It was believed that after two hundred and fifty years of being enslaved, they would be finally treated as equals to those of other races. However, this was not the case. In fact, the South still treated African Americans as subordinate; they were often segregated and beat for no reason other than spite. The climax of this incessant racism were the Jim Crow Laws. Examples of some of these dubious segregation laws included Texas and New Mexico laws that required that “separate rooms shall be provided for the pupils of African descent” than those of caucasian descent(United). These schools were undisputedly unequal in every way, shape, and form. As shown in Richard Wright’s Black Boy, an autobiography of a black man growing up in the Jim Crow South, schools for those of African American descent often employed unqualified teachers and corrupt administrators, and funding for these schools were miniscule compared to that of schools created for solely those of Caucasian descent(Wright). An even more humiliating law created in Alabama that required those of Caucasian descent be provided with separate toilet facilities than those of African American descent(United). The toilet facilities and water fountains for whites were always much cleaner and sanitary than those for African Americans. The fact that our government, less than a hundred …show more content…
There were those who attempted to stop it. Those such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, were the most famous. Most protesters against such laws, however, weren’t so lucky. They were often murdered by the Ku Klux Klan or other racist southerners for protesting their subordinate role in society. Malcolm X had his father taken away from him by the Ku Klux Klan(Malcolm X). Martin Luther King. Jr. and thousands of other African Americans were murdered by the KKK or their sympathizers. This effort was cumulatively recognized as the Civil Rights Movement, which essentially completed the process of integrating African Americans into American society. However, racism still existed, shown in the discrimination we still see today towards African Americans in getting jobs and the fact that the Ku Klux Klan still