Jim Crow
It was during Jim crow Era that a number of deaths, lynching and confrontations to mention but just a few, that witnessed a discontentment between the blacks and whites which led to non ending battles between the two groups which in turn led to a number of deaths to the a above mentioned groups. The acts of violence against blacks (African Americans) spread like a bush fire across the south around 1889-1918. It was during the Jim Crow period that lynching got understood as mob violence against African-Americans. The animosity is believed to have been triggered by legalization of social segregation, lynching of African-Americans, disfranchisement (Columbia, 2009). The explosions of violence against the blacks differed from the Ku Klux Klan of 1870 in that it this one was directed to the entire black societies. Also, the lower cadre whites feared that the blacks will give them unfair completion in areas of housing, social status and employment, thus the aggression to the entire black communities. At this time black Americans had started relentless demands on decency, justice and equality which also acted as a catalyst to the riots (riot, 2009).
The first wave of white violence took place in post bellum reconstruction era which was castigated by emancipation, southern defeat and the drastic changes in political and civil rights of the blacks. The caused panic to white supremacists and in their effort to restore their political power instigated Ku Klux Klan, which acted as a terror group. During the first wave of violence, very few whites were killed in the aggressions. The worst hit areas included Louisiana, Meridian, Mew Orleans and Mississippi to mention but just a few ( riot, 2009).
As if 1st wave of aggression was not enough, the second wave happened in the late 19th and early 20th century which saw the rhetoric attempts by Jim Crow to legalize disfranchisement and social-racial segregation. This period saw all the whites participating in the racial politics. The main reason used by supremacists were like the ones in the first wave as well as the notion that black men were a threat to white women and that they had the inner desire to rape them. This era saw the increased in number of blacks moving into urban centers in search of jobs, thereby increasing the completion between their white counterparts. The black professionals were not also left behind and they also offered stiff competition to the whites in the market. These factors escalated the rate and magnitude of the violence. Cities like North Carolina, Louisiana and New Orleans experienced elevated eruption of violence even after the first wave. This is believed to the results of politics, fear of completion and imagined completion of scarce resources and not forgetting the perception that blacks can not equal whites
Processing your request, Please wait....
