African Americans and Southern Racism During Reconstruction

Christine Orsini HIST 202-02 Professor Schulte March 25, 2012 Paper 1 Introduction At the end of the Civil War, America faced the difficult task of uniting not only two separated territories of the United States, but also two races long separated by racism and culture. Devastated and embittered by the damage of the war, the South had a long way to go in order to achieve true equality between the former slave owners and former slaves. The majority of the South remained set in racist behavior, finding post-Civil War legal loopholes to diminish African American rights (Tindall amp; Shi, 2010, pp. 757-758). Southerners continued to marginalize Blacks in their behavior toward ex-slaves and the later African American generation,†¦show more content†¦Prejudiced Media in the South Perhaps the most subtle yet shocking form of racism in the South during Reconstruction was the biased reporting of many southern newspapers. Whether the ideas and attitudes of many southern Whites influenced these published stereotypes or vice versa, it is clear that southern publications often encouraged and promoted racist attitudes at the end of the century. A publication in Charleston, South Carolina displayed this racist subtext: â€Å"While promising its readers ‘truth,’ the Charleston Mercury mocked journalistic license by actually printing racist ridicule. A favorite method was to scorn African-Americans in the convention as a race, exploiting racist attitudes saved by white readers from slavery† (Logue, 1979, p. 339). Covering the constitutional convention in Columbia in 1867, white journalists used racist stereotypes in describing the black delegates’ involvement: â€Å"Reporters emphasized how blacks would chuckle and grin, thereby exploiting the racist assumption of many whites that blacks were mere fun-loving, animal-like creatures who had to be protected from themselves† (Logue, 1979, p. 341). The Charleston paper encouraged racist attitudes through the ridicule of black speech and pronunciation, mocking ex-slave â€Å"ignorance† rather than reporting important issues discussed at the convention: When blacks debated the issue of ‘changing the title of districts to counties,’ for example, theShow MoreRelatedCivil War Reconstruction: Success or Failure? Essay1262 Words   |  6 PagesAP US History 06 January 2006 Reconstruction: Failure The Civil war was possibly the greatest tragedy that this country had ever faced. Years of constant arguing, compromises and cynical ideas about slavery pushed this so called United Nation into an atrocious collision between the Northern abolitionists and the Southern proslavery farmers and plantation owners. The nation suffered enormous losses economically and went into a downward spiral. 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