African American History

The African American people 's struggle for equality and justice in the 20th century United States had been a long process of continuous actions against segregation measures which were applied throughout the US

During the war , black soldiers were not offered an equal status , even more , they were considered to be second class forces , often activating in segregated units (African American Odyssey 2002 . Returning victorious from the battle field however gave them new impetus for claiming their equality , and thus a new activist attitude emerged . Still facing tough restricting laws , such as

the Jim Crow ' laws which mandated that blacks have separate facilities for travel , lodging eating and drinking , schooling , worship , housing , and other aspects of social and economic life , a positive influence was that of the New Deal Program , which allowed all people , regardless of race , color or creed to benefit and enjoy the security of a work place (Jenkins 1997 . Such a measure played a major role in the psychological emancipation of the black community because it built the ground for ultimately leaving behind the idea of inferior race . In this environment , there was a boost in cultural representation through artists such as Billie Holiday Langston Hughes , Duke Ellington (African American Odyssey 2002

Some major challenges included the right to vote , white legislators imposing the grandfather clause ' or different other means of illegal harassment in to prevent black people to exercise their political choice . The segregation of cities such as Oklahoma , which allowed for individual covenants among sellers that prevented black people to buy houses in certain areas , was an additional problem for the black community . The lynching of blacks throughout the United States was of major concern for the 1909 established National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which militated against it . Success was achieved through the recognition of additional oversight of the federal court over the state judges . The Supreme Court 's decision in Brown v The Board of Education ' represented indeed a milestone in the fight for equal rights and against segregation

All this progress was achieved however on the background of economic fulfillment achieved inside the African American community

Bibliography

African American Odyssey (2002 . World War I and Postwar Society Retrieved 9 May 2006

from Library of Congress Web site http /memory .loc .gov /ammem /aaohtml /exhibit /aopart8b .html

Jenkins ,

(1997 . A history of the United States . New York : Palgrave p...