The 13th amendment abolished slavery and considered it to be a crime if practiced. This amendment failed to abolish racial segregation, though In 1864 when the 13th amendment was passed, many other laws came to be. These being the “Black Codes” or Jim Crow laws that mean; separate but equal. “Separate but equal” really does live up to the word separate. Colored people had separate schools, fountains, bus sections and more. I want to talk about one thing is particular, Sundown Towns.
In 1890, Sundown Towns were created. A Sundown Town is a certain town in many different states, that was designated for only white people. People with colored skin were not aloud in the area after the sun went down. Colored skin meaning black people, hispanics, jews,and chinese people. In these towns, the colored people would have to be outside of the town and inside their homes before the sun went down. Now, if they sun went down and someone was still in the town and not where they were supposed to be, they risked being harassed and in some cases even killed. White americans had their own towns where the wouldn’t allow people of color, this is how these types of towns were formed. They would drive blacks out of their towns and force them to find a different place to stay. Where most colored people would stay in the ghetto or in a not very nice place. This created the stigma that black people always live in the ghetto and they don’t belong in certain neighborhoods. The nicer neighborhoods or the suburbs were where white people lived. Blacks didn’t have a place to really stand up for themselves because people don’t view them as real people.
White people said just to view them as an african american, not just a normal person but think of them in just that way. With forced segregation, everything is five times harder for colored people. It’s hard for them to make a way of life because of all these rules they had to follow because they are “below” everybody. They have a hard time finding jobs and making bare minimum was difficult, almost everybody was very prejudice towards African Americans. A woman that goes by the name Carol Jenkins was selling news papers in a sundown town after dark. She was stabbed in her chest with a screwdriver, and then left out on the street alone to die. This happened in 1968 in Martinsville Indiana. When slavery ended, slaves started moving all over, but they mainly remained in the south. After reconstruction of the south, they set up a system very identical to slavery.
The system was named Jim Crow, and it seperated everything. Racism was everywhere, but it was especially really bad in the south. Crime rates definitely went up and more and more colored people were dying. In fact after the Civil War, crime rates against black people were at its highest. To find better opportunities, a mass of blacks migrated out of the south seeking a better life. When the millions of black people migrated seeking better oportunities, they named it the Great Migration. Sundown towns were everywhere all over America, and after time went by the white population grew. The white population during the era went up about 75 percent. As time goes off more colored people were dying off, causing white people to have more towns just for themselves. White people were scared of African Americans so they established these towns just for them, so they could keep black people out.
During the Great Migration, mobs of white people would dedtory neighbor hoods which colored people lived in. They would burn peoples houses, kill people, and steal their belongings. People of color werent safe in or out of a sundown town. White people wouldnt just drive them out of their towns, they would vilontley force them out of their state. Where would they go if they had no place to feel welcome? Wealth was denied from colored people. When the Federal government created Federal Housing Admnisration or the FHA to help eith money issues it also went by race. Black people didn’t get any of the benifits that all of the white people got. Al,ost evrything went againts colored peoples wishes.
Sundown towns still exist today. Though while many people still face racism, not as many people are being killed. There are still many white communities that black people feel uncomftorable staying in because people will judge and stare. Lot’s of colored people continue to live in the ghetto and don’t get the benifits people do in the suburbs do. For example, the busses that people get in the nice neiborhoods get wont go to the more run down areas. Having these types of comunities for so long, really kept black residents out of them. There are still insidents to this day that whote people will tell somoene they don’t belong in thid particular area because of the color of thier skin. With people like this still trying to keep people of color separated, they can’t learn and get to know the other race. There are still towns in America where people have never even seen any other race but white. It’s important to know about the different types of people on this earth so we can make big projects. With all of this recial segregation, people are very limited to what they see.
