The differences between living in the
North vs. south
As the civil war concluded so was the subject of slavery in the United States marking the end of one of the darker periods in American History. However despite the abolishment of slavery African Americans were still belittled and treated as secondary citizens. Segregation and immoral acts of directed hatred illuminated the evident towards the newly freed citizens. Acts such as lynching as a means of social control highlighted the differences between the North and the South.
One of the main differences that are the most notable is that the South enforced segregation laws more than the north. The South was known for lynching, burning, and maltreating African American citizens. Many would agree that it did not feel like slavery had ended after the Civil War. Every Negro in the South," John Dollard observed in 1937, "knows that he is under a kind of sentence of death; he does not know when his turn will come, it may never come, but it may also be any time" [1]. Even though lynching was practiced throughout the nation, most of the lynching was done in the southern portion of the United States. More than two-thirds of the remaining one-tenth occurred in the six states, which immediately border the South: Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas [2]. Minor offenses or major crimes resulted in lynching. African Americans were commonly lynched in the south for being accused of raping white women. Most of the time, the victims were innocent. Unfortunately, African Americans were most likely lynched by a lynch mob before reaching a court hearing. They believed killing an African American individual will result in an easy replacement. Killing their workers will generate scare for the next one to work harder and avoid being killed. Violent acts were not only lynching, it was also murder, burning them alive, and torturing them before killing them. The people who composed mobs in such neighborhoods were usually small land holders, tenant farmers and common laborers, whose economic status was very similar to that of the Negro [2]. Jealousy of letting a “Negro” surpass their economic status provoked them to begin a lynching mob against that particular individual. Given these actions, African Americans were intimidated by their surroundings in the south to become financially stable. This gave many African Americans a reason to flee to the Northern boarder of the United States. Many African Americans escaped the poverty in the south by migrating north [3]. The economy was a lot more superior in the North; this allowed African Americans to live a better life without being involved in a lynching mob. In a way, there was more opportunity for African Americans in the North; lynching was not as common, economy was a lot better, and segregation was less involved.
Riding the railroads in the south was harsh on African Americans. Subsequent amendment of the law required the segregation of African American and Caucasians in second-class as well as first class accommodations, that is, blacks were required to travel in separate coaches or behind partitions in divided coaches [4]. In the south, African Americans would have to wait for all of the Caucasians to finish buying their tickets before they can even get in line to pay for theirs. African Americans had to ride in a separate cart, “The Jim Crow” car. If there was no available separate location away from the Caucasians, they would have to ride on a platform. Along the Atlantic seaboard, African Americans generally enjoyed free access to both first and second-class accommodations. Elsewhere in the south, they were routinely denied in first class, “ladies” cars, unless traveling as servants or nurses of white passengers. Occasionally, they were allowed to mix-in with the second class cars. In 1887, the Florida legislature began requiring railroads to sell first-class tickets to “Respectable persons of color” and provided accommodations separate but equal in comfort to those accorded white passengers [4]. Between 1888 and 1907, other southern legislatures began to pass similar laws. Forcing African Americans to ride on outside platforms regardless of the weather conditions highlights the inhumane immoral actions against them after the abolishment of slavery.
In conclusion, the South was the most immoral and inhumane region to live in during the Jim Crow Laws. Whites conducted many forms of terrorist acts against African Americans not only because of false convictions of rape, but also jealousy of occasionally sharing the same economic rank than them. The North does have some light evidence of participating in segregation after the Civil War and abolishment of Slavery, but it is not as inhumane and cruel as what they did in the south. Many African Americans preferred fleeing to the northern region of the United States in this era so they can enjoy a more equal life.
Footnotes:
[1] Litwack, Leon F. 2004. Jim Crow Blues. OAH Magazine of History . 18, no. 2: 7-58.
[2] Robert A. Gibson “The Negro Holocaust: Lynching and Race Riots in the United States,1880-1950,” Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute , 2015, accessed February 26, 2015, http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html.
[3] Gavins, Raymond. 2004. Literature on Jim Crow. OAH Magazine of History . 18, no. 2: 13-16.
[4] Wilz, John Edward. 2001. When Jim Crow Rode the Rails. Trains . 61, no. 2: 40.