African Americans During Reconstruction Essay

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During Reconstruction, black Americans lacked the legal support system that allowed them to grow and advance as a community. The black community was heavily self-dependent due to the fact that the American government did not provide the means for them to do so. In fact, people often tried to elevate themselves and were bought down. People would build schoolhouses and homes yet they were terrorized and ran out while the government often turned a blind eye to what was happening. White Americans made it impossible for the true advancement of black people in their society and the government gave them no means of reparations or even protection in the slightest. This is because America never intended on advancing the black community from the start. …show more content…
Many of the people within the black community were then not protected under the eyes of the state law. There were many cases bought to the Supreme Court suing under federal law and the courts said that federal law cannot be enforced on a state level. This is basically ignoring the issues within the communities and refusing to enforce any progress for reconstruction for the black community. This was seen heavily in cases like Plessy v Ferguson and the case of the US v Cruikshank. These were cases bought to the Supreme Court where the rights of black people were being infringed upon. The case of Plessy v Ferguson was a call to end segregation and the inequalities that go along with that. The Supreme Court responded, “If the two races are to meet upon terms of social equality, it must be the result of natural affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other’s merits, and a voluntary consent of individuals.” (Plessy v Ferguson). The federal system completely ignored these issues and chose not to protect the rights of the people because of an unrealistic standard that somehow, someday white people will want to naturally integrate with the black community. Instead of helping to ensure their rights, they simply said that it was something they could not speak on because of state power. This dismantled all of the laws and progress that was put in place
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