Reconstrution essays

Reconstrution essays The history of race relations and labor from the Reconstruction to the 1890s involves many different ethnic groups. Some of these groups were African Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, American Indians, and the Irish. White Americans believe that they were superior and none of the other groups were capable of taking care of themselves, and who else was better to take care of them but the supreme white man. All of these groups faced racism and much hatred from the white man, and none of these groups were thought to be equal to the white man. It was many of these ethnic groups that labored to build the United States of America. Even after the slaves were freed they were still looked at as an inferior human being. Some white groups had formed, such as the Ku Klux Klan, to rid their State of the blacks, and were allowed to maim and murder when the Federal Government decided that the Fourteenth Amendment was only to protect citizens from actions by the State and prosecution by the Federal Government might be illegal. (Henretta pg.495). The ending of the Civil War had freed the slaves, but had done little to make them equal to the white groups. They had the right to vote but many were to scare to go vote for they risked being killed. They were allowed to do sharecropping but many had no money to buy the necessary seed and equipment to be able to produce enough food for the family and some for sale. Many turned to growing cotton because it was a good cash crop, but this caused South a decline of grain and livestock. All of these factors cause the South a stagnant farm economy and the Southern people blamed this on the blacks, once again giving the whites a reason to hate the freed blacks. (Henretta pg. 494) The Chinese were faring no better than the freed blacks. During the California gold rush more than 200,000 Chinese immigrated there. When the gold ran out they turned to labor force to survive. Th...