REFLECTION PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

REFLECTION PAPER - Essay Example The White supremacists used violence against striking slaves and imposed laws that required the states to arrest all escaping slaves. At the end of slavery, the White supremacists felt threatened and Jim Crow laws that provided for ‘separate but equal’ doctrine were passed in order to maintain White dominance in the society (Brown and Webb 47). The Jim Crow laws enforced segregation that required the separation of Whites and Blacks in public places and prohibited intermarriages. The draconian and unjust laws applied to the public transport system, education system and restaurants thus creating wrong perceptions that blacks were inferior to Whites (Brown and Webb 34). The white women were considered to models of modesty, self-control and self-respect. On the other hand, the black women were stereotyped as seductive, lewd and tempting and their misconceived insatiable desire for sex made them ideal for prostitution. In this case, such stereotypes later led to sexual harassments in other places such as workplace. The scantily dressed black women were stereotyped as lustful and lacking civility. The Blacks were not regarded as citizens and thus were not entitled to protection or respect while the Whites enjoyed higher standards of living due to access to economic opportunities (Brown and Webb 78). The blacks had no freedom of speech, faith, though and right to enter in to contracts and thus were perceived as inferior to the other races in the society. For instance, the Naturalization Act of 1790 only allowed the ‘free white persons’ to become citizens and excluded the racialized minorities (Brown and Webb 37). Accordingly, American women were forbidden to marry aliens since they would automatically lose their citizenship in the early decades of 20th century. The blacks had not civil rights or right to own any property and were barred from obtaining redress against any action of their white masters. Although the Negro Suffrage and Social Equality of 1868