6 Race, Racism, and Being Black in the United States

Introduction

Addressing social justice requires persons living in the United States to acknowledge and confront systemic racism, which has played a significant role in perpetuating social injustice throughout the country’s history. The legacy of racial injustice, which stems from the genocide of Indigenous groups and the chattel enslavement of Africans, continues to affect people in the United States today. This chapter explores the social constructs of race and racism and examines the historical evolution of race in the United States from the perspective of people with African ancestry.

Throughout the chapter, we use the terms “Black” and “African American” interchangeably to honor how people of African descent choose to self-identify. “African American” typically refers to persons who have ancestral ties to Africa through the history of slavery and colonization in the United States. This term emphasizes geography and history: people whose ancestors were forcibly brought to the Americas as part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and who have since developed a distinct cultural identity within the United States. “Black” is a broader racial and cultural identifier that can include African Americans, immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean, and people from other countries around the world associated with Africa either phenotypically, culturally, or both—regardless of specific national or ethnic background.

Race as a Social Construct

Race is not biologically determined; instead, it is a social construct created by humans based on characteristics such as skin color, with specific value-laden categories emerging relatively recently in human history (Kendi, 2016). These categories carry profound social and political consequences shaped by historical power dynamics and cultural interpretations. In the early English colonies, before the establishment of fixed racial categories, religious affiliation often dictated social status (Wilkerson, 2023). Today, racial classifications are based on observable yet arbitrary physical characteristics, genetics, or cultural differences (Bonham, 2024; Burton et al., 2010). According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, race is defined as “a social construct used to group people” and “was constructed as a hierarchical system for classifying human groups, creating racial classifications that identify, distinguish, and marginalize certain groups across nations and globally” (Bonham, 2024, para 1). Despite the socially-constructed nature of race, racial categories in the United States are deeply ingrained, to the extent that even in the face of scientific evidence, “some human beings continue to perceive other human beings as excluded from the moral order of personhood” (Zimbardo, 2008, p. 307).

Furthermore, racial hierarchy in the United States can be explained as politically constructed, where “Whiteness” is deliberately positioned at the top of the hierarchy through laws, policies, and social practices designed to concentrate power, wealth, and privilege among those classified as White. This system was historically codified through slavery, segregation, discriminatory housing policies, unequal education, and biased criminal justice practices. This hierarchy was not natural or inevitable, but was deliberately created to justify exploitation and maintain power imbalances (Coates, 2015). In its simplest form, this hierarchy in the United States is typically framed in two distinct parts understood to be mutually exclusive and opposing: White and not White (Rosenblum & Travis, 2016). While significant legal progress has occurred, this historical ordering continues to shape contemporary society through persistent wealth gaps, residential segregation, educational disparities, and implicit biases in institutions.

Because race is a social construct, categorical definitions have been fluid, with determining factors based on need versus fact (Burton et al., 2010). An example is the Latinx population, which was considered White well into the 20^th century. The category of “Hispanic” was adopted by the United States government for the first time in 1980 (Simon, 2024). But Hispanic or Latinx is considered an ethnicity, not a race. Thus, one can be Hispanic on the United States Census and be of another race, such as White or Asian (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Kendi (2016) argues that racial categories in the United States were created for political and economic gain: “European cultural values and traits, and hierarchy-making was wielded in the service of a political project: enslavement” (p. 83).

Racial Identity in the United States

Racial identity is how individuals understand and define themselves in relation to their racial group. It also incorporates how society assigns meaning to these groups. Racial identity is shaped by historical, cultural, and social contexts and influenced by experiences of discrimination, privilege, and power. For racialized groups, identity often forms through encounters with prejudice and societal expectations, leading individuals to develop coping or resistance strategies (Tatum, 2017). In contrast, individuals from dominant racial groups may experience their racial identity with less awareness of its influence, recognizing it primarily in moments of racialized tension (DiAngelo, 2018). Racial identity is not static; it evolves over time and can shift based on personal experiences and social interactions. Socially constructed identities such as race are critical factors in predicting life outcomes, including education, income levels, health and healthcare, and access to other resources. Understanding how people form and express their racial identity is crucial to addressing racism, inequality, and social justice.

Racial Identity Theories

Theories such as Social Identity Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Racial Identity Development models provide frameworks for understanding how individuals understand and negotiate their racial identity within society. The concept of Double Consciousness and the framework of Intersectionality further enrich our understanding by highlighting the internal and multifaceted nature of racial identity. These theories collectively emphasize that racial identity is not just about how individuals see themselves, but also about how they are perceived and navigate a society deeply influenced by race and racism.

Double Consciousness

Double Consciousness was introduced by W. E. B. Du Bois in his seminal work The Souls of Black Folk (1903). It is a critical historical concept in any discussion of racial identity. Double Consciousness refers to the internal conflict that African Americans (and, by extension, other marginalized racial groups) experience as they negotiate their identity in a society that devalues their race. Du Bois describes it as a kind of psychological division where individuals are constantly aware of how they are perceived by the dominant, often oppressive, group and how they view themselves (Gingras, 2010).

Double Consciousness encompasses several key points. First, the concept of a dual identity involves racialized individuals’ awareness of themselves from both their personal perspective and the perspective imposed by a society dominated by Whiteness. This awareness often leads to internal conflict and tension, as individuals struggle to balance their personal sense of identity with the need to conform to or negotiate societal expectations and stereotypes. Additionally, the struggle of Self-Perception vs. External Perception captures the difficulty of reconciling one’s self-view with how one is perceived and judged by others. This complex interplay highlights the internal and external struggles inherent in managing dual aspects of racial identity in a society organized around race (Du Bois, 1903).

Social Identity Theory

Henri Tajfel and John Turner proposed Social Identity Theory in the 1970s. According to this theory, individuals derive part of their self-concept from membership in various groups, including racial groups. Tajfel and Turner argued that social identity provides individuals with a sense of belonging, purpose, self-worth, and identity. Additionally, the tendency to categorize, identify, and compare with other groups influences an individual’s experience of social identity (McLeod, 2023). Social Identity Theory is responsible for introducing the concepts of in-group and out-group, which are frequently used in psychology to explain biased behavior. Criticisms of Social Identity Theory include an overemphasis on group identity, overly simplistic study environments, lack of focus on individual differences, neglect of power and structural factors, and insufficient explanations for why people sometimes favor out-groups (Brown, 2000; Ellemers et al., 2002; Hogg & Abrams, 1990; Jost & Banaji, 1994; Reicher & Haslam, 2006).

Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory (CRT) explores the intersections of race and racism with other forms of social stratification, such as social, legal, and institutional structures. Originating in the late 1970s and 1980s from the work of legal scholars like Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, CRT emerged as a response to the inadequacies of traditional legal approaches in addressing racial injustice. CRT recognizes racism as systemic and underscores that racism is embedded in United States law, policy, and practice. CRT emphasizes intersectionality and the social construction of race, and it places value on the lived experiences of those subject to racism. Additionally, CRT challenges colorblindness and gradualist change, instead advocating for large-scale systemic power shifts through a social justice lens (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017).

Racial Identity Development Models

Racial Identity Development models seek to explain how individuals come to understand and internalize their racial identities. These models describe the stages that individuals experience as they grapple with the meanings, implications, and significance of race in their lives. They help explain how people move from racial unawareness to a more nuanced understanding of where their racial identity fits in societal power structures. Most models follow a pattern of a trigger event, exploration and searching, and internalization and acceptance. More recently, researchers have begun to study White identity and its development (Project Ready, 2016).

White Racial Identity Model: Janet Helms (1990)

This model describes the racial identity development of White individuals in the context of a racially stratified society. The stages are:

• Contact: Lack of awareness about racism and White privilege.
• Disintegration: Growing awareness of racial inequalities, leading to discomfort.
• Reintegration: Reaffirmation of racial privilege or denial of racism to reduce discomfort.
• Pseudo-Independence: Intellectual recognition of racism without fully confronting personal privilege.
• Immersion/Emersion: Active exploration of one’s own racial privilege and racism.
• Autonomy: Full acknowledgment of White privilege and active commitment to dismantling racism.

Biracial Identity Development Model: Walker S. Carlos Poston (1990)

This model accounts for the unique experiences of biracial or multiracial individuals. The stages are:

• Personal Identity: The basis for identity emphasizes personal characteristics rather than race.
• Choice of Group Categorization: Choice to identify with one racial group, typically due to external pressures.
• Enmeshment/Denial: Confusion or guilt about selecting one racial group over another.
• Appreciation: Increasing awareness and appreciation of the multiple racial heritages.
• Integration: Full integration and acceptance of a biracial or multiracial identity.

Nigrescence Model: William E. Cross (1991)

Focuses on African American racial identity and describes a process called nigrescence (the process of becoming Black), in which individuals move from a state of unawareness or devaluation of their Black identity to one of affirmation and pride. The stages include:

• Pre-Encounter: Lack of awareness of race or preference for dominant White culture.
• Encounter: Personal or social event that triggers awareness of racism.
• Immersion/Emersion: Immersion in Black culture and often a rejection of anything related to White culture.
• Internalization: Development of a balanced, secure sense of Black identity.
• Internalization-Commitment: Commitment to racial justice and Black empowerment.

Model of Ethnic Identity Development: Jean Phinney (1992)

Describes the ethnic identity development process for all racial/ethnic groups, including both minority and majority individuals. It outlines the following stages:

• Unexamined Ethnic Identity: Lack of interest in or awareness of one’s ethnic identity.
• Ethnic Identity Search: A triggering event that leads to active exploration of one’s ethnic background.
• Achieved Ethnic Identity: Formation of a clear, secure sense of one’s ethnic identity.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is a framework developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw to understand how various social identities intersect and create unique experiences of oppression and privilege. When applied to racial identity, intersectionality explores how race interacts with other aspects of identity, such as gender, class, sexuality, and disability, to shape an individual’s experiences and social realities. Intersectionality acknowledges that individuals possess multiple overlapping identities that cannot always be separated (e.g., the experience of being a Black queer woman). One cannot examine race, gender, or sexuality alone; all dimensions of identity must be acknowledged in the individual’s experience. Thus, individuals may have both marginalized and privileged identities in various situations. Intersectionality has become a crucial concept in social justice movements because it emphasizes the necessity of acknowledging the intricate and overlapping nature of oppression. This approach promotes the creation of fairer policies and practices by examining how different forms of discrimination intersect and impact people in diverse ways (Carbado et al., 2013).

Racism in the United States

Racism is a system of beliefs, behaviors, and institutional structures that perpetuate unequal power relations based on racial or ethnic identity. It encompasses prejudice, discrimination, and antagonism directed against individuals or groups based on their race, rooted in the belief that some races are inherently superior or inferior to others (American Psychological Association [APA], 2023). Racism operates on multiple levels, including individual, institutional, and structural levels.

Prejudice and discrimination are both forms of racism. Prejudice involves making assumptions about individuals based on their association with a particular group, which can result in biased attitudes and behaviors. Discrimination is the act of treating individuals differently based on prejudice related to race, ethnicity, or other affiliations (APA, 2023). Discrimination comes in various forms, such as sexism, disability discrimination, ageism, classism, homophobia, and racism. Targeted groups may be defined by race, gender, ethnicity, or LGBTGEQIAP+ status.

The impacts of racism operate at multiple levels throughout society. Racism can be covert and systemic as well as overt and individualized. The former appears in institutional policies and practices, while the latter emerges in personal interactions and implicit biases. Individual racism occurs when someone treats another individual negatively based on their race or ethnic background (Meadows-Fernandez, 2019). Structural racism (sometimes referred to as systemic racism), on the other hand, refers to the existence of racism in systems that hold power. Examples include unequal treatment of racialized people in healthcare, education, employment, media, housing, and legislation. Systemic racism restricts oppressed groups from accessing resources that other groups can freely access (Meadows-Fernandez, 2019).

Anti-Black Racism in the United States

It is worth emphasizing that although race is a social construct, its construction has “created racial realities with real effects” (Burton et al., 2010, p. 444). These effects manifest in tangible ways across society, influencing how people are perceived and treated. While race has no biological basis, it has been historically used to stratify society and impact access to resources. Stratification based on race has led to oppressive systems and significant issues with racism in the United States and beyond.

The complexity of racial dynamics requires thoughtful examination across different contexts and communities. While acknowledging that there are many other stories and experiences in the United States around race, we have chosen to focus this chapter on people of African descent in the United States. We use the racial descriptors of African, African American, and Black somewhat interchangeably, but primarily chronologically. This approach reflects the evolving nature of racial identity and self-identification over time and acknowledges and respects “that Africans forced to come to this country did not racialize themselves as Black in their homelands; they had their own indigenous roots and tribal beliefs; they were connected to lands, customs, and cosmologies” (Mays, 2021, p. 4).

Slavery

The history of African-descended people in the Americas does not begin with enslavement. Still, to understand the full impact of racial construction in the United States, we must confront the foundational role that the institution of slavery played in establishing and reinforcing a race-based social hierarchy. Human slavery has existed for centuries across all regions of the world (Stevenson, 2018). To justify the Greek practice of slavery, Aristotle wrote, “Humanity is divided into two: the masters and the slaves, or if one prefers it, the Greeks and the Barbarians, those who have the right to command and those who are born to obey” (Kendi, 2016, p. 17). However, “American slavery, which lasted from 1619 to 1865, was not the slavery of ancient Greece” (Wilkerson, 2023, p. 44).

Unlike historical forms of bondage that sometimes allowed for eventual freedom or a measure of social mobility, slavery was uniquely cruel in the United States. Enslaved Africans were treated not as temporary servants but as permanent property to be bought, sold, and inherited across generations. Further, the institution of slavery established a rigid binary social system, where “slave” and “free” became the fundamental categories determining one’s rights and humanity (Berlin, 1998). Over time, this stratification became increasingly racialized, with “slave” becoming synonymous with African ancestry while “free” status was protected for and associated with Whiteness. This racial codification was formalized through laws like Virginia’s 1662 statute decreeing that a child’s status followed the mother’s condition, ensuring that children born to enslaved African women remained enslaved regardless of their father’s race or status, thereby cementing the economic and social equation of Blackness with bondage and Whiteness with freedom.

The United States would not have gained status as a global power as quickly as it did without its created system of slavery (Wilkerson, 2023). Baptist (2014) points out that “Enslaved African Americans built the modern United States, and indeed the entire modern world…”(p. xxv). This economic system required ideological justification, leading to the deliberate construction of “race” as a concept that positioned Africans as inherently inferior and thus suited for enslavement. Pseudo-scientific theories emerged to rationalize this hierarchy, with scholars, physicians, and religious leaders generating “evidence” of Black inferiority to defend the institution (Davis, 2006). These fabricated racial distinctions served to dehumanize enslaved people, making their brutal treatment appear natural and necessary within the American economic system.^[1]

Colonization

Slavery was a significant part of everyday life during colonial times (Warren, 2016; Wilkerson, 2023). In the mid-1600s, England entered the African slave trade to provide labor for its island colonies. The first enslaved Africans arrived in North America’s English colonies in 1619. By the end of the 1600s, English slave traders “carried more than a quarter of a million men, women, and children across the ocean, shackled in ships’ holds” (Lepore, 2018, p. 47). Enslaved Africans were the source of free labor on plantations, mostly in the Southern states. This was because the Northern states did not cultivate large-scale agrarian crops like cotton or sugar. In the Northern Colonies, enslaved Africans were often used for domestic labor. Domestic labor, although valuable, did not have the same market value as slave labor that produced exportable crops (Warren, 2016). Therefore, “enslaved people never made up for more than 5 or 10 percent of the population…” in Northern Colonies (Warren, 2016, p. 133).

English colonists created laws to justify and protect their use of enslaved people, especially Africans, for labor. “With each new charter, with each new constitution, with each new slave code, England’s American colonists upended assumptions and rewrote laws governing the relationship between the rulers and the ruled” (Lepore, 2018, p. 52). English colonists established a caste system with “only two colors, black and white, and two statuses, slave and free” (Lepore, p. 70).

In 1638, the first rebellion of enslaved people occurred at an English colony on Providence Island (Warren, 2016). It was not the last. After a series of rebellions by enslaved people, including the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, colonists created increasingly dehumanizing laws to ensure complete control over enslaved people (Lepore, 2018). For example, South Carolina passed An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes, which “restricted the movement of slaves, set standards for their treatment, established punishments for their crimes,” and “made it a crime for anyone to teach a slave to write” (Lepore, p. 59). According to Kendi (2016):

No matter what African people did, they were barbaric beasts or brutalized like beasts. If they did not clamor for freedom, then their obedience showed they were naturally beasts of burden. If they nonviolently resisted enslavement, they were brutalized. If they killed for their freedom, they were barbaric murderers. (p. 70)

American Revolution

The American Revolutionary War was not fought for or against slavery, but slavery was still an issue. English colonists instigated the revolution for various reasons. Many of the colonists resented the control and oversight of the English government. However, as with many other wars, this one had much to do with greed (Lepore, 2018). Taxes imposed on the English colonists by the English crown, including the American Revenue Act and the Stamp Act, provoked anger among colonists. The colonists argued that “taxation without representation…is rule by force, and rule by force is slavery” (Lepore, p. 81). John Adams, who opposed the Stamp Act, wrote that “[we] won’t be their negroes” (Lepore, p. 82).

Post-Revolutionary War

After the Revolutionary War, the concept of race became incredibly powerful across the colonies. Beliefs about race and White American supremacy were used to justify capitalist greed and slavery, and these beliefs influenced the governing principles of the developing United States (Baptist, 2014; Jones, 2023). Debts owed to domestic creditors and foreign allies as obligations from financing the war became a major political challenge in the early republic. The newly formed federal government was in an economic crisis, and the Articles of Confederation gave it no power to raise money. The new United States government had to decide how to tax individual states, particularly whether they should pay based on population or property. This question became more complicated by the fact that enslaved people were considered property. In addition, this issue reinforced the distinction between the Northern and Southern states around slavery. While the enslaved population had grown in the Southern states, it had decreased in the Northern states during the Revolutionary War (Lepore, 2018).

In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, delegates from each state gathered to deliberate on what would become the Constitution of the United States. Four significant compromises, all related to slavery, were negotiated during the convention: the Northwest Ordinance, the Connecticut Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Compromise on the Importance of Slaves. The consequences of the four compromises proved devastating to the United States.

The first compromise was the Northwest Ordinance, which decreed that any new states established north of the Ohio River would be free states, and any new states established south of the Ohio River would be slave states (Lepore, 2018).

The second compromise was the Connecticut Compromise. The Connecticut Compromise ensured that each state would have an equal voice in the Senate, granting each state two senators. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, the number of representatives for each state would be determined by population, allowing for representation based on the demographic size of each state.

Related to the Connecticut Compromise, the third compromise, known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, established that enslaved people would be counted as three-fifths of a person. This addressed the issue of how individual states would be represented in the House of Representatives. The Three-Fifths Compromise gave slave states more representation in Congress, providing the Southern states with a political advantage. In addition, this compromise resulted in Southern states having greater representation in the Electoral College (Lepore, 2018).

The final compromise was between those who were against the slave trade and those who supported it. This clause in the United States Constitution prevented the new government from restricting the importation of people for 20 years. While it did not specify slavery, this compromise was aimed at continuing to allow slave importation while the newly formed government was established. The clause expired in 1808 (Lloyd & Martinez, n.d.). By 1816, the United States’ two political parties were almost equally divided between anti-slavery and pro-slavery (Lepore, 2018).

Abolitionists

Many free Black people, some formerly enslaved, fought against the slavery of African and Black people. “It must be noted that long before white people established formal antislavery societies, Black people had been resisting their enslavement” (Herschthal, 2021, p. 11). Black people such as Harriet Tubman, David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth risked their freedom and lives to fight for social justice.

During the mid-1700s, a small minority of Quakers had begun to question the morality of slavery (Kendi, 2016; Lepore, 2018). Quakers such as John Woolman, Anthony Benezet, and Benjamin Lay believed that slavery contradicted Christian principles (Kendi, 2016). By 1775, Quakers had already banned slavery and excluded enslavers from their membership (Herschthal, 2021; Lepore, 2018).

By the end of the 1700s, formal abolitionist and anti-slavery societies formed in the United States. Many of the earliest White members of anti-slavery societies supported a gradual approach to ending slavery. They advocated banning the transatlantic slave trade and enacting emancipation laws (Herschthal, 2021). However, even while some claimed to be against slavery, they continued to view Black people as naturally inferior to White people (Kendi, 2016; Warren, 2016). Others, such as Benjamin Rush, believed being enslaved was what made Black people inferior to White people (Kendi, 2016). Anti-slavery sentiments did not equate to racial egalitarianism beliefs.

By the 1820s, some White people who supported the end of slavery “came to believe that gradual emancipation would occur only if freed Black people were voluntarily resettled outside of the United States” (Herschthal, 2021, p. 13). The American Colonization Society (ACS) was founded in 1816 and was a mix of pro- and anti-slavery elite White men. It was initially formed to remove free Black people from the United States. The underlying belief was that Black people would never be accepted as equals in society and should be sent somewhere else to colonize their own country. In the early 1820s, delegates from the ACS traveled to West Africa and purchased land for colonization. A small number of emigrants were even sent to West Africa. However, the colonization failed due to objections from Black Americans, financial concerns, high mortality for the emigrants, and hostility from the Indigenous people of West Africa towards colonization (Robinson, 2022).

In the 1830s, abolitionist societies started becoming racially integrated and allowing female members: a significant change from earlier efforts led mainly by White men. This shift brought new perspectives and energy to the movement. Additionally, abolitionist movements began to demand an immediate end to slavery, moving away from earlier ideas of gradual abolition (Herschthal, 2021).

The West

As westward expansion progressed, the United States government grappled with the issue of slavery in new territories and states. Indiana (1816) entered the United States as a free state, whereas Louisiana (1812) and Mississippi (1816) entered as slave states. Slavery was expanding into the western part of the United States (Lepore, 2018).

In 1819, Missouri became the first territory acquired through the Louisiana Purchase to seek admission to the Union as a state. Missouri’s application for statehood raised critical questions about whether Missouri would enter the Union as a free or slave state, highlighting the growing tensions between the North and South. In 1820, after much political debate, Congress negotiated the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise was the Northwest Ordinance but with new boundary lines. The Missouri Compromise declared that any state north of a certain latitude would enter the Union as a free state, and any state south of that point would enter the Union as a slave state (Lepore, 2018).

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of legislative measures passed by the United States Congress aimed at resolving conflicts between the North and South over the issue of slavery. The Compromise of 1850 was intended to appease both Northern and Southern states. This compromise included California becoming a state, not restricting slavery in either of the territories of Utah or New Mexico, and creating a stronger law regarding fugitive slaves. In addition, the Compromise of 1850 abolished slavery in Washington, D.C. (Murray & Hsieh, 2016).

The strengthened Fugitive Slave Law outlined in the Compromise of 1850 “gave slavery a dark face throughout the North that had not existed before” (Murray & Hsieh, 2016, p. 22). Northerners became aware of and resentful of the federal resources being used to capture escaped enslaved people. For example, in 1854, President Franklin Pierce “sent the marines, cavalry, artillery, and a revenue cutter to hold and then ship a single escaped slave back to bondage” (Murray & Hsieh, p. 22). Many Northerners felt this was a waste of valuable government funds.

In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, west of Missouri. Under the 1820 Missouri Compromise, both territories should have joined the Union as free states. However, the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and decreed that the new states’ free or slave status would be determined by the voters (Lepore, 2018). “The battle that followed the introduction and simultaneous denunciation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was the most thunderous in the history of congressional debate over the expansion of slavery” (Baptist, 2014, p. 371).

The Kansas-Nebraska Act outraged Americans living in the Northern states and abolitionists (Lepore, 2018). This led to a period of violent conflict known as “bleeding Kansas” (Cowie, 2022, p. 106), as settlers on both sides of the slavery debate rushed into Kansas to impact the vote. Conflict erupted in the streets: “Bands of free-soil guerrillas, known as Jayhawkers, battled with militant bands of border ruffians interested in making Kansas a slave state by whatever means they could. The open clash between free and slave forces turned the territory into Bleeding Kansas” (Cowie, p. 106). The violence following the Kansas-Nebraska Act is known to have been a critical step toward the Civil War.

The Three-Fifths Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act further deepened the political disparity between Northern and Southern states. The Southern states exploited these agreements to bolster their political power by inflating their population through the increased numbers of enslaved people. This strategic manipulation allowed them to exert significant influence over the political landscape of the United States, tipping the balance in their favor (Lepore, 2018).

Justification for Secession

In the 1850s, Americans were still divided on the issue of slavery, and the United States was on the brink of a crisis. Even though Congress had banned discussions about slavery, it was a topic of debate across the country. Many Americans believed that the United States could not remain both anti-slavery and pro-slavery (Lepore, 2018). New York Senator William H. Seward stated, “It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-holding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation” (Lepore, p. 282).

King Cotton

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin (Hamalainen, 2019). By the mid-1800s, the Southern states produced approximately half of the world’s cotton; by 1820, Southern cotton was the most widely traded commodity in the world (Baptist, 2014). By 1936, “more than $600 million, or almost half of the economic activity in the United States…derived directly or indirectly from cotton produced by the million-odd slaves–6 percent of the total U.S. population” (Baptist, 2014, p. 322).

By the 1850s, cotton production in the Southern states had doubled, and after a short dip in the 1840s, the Southern economy was again booming (Baptist, 2014). More importantly, Southerners were not ready or willing to surrender their political power. They would soon prove their willingness to fight to retain it (Hamalainen, 2019; Lepore, 2018).

The Price of Humanity

In 1807, the United States Congress enacted the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, which barred the importation of enslaved individuals to the United States. This legislative measure directly challenged the institution of slavery in the United States. Despite this challenge, the Act did not abolish slavery, nor did it forbid the procreation of enslaved individuals. Exploiting this loophole in the Act, slaveholders intensified the practice of coerced breeding. If an enslaved woman was unable to conceive with one man, she was compelled to bear children through forced unions with others (Faderman, 2022).

By the 1830s, ownership of enslaved people was deeply intertwined with the United States economy, and slaves were considered an investment that could have significant returns for their owners. This was particularly true in the South, where the economy relied on slavery to cultivate cash crops. Southern banks accepted slaves as collateral on loans, and in 1859, enslavers in the state of Louisiana raised $25.7 million by mortgaging enslaved people (Baptist, 2014).

In the 1850s, there was a marked rise in opposition to slavery in the free states, while simultaneously, there was a surge in support for pro-slavery views in the slave states. This shift was influenced by the rising price of slaves, which soared from an average of $900 in 1850 to $1,600 a decade later. Due to the increasing purchase prices for enslaved people, some enslavers suggested re-establishing the transatlantic slave trade. Pro-slavery groups like the African Labor Supply Association (ALSA) justified this idea using the principle of free trade (Lepore, 2018). By 1860, “the United States had become the largest slaveholding nation in the world” (Herschthal, 2021, p. 12).

Slave Stampede

During the early to mid-1800s, many Americans were dissatisfied with the government’s attempt at compromise regarding slavery. Enslavers felt that free states threatened their way of life and feared there would be a “slave stampede” to the free states (Lepore, 2018, p. 280). On the other hand, many abolitionists and residents of free states believed that the compromises allowed the perpetuation and expansion of an immoral and inhumane institution, which they wanted to see abolished entirely.

On October 16, 1859, the fears of enslavers were realized when abolitionist John Brown and 21 other men launched a raid on the United States Armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Brown planned to incite a massive uprising among enslaved people, arming them with weapons seized from the armory. However, Brown’s mission was unsuccessful, as enslaved people were unaware of Brown’s intentions and did not join the insurrection (Herschthal, 2021). Colonel Robert E. Lee and the United States Marines quickly stopped Brown and his group. “Barely twelve hours after the raid had begun, headlines were being telegraphed across the continent: INSURRECTION…at Harper’s Ferry…GENERAL STAMPEDE OF SLAVES” (Lepore, 2018, p. 283). Brown was found guilty of conspiracy, murder, and treason, and was executed on December 2, 1859 (Lepore, 2018).

After Brown’s raid, Southern enslavers’ fears increased. Six days after Brown’s execution, Mississippi Congressperson Reuben Davis stated in a speech to Congress that the federal government had betrayed the South and, therefore, “to secure our rights and protect our honor we will dissever the ties that bind us together, even if it rushes us into a sea of blood” (Lepore, 2018, p. 285). In preparation for the 1860 presidential election, Southern states’ legislatures stockpiled arms and began plotting a coup (Baptist, 2014). The South was preparing for war.

Secession

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States on an anti-slavery platform (Baptist, 2014). As expected, Lincoln did not win any slave states (Lepore, 2018). Within six weeks of Lincoln’s election, South Carolina’s legislation voted to repeal their ratification of the United States Constitution. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and finally, Texas, followed South Carolina’s lead (Lepore, 2018). By February of 1861, the seven Southern states formed the Confederate States of America, with former Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis as president (Lepore, 2018).

Civil War (1861-1865)

At its core, the American Civil War was a conflict over slavery. With Lincoln elected president, the Confederacy identified the institution of slavery as the cornerstone of its decision to secede from the United States of America. In April of 1861, President Lincoln “raised the Union Army to put down the insurrection” (Kendi, 2016, p. 215).

The original goal of the Union Army was to preserve the Union. However, in 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which intensified the debate over the institution of slavery. After four years of brutal battle, “some 750,000 soldiers plus an unknown number of civilians” died (McPherson, 2015, p. 2). The Union ultimately won the war in 1865, resulting in the abolition of slavery and laying the groundwork for the ongoing struggle for racial equality in the United States.

The Emancipation Proclamation

On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (Lepore, 2018). Lincoln used the preliminary Proclamation to issue an ultimatum to the Confederate States: “On the first day of January…all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” (National Archives, n.d.). The Confederate states refused to comply.

As promised, Lincoln issued the official Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. As Lincoln signed the Proclamation, he said, “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing the right thing than I do in signing this paper” (Lepore, 2018, p. 299). With his signature, Lincoln declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free” (National Archives, n.d.).

The Proclamation granted Black Americans the right to serve in the Union Army, and it is estimated that over 200,000 chose to do so (Baptist, 2014). This was significant for Black Americans, as Frederick Douglass stated:

Let the Black man get upon his person the brass letters US…a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States. (as cited in Baptist, 2014, p. 401)

The Emancipation Proclamation was a noteworthy step toward freeing enslaved people in the seceded Confederate States. However, it was also a political tactic of war and did not declare the entire population of slaves in the United States to be freed. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed Southern slaves of the Confederacy and did not include those enslaved in Northern or Union states. It also did not apply to enslaved people in certain Southern states, like parts of Louisiana and West Virginia, that were pro-Union or working with the Union. Additionally, enslaved people in border states and Union-held territories such as Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were not granted freedom under the Proclamation. In total, about 3.9 million enslaved people remained in bondage after the Proclamation was issued (Baptist, 2014).

Reconstruction (1865-1877)

The Emancipation Proclamation laid the groundwork for Reconstruction, which began in 1865 and ended in 1877 with the recall of federal troops from the Southern states (Alexander, 2020). The end of the Civil War brought immense and immediate changes to the United States. Four million enslaved people were freed (White, 2017), federal income taxes were implemented, and “for the first time in U.S. history, voting directly impacted people’s pocketbooks” (Richardson, 2023, p. 27).

On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. On the same day, Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn into the office of the President of the United States. Most Americans believed that Johnson would follow in Lincoln’s footsteps regarding Reconstruction. However, during his presidency, Johnson’s only pro-Black Americans act was to support the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment (Levine, 2021). In the early months of his presidency, Johnson made it clear that he only planned for “restoration without a plan for reconstruction” (Levine, 2021, p. 55).

On May 29, 1865, Johnson enacted the Amnesty Proclamation, which declared “that he pardon most rebel leaders and just about all male citizens of the ex-Confederate states” (Levine, 2021, p. 54). During the second year of his presidency, Johnson refused to continue to fund the Freedmen’s Bureau, which was “a radical agency that challenged the racial hierarchies and exclusions that had been central to slave culture” (Levine, 2021, p. 106). Johnson also vetoed the Civil Rights Act, which would have granted citizenship to all native-born people except Indigenous people (Levine, 2021). Johnson claimed the Civil Rights Act favored Black people over White people.

Any progress in Black people’s rights was perceived by White Southerners as a threat to White people’s rights (Cowie, 2022), and President Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Act reinforced this belief (Levine, 2021). White Southerners saw themselves as victims of an oppressive federal government. They were determined “to restore the power dynamics of the master-slave hierarchy…using all tools at their disposal: political, religious, social, and economic” (Jones, 2023, p. 47). The only protection that Black Americans had from the systemic oppression of the South was federal protection (Levine, 2021). Many Black Americans believed that “federal power—especially the military—was the key source of leverage against the rebuilding of unrestrained white power” (Cowie, 2022, pp. 118-119). However, the farther away that protection was, the more danger Black Americans faced (Cowie, 2022). For example, federal troops were far away when, in 1865, Mississippi’s State Legislature passed what was known as the Black Codes. These were “racially based laws that effectively continued slavery by way of indentures, sharecropping, and other forms of service” (Lepore, 2018, p. 318). Black Mississippians “were prevented from carrying weapons, consuming alcohol, and from having any stand in a court of law” (Jones, 2023, p. 47). They were banned from congregating for religious worship, and Black ministers had to be licensed to preach (Jones, 2023). Mississippi’s Black Codes even went as far as controlling the lives of Black children. If a Black child was an orphan, they “could be forcibly apprenticed to any competent white person” (Jones, 2023, p. 48).

Other challenges during Reconstruction also affected the United States government’s ability to protect Black citizens. Soldiers wanted to return home after being deployed throughout the Civil War, and the financial burden of keeping the Union Army stationed in the South was substantial. Other regions of the country were also grappling with instability, and the resources of the United States government were wearing thin. Meanwhile, the United States was also engaged in conflicts with Indigenous tribes, leading to further deployment of federal troops to monitor borders in the West and Southwest. As a result, Black Americans in the Southern states were especially vulnerable (Lepore, 2018).

During the Reconstruction era, Black individuals and their White allies continued to advocate for Black rights. They recognized the need for collective action and formed organizations such as Union Leagues, Republican clubs, and Equal Rights Leagues. They called for recognition of their inherent dignity and humanity and fought for legal equality and access to the privileges and protections afforded to all citizens of the United States. Organizations addressed education, employment, housing, and public accommodations. Furthermore, these organizations advocated for suffrage rights. They mobilized voters, campaigned for voting rights legislation, and fought against voter suppression tactics aimed at disenfranchising Black voters (Lepore, 2018).

Reconstruction Amendments

Three amendments to the United States Constitution—the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments—were ratified during the Reconstruction era.

The Thirteenth Amendment

On December 6, 1865, the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment changed the trajectory of the United States. The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery by forbidding chattel slavery across the United States, except as punishment for a crime. When the Thirteenth Amendment was presented for a congressional vote, the Confederate States, having declared their independence and formed their own government, were not represented in the United States Congress. Despite this, the Thirteenth Amendment passed by only two votes (Cowie, 2022). Thus, “a third of those who remained in the union refused to vote for a constitutional amendment to end slavery” (Cowie, 2022, p. 123). Confederate States were later required to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment if they wanted to rejoin the Union (Cowie, 2022).

The Fourteenth Amendment

In 1868, Congress ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, although only one Southern state, Tennessee, voted for ratification. The Fourteenth Amendment declared that anyone born on United States soil, except Indigenous people, was automatically granted citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment was designed to safeguard the rights of all citizens of the United States and restrain the authority of individual states by expanding the power of the federal government (Cowie, 2022).

The Fifteenth Amendment

In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, giving all men, except Indigenous men, the right to vote. This was one of the most critical issues during Reconstruction. However:

As everyone would learn and many knew…the Fifteenth was the weakest of the Reconstruction amendments. By banning a denial of the right to vote on the grounds of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, it left out the fact that a state could deny the right to vote for just about any other reason it selected (Cowie, 2022, p. 132).

Former slave and prominent abolitionist Frederick Douglass believed that without Black men having the right to vote, “the war was not really over and not completely won” (Levine, 2021, p. 62).

Southern Backlash

While slavery officially ended in 1865, the racial categories it had established remained deeply embedded in the national consciousness of the United States. The ideology of White supremacy that had justified slavery transformed into new systems of oppression—such as Jim Crow segregation, sharecropping, convict leasing, and systematic disenfranchisement—all designed to maintain racial hierarchy without the legal institution of slavery itself. These systems were further reinforced through cultural representations, discriminatory policies, and both legal and extralegal violence against Black communities.

By 1873, White Southerners had employed various tactics and strategies to reclaim political, social, and economic dominance in the United States. At the beginning of the Reconstruction era, many White Southerners believed that they could continue to control free Black people “based on the old model of plantation paternalism” (Cowie, 2022, p. 141). When that failed, White Southerners engaged in any means necessary to regain power and subjugate Southern Blacks.

By the fall of 1873, brutal attacks on Black people by groups known as White Leagues or White Lines occurred in Southern states like Mississippi and Louisiana. White Line groups employed terror tactics, including murders, beatings, and intimidation, to suppress Black political participation. These groups were well organized and consisted of former Confederate soldiers, White Southern elites, and poor White citizens who saw the United States government as a threat to the Southern way of life. These White supremacists framed their violent actions as “redemption,” portraying themselves as saving the South from corruption and Black incapacity. This narrative was perpetuated for generations and continues to impact racial attitudes today (Cowie, 2022).

Reconstruction Failure

Many factors led to the ultimate failure of Reconstruction. One key issue was land redistribution, which was rejected, leaving Black people with no means of economic support. In addition, factionalism and corruption among Republicans undermined governmental reconstruction efforts. In the North, people were tired of war. Public sentiment had shifted, leaving people indifferent to the struggles of Black people in the South. The Northern interest in Southern politics also waned. In the South, there was an aggressive drive for redemption and to recreate the Southern systems that had existed pre-Civil War, including slavery. Widespread violence towards Black people erupted regularly (Cowie, 2022).

The United States government’s financial crisis depleted resources, leaving Black Southerners without federal protection (Cowie, 2022). By “the end of Reconstruction, a wave of terror had descended on the South… [and] the national government abandoned Blacks to state control” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 14). As the federal government abandoned Black Southerners, White Southerners found new ways to abuse and terrorize Black Americans, such as convict leasing, sharecropping, and lynching (Cowie, 2022).

Convict Leasing

The Thirteenth Amendment legally abolished slavery “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted” (Cowie, 2022, p. 196.) This clause, known as the exception clause, allowed White Southerners to create a system known as convict leasing. In this system, White labor contractors paid the fines of Black prisoners and bought out their prison sentences. Then, the White labor contractors presented Black prisoners with contracts, which they had no power to refuse, leasing them to mining operators, farmers, and plantation owners (Cowie, 2022).

Convict leasing was often more deadly than enslavement for Black convicts. Although technically Black convicts could gain their freedom, “their overseers had no investment in keeping them healthy or even alive,”  as “convicts were disposable, cheap, and in near infinite supply” (Cowie, 2022, p. 192). Black convicts, kept in inhumane cells, were often beaten and whipped (Cowie, 2022). They were also charged for food, medical treatment, and other incidentals. “Under the lease system, the convicts could then work off their growing debt by adding additional time onto the sentence they received for their alleged crimes” (Cowie, 2022, p. 195).

The convict leasing system generated labor and a “substantial financial incentive to increase the number of local prisoners in the system” (Cowie, 2022, pp. 195-196). It was so profitable that it continued until World War II (Cowie, 2022). “Meantime, for well over half a century, convict labor afforded whites the freedom…to take out their unrestrained rage on their African American neighbors, for profit and politics alike” (Cowie, 2022, p. 209).

Sharecropping

After the Civil War, sharecropping emerged as a labor system in which formerly enslaved people worked land owned by others, typically White plantation owners. This system became widespread in the South during the Reconstruction era and persisted well into the 20th century. Under this arrangement, tenant farmers leased small plots of land and paid landowners a portion of their harvested crops. Although sharecropping initially appeared to offer a degree of independence, it effectively served as a mechanism to control Black labor, replicating many aspects of slavery (Foner, 2014).

The system of sharecropping subjected formerly enslaved individuals to exploitative economic practices, often trapping them in cycles of debt. These individuals received little legal protection, and the contracts they entered were frequently unfair and heavily biased in favor of White landowners. In addition, the legal system at the time overwhelmingly favored the interests of landowners. Sharecropping functioned to keep Black families economically dependent and socially subordinate. It sustained the racial hierarchy in the post-Civil War South and continued to perpetuate a system of racial and economic inequality (Foner, 2014).

Lynching

White Southerners believed that they had the right to kill Black Americans without cause or consequence (Cowie, 2022). Often, this was done through lynching. By definition, lynching is “to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission” (Merriam-Webster, 2025). Lynching is a practice that is in direct conflict with the United States judicial system and has roots in the institution of slavery.

The lynching of Black Americans, both men and women, was justified under many pretenses. One of the most common justifications was the “myth of having to protect white womanhood against Black bestiality” (Cowie, 2022, p. 236). Black men accused of sexually assaulting White women were burned, castrated, dismembered, and hung by White mobs. Ida B. Wells, a former enslaved Black woman, wrote, “White men used their ownership of the body of the white female as a terrain on which to lynch the black male” (as cited in Cowie, 2022, p. 236).

A journalist and anti-lynching activist, Wells launched an investigation into the practice of lynching in the South after three of her friends were lynched in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1892, she published her findings about lynching in the pamphlet Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (Lepore, 2018). A few years later, in 1895, Wells published The Red Record, which was the first statistical report on lynching in the United States. Wells’ publications made her a national expert on the practice of lynching. In 1898, when Wells met with President McKinley, she gave him a petition, where she wrote:

For nearly twenty years lynching crimes…have been committed and permitted by this Christian nation. Nowhere in the civilized world save the U.S. of America do men, possessing all civil and political power, go out in bands of 50 and 5,000 to hunt down, shoot, hang or burn to death a single individual, unarmed and absolutely powerless. Statistics show that nearly 10,000 American citizens have been lynched in the past 20 years. (as cited in Mobley, 2021, para. 7)

However, President McKinley did not support a federal anti-lynching law. In 1900, when Congressman George White presented a federal anti-lynching bill to Congress, it did not pass, nor did the “nearly two hundred attempts to pass anti-lynching legislation” that followed (as cited in Mobley, para. 8).

During the early 1900s, some estimated that a Black American “in the South was hanged or burned alive every four days” (Lepore, 2018, p. 369). Lynching had become so normalized that incidents were written in newspapers like sporting events (Cowie, 2022). The terrorism of lynching Black Americans continued well into the mid-20th century.

Jim Crow Laws

Jim Crow laws, enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination across the American South. These laws, named after a derogatory minstrel character, mandated the separation of Black people from White people in public spaces, including schools, transportation, and housing. The Jim Crow era was characterized by a systematic effort to enforce racial hierarchy and disenfranchise Black citizens through legal means. This legislative framework not only perpetuated racial inequality but also entrenched social and economic disadvantages for Black citizens, creating a pervasive environment of inequality in the United States. Understanding the origins, impacts, and resistance to Jim Crow laws is crucial for comprehending the broader struggle for civil rights and social justice in the United States history.

The Great Migration

In the 1900s, life had become increasingly difficult and dangerous for Black Southerners. The oppressive conditions and constant threats of violence, including lynching and discriminatory practices, created an unbearable and hostile environment. In response, many Black Americans embarked on a mass exodus known as the Great Migration. This movement, which started in the early 1900s and continued until the late 1960s, saw millions of Black Americans leave the South in search of greater opportunities and safer living conditions in the North and West. Before it began, only 10% of Black Americans lived outside of the South. By the end of the Great Migration, 37% of Black Americans had left the South (Wilkerson, 2023).

There were two waves of the Great Migration. The first wave started in 1910. “Between 1910 and 1920, 300,000 left; over the next ten years, 1.3 million; in the 1930s, 1.5 million left; and in the 1940s, 2.5 million” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 16). The second wave of the Great Migration occurred between 1940 and 1945 (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). Both waves were influenced by war and industrialization; however, at its core, the Great Migration was about the safety of millions of Black people. The Great Migration was a pivotal moment in American history, reflecting a profound quest for freedom and equality amidst the harsh realities of Jim Crow-era America (Wilkerson, 2023).

Collective Activism and Social Change

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

In 1908 in Springfield, Illinois, a mob of over 5,000 White citizens violently attacked Black neighborhoods in attempts to seek out and lynch two Black men, one accused of murder and the other rape. At least 17 people died, Black property and businesses were targeted and destroyed, and the state militia was called in. In the aftermath of few legal repercussions and fleeing Black citizens, it was clear that action and organization were necessary. In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by White journalists and social reformers in response to the Springfield Riot. The organization was established to advance civil rights and combat racial discrimination through legal challenges and advocacy. Over time, it became a leading force in the fight for racial justice, playing a crucial role in pivotal civil rights milestones and shaping national policy (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021; Richardson, 2023). Initially, W. E. B. Du Bois was the only Black officer in the organization, but his presence drew more Black leaders and activists to the NAACP. By 1919, the NAACP had grown to include approximately 100,000 members. By the 1920s and 1930s, the organization had a diverse leadership and membership, reflecting broad engagement from the Black community (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

The NAACP forced attention on what was happening to Black Americans that would otherwise have gone unnoticed by the majority of White Americans. “The NAACP had long focused on challenging racial inequality by calling popular attention to racial atrocities and demanding that officials enforce laws already on the books” (Richardson, 2023, pp. 14-15). In 1940, attorney Thurgood Marshall founded the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (Richardson, 2023). During the 1940s, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund sponsored many lawsuits that rose through the legal system to the United States Supreme Court. Some of those lawsuits, Smith v. Allwright (1944), Morgan v. Virginia (1946), and Shelley v. Kraemer (1948), were wins for Black Americans (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). These victories advanced civil rights and laid the groundwork for the landmark cases of the 1950s and 1960s, further dismantling legalized segregation and discrimination in the United States.

World War II

The poet Langston Hughes wrote in his poem, Beaumont to Detroit: 1943:

You tell me that hitler
Is a mighty bad man.
I guess he took lessons
From the ku klux klan
(As cited in Nordell, 2021, p. 21)

During World War II, approximately one million African Americans served in the United States military, despite the segregation and discrimination they faced both within the armed forces and on the home front. Black soldiers were often relegated to non-combat roles such as cooks, laborers, and drivers, but many also distinguished themselves in battle. Though they fought for democracy abroad, Black servicemen were denied fundamental rights at home, highlighting the hypocrisy of segregation. Their participation in the war contributed to the growing momentum of the Civil Rights Movement, as many returned determined to challenge the racial injustices they had endured. The experience of African Americans in World War II laid the foundation for increased activism and the eventual desegregation of the military in 1948 (Hine et al., 2010).

Enlistment in World War II

During World War II, many Black men showed reluctance to enlist. Consequently, in the early 1940s, the United States government took an interest for the first time in the perspectives of Black Americans regarding race (Nordell, 2021). The refusal of Black Americans to participate in the war effort highlighted the glaring contradictions between America’s democratic ideals and the reality of racial injustice. “Racism …undermined the legitimacy of the fight. Black Americans were being asked to crush the Nazi ideology of racial supremacy on behalf of a country whose racism enforced their own second-class citizenship” (Nordell, 2021, p. 20). As a result, the government realized that addressing these grievances was crucial to maintaining a robust military force and upholding national unity. This period marked a critical moment in civil rights history, underscoring the interconnectedness of domestic policies and racial justice.

In 1942 and again in 1944, the Office of War Information commissioned surveys of thousands of Black and White Americans about their racial beliefs (Nordell, 2021). The results of the two surveys demonstrated that “racism…flourished in the minds of individual White Americans” (Nordell, 2021, p. 21). The results further showed that “Black Americans are deeply devoted to American ideals, asking only that these ideals be realized in relation to themselves” (Nordell, 2021, p. 21).

Post-World War II

After World War II, violence against Black Americans again rose in the South (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). In February of 1946, Isaac Woodard, a Black soldier who had served in World War II, was brutally attacked by a police officer in South Carolina. Woodard had been riding a public bus when he was arrested. The police officer “beat him, plunging a billy club into each of his eyes” (Richardson, 2023, p. 18). The attack left Woodard permanently blind. The South Carolina justice system refused to charge the officer. The NAACP immediately got involved and eventually met with President Harry S. Truman to discuss the case (Richardson, 2023).

Under Truman’s directive, the Department of Justice investigated Woodard’s case, and within a week, a federal district court indicted the police officer (Richardson, 2023). Truman later stated, “When a Mayor and City Marshal can take a…Sergeant off a bus in South Carolina, beat him up and put out…his eyes, and nothing is done about it by the State authorities, something is radically wrong with the system” (Richardson, 2023, p. 18). However, an all-White jury acquitted the police officer, who claimed self-defense, after deliberating for only a half hour. Those present in the courtroom applauded the decision (Richardson, 2023).

In response to increasing violence in the South, representatives from 46 civil rights, religious, and labor organizations formed the National Emergency Committee Against Mob Violence (NECMV). In 1946, leaders of the NECMV met with President Truman to ask for federal intervention in Southern violence against Black Americans (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). After the NECMV leaders described the severity of the violence in the South, “Truman rose from his chair and said, ‘My God! I had no idea that it was as terrible as that! We’ve got to do something!’” (As cited in Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 32). In response, Truman created the President’s Committee on Civil Rights to investigate racial violence (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

In 1947, the NAACP submitted a landmark petition to the United Nations Human Rights Commission on behalf of Black Americans. Titled An Appeal to the World, the petition sought to highlight the systemic racial discrimination and violations of human rights Black Americans faced in the United States. By appealing to an international body, the NAACP sought to draw global attention to the injustices occurring under Jim Crow laws and to pressure the United States government to address these inequalities. This petition marked a significant moment in the civil rights struggle, as it framed the fight for racial equality in America as not just a national issue, but a matter of global human rights (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

Later that same year, the President’s Committee on Civil Rights released its findings and recommendations, which “codified the demands of the then Civil Rights movement and gave them presidential approval” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 34). For the first time, a United States President sent Congress a message about the importance of civil rights for all Americans.

Despite these actions, by the 1950s, Black Americans in the South continued to face widespread oppression on economic, political, and personal levels. This oppressive system sparked a climate of protest and collective strength among Black Americans, particularly in urban areas of the South (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). As tensions grew, the South was once again primed for violence.

The Civil Rights Movement

Most historians mark the Civil Rights Movement as beginning in the 1950s and ending in the 1970s. Many Black Americans tirelessly advocated for their civil rights during this period, and prominent figures such as Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as national icons. Countless Black Americans fought for their rights, facing racism and violence. The brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till was a particularly galvanizing event, inciting widespread outrage among Black Americans. The lack of consequences for Till’s murderer and the denial of justice for his family intensified this fury, fueling mass demonstrations across the United States (Richardson, 2023).

Nonviolence

During the Civil Rights Movement, many Black-led activist groups practiced nonviolence. The idea of nonviolence was often misinterpreted and, at times, mocked. This nonviolent stance, frequently attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was influenced by one of his close advisors, Bayard Rustin (Eig, 2023). Dr. King believed nonviolence was “an alternative to wanton violence; …It was active resistance to evil… It attacked an evil system, not the evildoers themselves” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 301).

In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King wrote, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action” (King, 1963). Many civil rights organizations, such as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC), engaged in nonviolent strategies—including boycotts, sit-ins, and freedom rides (Lepore, 2018).

Montgomery Bus Boycott

There is a long history of Black Americans protesting their treatment on public transportation in the United States. For example, in 1900 in Montgomery, Alabama, Black Americans “conducted a two-year boycott of the city’s streetcars” due to the abusive treatment they received (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 55). However, even with boycotts and protests in the 1950s, Black Americans continued to face abuse on the public bus transportation system across the South (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). “Buses in the South were rolling theaters of degradation, with daily drama acted out for all to see” (Eig, 2023, p. 129). This was especially true in Montgomery, Alabama (Eig, 2023).

In 1955, 62 buses traveled 14 routes, many segregated by race, and carried over 60,000 people in Montgomery, Alabama (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). The first 10 rows of each bus were reserved for White people, even if no White people were onboard (Eig, 2023). The last 10 rows of each bus were reserved for Black people, even when there were more Black riders than seats (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). “Additionally, Black passengers were required to buy their tickets at the front and then disembark and board the bus through the rear door. Frequently drivers would speed away leaving the Black passenger who had paid standing on the street” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 54).

In Montgomery, numerous incidents of violence against Black Americans occurred on buses. “Of all the nightmares of living under segregation in Montgomery, riding the buses was perhaps the most vivid and widely shared” (Eig, 2023, p. 130). Black people were tired of the chronic abuse. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a longtime member of the NAACP, left her job and boarded her regular bus (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). The seats on the bus reserved for White people were full when a White man boarded the bus. The driver instructed four Black people, including Parks, to empty the row for the White man because “the law did not permit Blacks and whites to occupy separate seats in the same row” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 63). Three Black people moved, but Parks, who was in the aisle seat, refused to do so. The bus driver called the police, and Parks was arrested.

The day after Parks was arrested, on December 2, a brand-new, 26-year-old local church minister was drafted to lead a protest of Parks’ arrest (Lepore, 2018). That minister was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Parks had been arrested on a Thursday; by Monday, 90 percent of the city’s Blacks were boycotting the buses. Over 381 days, Blacks in Montgomery, led by Parks and Dr. King, boycotted the city’s buses” (Lepore, 2018, p. 584). The Montgomery Bus Boycott only ended after the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on intrastate transportation was against the law (Eig, 2023).

Dr. King and other local Black leaders led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. However, it was sustained by the thousands of Black Americans who refused to ride a bus at significant cost to themselves (Eig, 2023). Additionally, the Montgomery “bus boycott caused collateral damage. Rosa Parks lost her department store job five months after her fateful bus ride. Her husband, a barber at Maxwell Air Force Base, lost his position soon afterward” (Eig, 2023, p. 172). However, the bus boycott also created “a new state of mind, a new sense of power” for many Black Americans (Eig, 2023, p. 173). It also gave the Civil Rights Movement and all Americans Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sit-In Movement

But young Black Americans were tired of waiting for the older establishment and the United States government to move forward on civil rights. “With no national organization backing them, with no national leader speaking for them, with no overarching set of demands, a new grassroots movement began, aimed at one of the most glaring symbols of segregation, the humble lunch counter” (Eig, 2023, p. 220). In two years, from 1960 to 1962, lunch counter sit-ins occurred in more than 100 Southern cities in the United States, with over 7,000 arrests (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

During this period, on February 1, 1960, four Black college freshmen, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil, nonviolently declined to give up their seats at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. They attracted national media attention and started a student revolution. The following week, 400 more young college students joined the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro. Soon after, sit-ins occurred in Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, and West Virginia. In March 1960, sit-ins occurred in 40 more cities, with thousands of college students participating (Lepore, 2018).

Freedom Riders

In May of 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) decided to test the progress of desegregation in the South, specifically in interstate transit (Lepore, 2018). Thirteen Black and White men and women volunteered to ride two commercial buses from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans (Gage, 2023). The riders, mostly young college students, became known as the Freedom Riders. Two weeks before the Freedom Ride’s start date, “CORE sent letters to the FBI, the Justice Department, and the White House outlining the Freedom Riders itinerary and asking for federal protection” (Gage, 2023, p. 499). CORE did not receive a reply (Gage, 2023). The two commercial buses left Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1961. On May 13, in Anniston, Alabama, “a white mob attacked the Greyhound bus on which one group of the Freedom Riders had been riding, shattering the windows, slashing the tires, and, finally, burning it” (Lepore, 2018, p. 605). The second bus, which had fallen behind, was attacked by the KKK when it arrived in Birmingham, Alabama (Lepore, 2018). The attack lasted “a full fifteen minutes during which the unarmed passengers…were beaten, kicked, and punched, sometimes by half a dozen men at a time” (Gage, 2023, p. 503). Birmingham police failed to intervene promptly (Gage, 2023).

Two days later, CORE continued its test with new volunteers (Gage, 2023; Lepore, 2018). Attorney General Robert Kennedy pressured the governor of Alabama to provide a police escort for the Freedom Riders during their journey from Birmingham to Montgomery (Lepore, 2018). The new group of Freedom Riders only made it to Montgomery before they were attacked. The police in Montgomery “held back for several minutes before even attempting to intervene” (Gage, 2023, p. 505).

The following night, the Freedom Riders and over 1,000 Black Montgomery residents gathered at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama (Gage, 2023; Lepore, 2018). In response, more than 2,000 White Montgomery residents, armed with torches, rocks, and chains, surrounded the church, threatening to burn it down and attack anyone who tried to flee (Gage, 2023). The situation escalated until the Alabama National Guard intervened, dispersing the mob (Lepore, 2018).

Not only did the original Freedom Riders continue their ride, but other Freedom Rides also formed across the United States (Harriot, 2023). “The racist opposition to the simple act of sitting down on a bus had become a national story. All across the country, people…boarded buses, sat down in segregated restaurants, protested injustice, and developed a multicultural coalition” (Harriot, 2023, p. 296). The Freedom Riders’ pain and suffering, which had been exposed to the American public by the media, resulted in the Interstate Commerce Commission banning segregation in all interstate transit facilities (Gage, 2023).

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

In August 1963, Bayard Rustin organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation (Lepore, 2018). Approximately 300,000 people arrived at the Lincoln Memorial. The speeches were televised, and Americans across the country heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak for the first time. Dr. King delivered his renowned and powerful “I Have a Dream” speech at this historic event.

Freedom Summer

In 1964, activists took on voter rights in the state of Mississippi. Mississippi was one of the most segregated states in the South, with regular, systemic violence against Black Americans. In addition, only 6% of Black Americans in the state of Mississippi were registered to vote. The primary goal of Freedom Summer was to send volunteers to register as many Black Americans to vote as possible. Over 1,000 predominantly young, White college students and activists from across the United States volunteered for Freedom Summer, working alongside local African American activists and community members (Richardson, 2023).

SNCC sent three civil rights activists, James Chaney (Black, age 21), Michael Schwerner (White, age 24), and Andrew Goodman (White, age 20), to participate in Freedom Summer. On June 21, Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman disappeared (Richardson, 2023). President Johnson and Attorney General Kennedy asked the FBI to investigate their disappearance. On August 4, 1964, three months after their disappearance, the bodies of Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman were discovered. Ku Klux Klan members had murdered them. A total of six civil rights activists, including Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman, were killed that summer. “Thirty-five more would be shot, eighty would be beaten, and more than a thousand would be arrested” during Freedom Summer (Harriott, 2023, p. 297).

Bloody Sunday

During the early 1960s, SNCC was embroiled in the fight for Black Americans’ right to vote in Selma, Alabama. The White Citizens’ Council dominated politics in Selma, and only 0.9% of Black people eligible to vote were registered (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). On September 25, 1964, SNCC Chairman John Lewis led a picket line to protest that Black people in Selma had the right to vote. Lewis and 25 other picketers were arrested and sentenced to 100 days in jail (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

On October 7, 1964, SNCC organized Freedom Day to assist Black people in registering to vote. While providing food and water to 200 Black Americans waiting in line to vote, SNCC members were arrested and beaten by Selma police (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). By November 1964, SCLC had joined SNCC to secure voting rights for Black Americans in Selma (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

In January of 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. announced SCLC’s campaign to support voter registration in Selma, Alabama (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). On February 1, 1965, Dr. King led a group of nonviolent protesters to the courthouse in Selma. Dr. King, along with 700 of those protesters, was arrested (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). Although the protest ended with an arrest, Dr. King and SCLC brought national attention to Selma as racial tensions continued to rise in the state of Alabama.

On February 10, 1965, Selma police officers riding horses “used cattle prods to drive 165 protestors into the country on a forced march at top speed” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 282). Local Black people, exhausted and terrified, were ready for a truce if they were allowed to register to vote. However, SCLC and Dr. King were unwilling to concede, as their goal was to achieve change on a federal level, using Selma as an example (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

On February 18, 1965, during a night march to the courthouse, Jimmie Lee Jackson attempted to protect his mother from being beaten by an Alabama State Trooper. The Alabama State Trooper shot the unarmed Jimmie Lee Jackson; he died from his wounds on February 26, 1965 (Lepore, 2018). To “defuse the community’s anger, Black leaders in Selma planned a march” (Richardson, 2023, p. 37). On March 7, 1965, in memory of Jimmie Lee Jackson, 600 protestors attempted to march from Selma to the Alabama Capitol building in Montgomery (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). As the protestors crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met by over 500 law enforcement officers (Lepore, 2018). The police ordered the protestors to disperse, but they did not.

Alabama State Trooper Major John Cloud ordered his officers to advance, using their billy clubs and tear gas, on the protestors. John Lewis’ skull was fractured, and voting rights leader Amanda Boynton was beaten unconscious (Richardson, 2023). Another 80 people were injured, with an additional 17 people sent to the hospital. Video evidence of police brutality was televised across the United States (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021; Richardson, 2023). This day would later be dubbed Bloody Sunday.

On March 9, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr led 2,000 protesters on the same march they had attempted two days earlier (Lepore, 2018). Once again, the protesters were met by Alabama State Troopers and a United States Marshall, who read a court order mandating that the march end. Dr. King agreed to stop the march (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

On March 15, 1965, in a speech to the United States Congress, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the violence in Selma and the ongoing racism that denied Black Americans voting access. He denounced the ongoing racial violence and urged Congress to pass voting rights legislation to protect all Americans’ right to vote. Finally, on March 25, 1965, accompanied by “nineteen hundred Alabama National Guardsmen, two thousand army personnel, and US marshals” 300 people marched from Selma to Montgomery. Twenty-five thousand people were at the Montgomery Capitol building to hear Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and others speak. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965 (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021).

Black Power

Not everyone in the Civil Rights Movement agreed with the stance of nonviolence advocated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By 1962, many Black Americans “called for armed self-defense” (Lepore, 2018, p. 607). In the mid-1960s, some SNCC leaders became increasingly frustrated with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and SCLC (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). These young Black activists believed that the Civil Rights Movement’s focus should shift from established political strategies and coalitions toward creating Black power for Black people (Harriott, 2023). One of these activists was Stokely Carmichael.

Stokely Carmichael became disillusioned after witnessing the brutalization of peaceful protesters in the Southern states. He is credited with first using the phrase “Black Power” and creating the Black Panther mascot (Harriott, 2023). During his time in Alabama helping Black people register to vote, Carmichael organized the Lowndes County Freedom Party (LCFP), which became the Black Panther Party in 1965 (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021). Carmichael, who eventually served as SNCC chairman in 1966, defined Black Power as “a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 299). In 1966, SNCC “officially voted to expel its white staff members” (Horowitz & Theoharis, 2021, p. 308).

Laws During the Civil Rights Movement

Brown v. Board of Education^[2]

Segregation based on race had long existed in the United States. However, in the post-Reconstruction decades, segregation was the primary tool of oppression and White supremacy in the United States (Eig, 2023). The landmark United States Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, challenged the constitutionality of racial segregation in public schools, declaring that “separate but equal” facilities were inherently unequal. Despite the monumental nature of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the ruling also highlighted the limitations of the federal government in fully addressing segregation. Although this legislation technically ended segregation, the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education did not provide a means of enforcing desegregation. Segregation in public spaces continues to be a conversation, even in current times (Cowie, 2022).

Civil Rights Act

President Lyndon Johnson was not a perfect president, but during his time in office he did more for civil rights than any other president. A Texan, Johnson was sworn into the office of the President of the United States after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was determined to make civil rights a reality for all Americans (Lepore, 2018).

On July 2, 1964, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which “outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; gave the attorney general power to enforce desegregation; allowed for civil rights cases to move from state to federal courts; and expanded the Civil Rights Commission” (Lepore, 2018, p. 612). It passed with a bipartisan vote in both the Senate and the House (Richardson, 2023).

Post-Civil Rights Movement

In 1968, the Southern strategy emerged as a political approach used by the Republican Party to gain support from White voters in the South. This strategy involved appealing to racial anxieties and resistance to civil rights reforms, subtly signaling opposition to desegregation and promoting ‘law and order’ policies, which resonated with many White Southerners disaffected by the Democratic Party’s support for civil rights. This strategy represented a shift in party positions on racial issues, with the Republican Party increasingly adopting conservative stances and the Democratic Party embracing more liberal views on race (Richardson, 2023). As a result, the two major political parties became more polarized, with conservatives aligning with the Republicans and liberals with the Democrats (Cowie, 2022). The first to use the Southern strategy on a national level, presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon became a permanent member of the Republican Party to win the votes of White Southerners (Richardson, 2023). As part of his Southern strategy, Nixon appealed to White supremacists by fanning their fears of Black Americans as well as “liberals, intellectuals, radicals, and defiant youngsters”(Richardson, 2023, p. 42). To do so, Nixon’s political team created an image of bad Americans and “had an obvious foil not only in Black activism but also in the rise of the New Left in the 1960s” (Richardson, 2023, p. 42).

During the 1980 presidential election, Ronald Reagan “built upon the success of earlier conservatives who developed a strategy of exploiting racial hostility…without making explicit reference to race” (Alexander, 2020, p. 61). During his campaign, Reagan created the image of the welfare queen, which was a racist code “for lazy, greedy, black ghetto mother” (Alexander, 2020, p. 62). “The truth did not matter to the Reagan campaign as much as feeding the White backlash to Black Power” (Kendi, 2016, p. 424).

However, Reagan’s “absence of explicitly racist rhetoric afforded the racial nature of his coded appeals a certain plausible deniability” (Alexander, 2020, p. 61). For example, when incumbent President Jimmy Carter accurately “called out racism in Reagan’s states’ rights speech, the press attacked him for being mean” to Reagan (Richardson, 2023, p. 52).

War on Black Americans

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan launched the War on Drugs, even though only 2% of Americans considered drug use to be the nation’s most pressing issue at the time (Kendi, 2016). At the same time, many inner-city communities, often primarily Black, were in economic crisis. Industrial jobs had left urban cities, and technology had changed the jobs that were still available. Many Black Americans, especially men, struggled with unemployment (Alexander, 2020). As unemployment and economic turmoil deepened in Black urban communities, the emergence of crack cocaine provided a new target for media and political rhetoric.

By 1985, crack cocaine became the focus of racial stereotypes about Black Americans, as media coverage sensationalized the drug’s impact on urban communities. News outlets and politicians repeatedly emphasized the presence of crack in these areas, reinforcing negative perceptions. The portrayal of crack use was often exaggerated, depicting Black neighborhoods as crime-ridden and dangerous, while framing Black Americans as inherently prone to drug abuse and violence. This narrative not only fueled public fear but also shaped punitive policies that disproportionately targeted Black communities (Alexander, 2020).

Regan signed one of these policies into law in 1986. Called the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, it mandated minimum sentences for selling cocaine and more severe penalties for anyone caught selling crack cocaine. In 1988, Reagan’s administration increased the scope of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. This authorized government officials to evict public housing tenants engaged in any drug-related activity. Anyone convicted of a drug-related crime became ineligible for certain federal benefits, including financial aid for school. While the Anti-Drug Act claimed to address the growing drug crisis, its mandatory minimum sentences and harsh stance on benefits disproportionately impacted Black communities already struggling with an economic crisis and reinforced harmful stereotypes about Black urban communities (Alexander, 2020).

Rodney King Assault

In 1991, four White Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers were caught on video “beating and tasering Rodney King, an unarmed Black man, while more than a dozen watched” (Nordell, 2021, p. 145). The following year, a California State Jury found the four White LAPD officers not guilty of excessive force and assault. The verdict sparked widespread outrage. After the decision was announced, uprisings erupted, leading to widespread destruction in Black, Hispanic, and Korean communities (Nordell, 2021). During the uprisings, which became known as the 1992 LA Uprising or 1992 Los Angeles Riots, more than 50 people died and over 2,000 were injured.

The 1992 LA Uprising highlighted the long-standing racial tensions and systemic racism within law enforcement that Black communities had endured for decades. It symbolized the deep-rooted inequality and lack of accountability that Black individuals and communities faced in the justice system. A post-uprising investigation found that in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict LAPD officers used the code NHI (no humans involved) to refer “to calls from Black and other marginalized communities” (Nordell, 2021, p. 146). The uprisings were a collective outcry against the broader patterns of police violence and racial discrimination. They became a pivotal turning point in raising national awareness about police brutality, prompting ongoing discussions about racial justice and reform that continue to resonate today.

President Barack Obama

In 2008, Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States, making history as the first African American to hold the office. Obama’s first campaign, energized by his message of hope and change, ran with the slogan, “Yes We Can.” Obama’s campaign inspired millions of new and young voters, and voter turnout surged to unprecedented levels. Obama won decisively, securing over 9 million more votes than his opponent, Senator John McCain—a remarkable victory reflecting the nation’s desire for a new direction during economic crisis and disillusionment with traditional politics (Lepore, 2018).

Once elected, President Obama represented a lot of things to a lot of people. For many, he represented hope for change; for others, a chance for the United States to redeem itself; and for others, he was a Black man who had become the most powerful person in the world. For Black Americans, his election was particularly significant, marking a historic breakthrough in a country with a long history of slavery, segregation, and systemic racism. Obama’s presidency symbolized the culmination of decades of civil rights struggles, offering a vision of progress that had once seemed unattainable. However, despite the hope his election inspired, Obama immediately found himself facing a wall of systemic racism. “On the night of Obama’s inauguration, Republican leaders…agreed over dinner to oppose anything that the new president proposed, regardless of whether they agreed with it” (Richardson, 2023, p. 78). This opposition highlighted the persistent racial divisions in America and underscored the ongoing challenges Black leaders face, even at the highest levels of power.

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized social and political movement that advocates for Black people’s rights, dignity, and equality. In 2013, three Black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, started BLM in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager. The movement seeks to address and dismantle systemic racism, mainly focusing on police brutality, racial profiling, and the disproportionate rates of violence against Black people. At its core, Black Lives Matter calls attention to the systemic inequalities embedded in the criminal justice system and beyond, while advocating for policy changes that promote racial justice and equality (Garza, 2014).

The slogan “Black Lives Matter” is a response to the devaluation of Black lives throughout American history. It asserts that Black human beings deserve the same protection and rights as others. BLM has since grown into a global movement, sparking protests and discussions about racial injustice in many parts of the world. The BLM movement used personal devices and social media to bring attention to Black Americans’ daily experiences of racism (Lepore, 2018). By doing so, it “captured the experiences of young black men who for generations had been singled out by police, pulled over in cars, stopped on street corners, pushed, frisked, punched, kicked, and even killed” (Lepore, 2018, p. 767).

In 2014, the murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a White police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, marked a critical turning point in the ongoing struggle against police violence and systemic racism. Eyewitnesses recorded the events, capturing public attention and fueling widespread outrage. This incident, along with others where brutal attacks against Black Americans were filmed, underscored a pattern. Officers involved in these killings were frequently being acquitted or exonerated in court and were not being held accountable for their racist actions (Lepore, 2018).

It was in the summer of 2020 that BLM became a national and international movement. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a Black American, was murdered by Minneapolis police officers (Richardson, 2023). George Floyd’s murder, captured on video by someone in the crowd, “revealed a casual savagery so dehumanizing and horrific it shook the world” (Nordell, 2021, p. 5). Protests sprung up across the United States. Protesters in Minneapolis and other cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, and New York chanted, “Black Lives Matter” (Richardson, 2023). In response, President Donald Trump tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” (Richardson, 2023, p. 138).

Trump’s blatantly racist stance, in combination with George Floyd’s brutal murder, brought a new spotlight to systemic racism in the United States. In response, “a wave of leaders from the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy spoke up to call for justice for Black Americans” along with the four living former presidents, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter, and numerous other former members of the Department of Justice, and Democratic lawmakers (Richardson, 2023, p. 139).

Conclusion

In 1965, Malcolm X said, “White means free, boss” (as cited in Cowie, 2022, p. 411). He was right. Some people and lawmakers continue to prioritize states’ rights over federal government power to uphold racist power structures. Although “mobs of people may not have directly stormed the voting booths and shot Black voters en masse as they had in 1874, American political power has been aggressively beaten back to the local, more controllable, level of the compound republic since the 1970s” (Cowie, 2022, p. 409).

Throughout the 20th century and into the present day, this legacy continues to shape social institutions, and racism in the United States continues to be insidious. “The racial bias of today, whether stealthy or overt” is a disease that rots the soul of each individual as well as the soul of the United States (Nordell, 2021, p. 7). While it may be tempting to assert that conditions for Black Americans in the United States have improved, it is neither appropriate nor possible for those outside of the Black community to judge or define their experiences fully. The complexities of systemic racism, coupled with the subjective nature of lived experiences, make it essential to approach such claims with humility and recognition of the ongoing challenges Black Americans continue to face.

In fact, many things have not gotten better for Black Americans. While explicit racial discrimination has been outlawed through civil rights legislation and progress has been made in certain areas, the structures built upon centuries of racial hierarchy remain. Disparities in wealth, healthcare, education, and criminal justice remain pervasive, and the Black community continues to bear the brunt of systemic inequalities that are deeply entrenched in American society. The enduring power of racism in the United States lies precisely in how thoroughly the concept of race was embedded into the nation’s foundation. What began as an economic justification for slavery evolved into a comprehensive worldview that structured all aspects of American society. The persistence of racial violence, voter suppression efforts, and the disproportionate impact of mass incarceration serve as stark reminders that true “liberty and justice for all” is still far from realized. These inequities underscore the need for continued advocacy, systemic reform, and an honest reckoning with the history of racial injustice in the United States.

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About the authors

name: Nikki Golden

Dr. Nikki Golden, LMFT, SUDP, MAC, CMHS is currently an assistant professor at Seattle University in the Counseling Program. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), a Substance Use Disorder Professional (SUDP), a Masters of Addiction Counselor (MAC), and a Child Mental Health Specialist (CMHC). Dr. Golden has extensive clinical experience in both the mental health and substance use disorder fields. Dr. Golden’s areas of clinical expertise include addictions, clinical supervision, co-occurring disorders, relationships, sexuality, trauma and working with the LGBTGEQIAP+ population. Dr. Golden’s research interests include sociocultural identities and relationships, burnout as a systemic issue, sexuality, and trauma.

name: Bernadet DeJonge

Bernadet (Bernie) DeJonge, PhD, CRC, LMHC, has her BA in psychology (1999) and MA in Rehabilitation Counseling (2007) from Western Washington University.  Her PhD is from Oregon State University in Counseling (2022). She is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Human Services at Empire State University. Bernie’s areas of interest include DEIB, the integration of counseling into medical services, online pedagogy, and disability.