Segregation & Discrimination
History: KS3, topic 21.1.1
Segregation and Discrimination of Black People in the USA
Black Americans faced discrimination and segregation solely because of their race.
The North of America
- Black Americans faced discrimination and segregation solely because of their race.
- In the North, this was by discrimination in jobs, education and housing.
- Black people were limited to having badly paid jobs, so they could only afford to live in the poorest areas, called ghettos.
The South of America
- In the South, segregation was enforced by Jim Crow laws.
- These separated black and white people in all aspects of life such as education, housing and transport.
- African Americans could be arrested, beaten and lynched (murdered) both if they did and if they did not follow these laws.
- Southern states were allowed to enforce these laws because states could have their own laws, separate from federal (national) laws.
Racism in the Deep South
- Many white people saw blacks as lazy, stupid and criminal and would not socialise with them in any way.
- In the Deep South, policemen and judges were racist; black people could be beaten to confess to crimes they didn’t commit or imprisoned for no reason.
- Black people were not allowed to sit on juries, and if a black person was murdered it was often not investigated.
Assistance in wars
- WW2 saw one million black soldiers fighting in segregated units, including a group called the Harlem Hellfighters.
- At home, many worked alongside whites in factories to produce weapons.
- The reliance on its black labour force embarrassed the US during the Cold War for claiming to be the leader of the free world while still treating their own black citizens so badly.
Test yourself on Segregation & Discrimination
In the South of America, which laws enforced racial segregation?