African American children that are of equal level to their import into our economy. If the white schools are of equal value to their import to our economy, why argue against that fact when African Americans do not work and profit enough to be entitled to schools of a higher level?

Reconstruction Video

    After the end of the Civil War, the once-split United States was left with two heavily opposed "nations" that were required to revert to co-existing as one whole nation. There was much hope for life for all post-Civil War, however, that hope would turn into despair for African Americans and freedmen once again. Even fresh off the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, African Americans still faced severe backlash from the deemed "superior" whites. For example, the establishment of Jim Crow laws stripped African Americans of the rights they were entitled to by those past documents and amendments. These laws were not handed down by federal ways but by state and local governments that had the jurisdiction to segregate and downright treat freedmen horrendously by the hand of the federal government. On top of the segregation and backlash they faced, freed slaves were dirt poor as they had no wages, property, or anything to their name at all. So, therefore, they already were starting severely behind the eight ball with the rest of society, and to add their newly awarded rights being stripped away left us back at square one. 

    As we know, Abraham Lincoln fought tooth and nail to win the Civil War and provide former slaves with the rights they deserved and earned. Infamously, he was assassinated before he was able to see his work be enforced in the newly reformed United States, leaving Andrew Jackson as our president. According to abolitionist Frederick Douglass, "Andrew Jackson is no friend of the black." Douglass was correct in that assumption. Even though Jackson saw the Planters, rich white southerners, as responsible for the Civil War and its horrors, Jackson essentially forgave the Planters for their sins of the Civil War. This led to the ex-Confederates being rewarded for their land back, which was at first given to freedmen to start their economic lives and build the black community in the South. This led to the freedmen refusing to leave their promised land by the government which resulted in mass tensions once again between the whites and blacks. 

    With these new tensions, the state and local governments of the South were back at it to force the freedmen away. This time the Black Codes were passed to once again limit the rights of African Americans. These laws accepted that slavery was abolished but made sure there was little change made from slavery to abolishment for the African American citizens of the South. Working hand in hand with the Black Codes, there was a sense of hatred for the blacks by the whites, which resulted in riots, deaths, and general violence across the Southern land. It was not until the Fourteenth Amendment was passed three years later that these laws controlled the lives of freedmen. By the words of the Fourteenth Amendment, southern states were forced to establish new constitutions, ratify the law of giving African Americans the right to vote, and adopt new freedmen laws. 

    In essence, Reconstruction was a successful failure as it brought on three new amendments that wrote into federal law that African Americans had rights and could not be mistreated for their race and past. Even with those federal laws, the states and towns had their say in how African Americans were treated, which resulted in not much change being made or ground covered for a civil society. In fact, to this day relations are not completely civil between whites and blacks, and there is a great chance there may never be. Southern rebellion and violence before the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were passed helped lead to their approval. Without that unrest, these amendments might not have been ratified. In this way, some 'good' aspects came from the struggles of Reconstruction.