Were the Conditions Bad for All Black Americans During the 1920s

Were the Conditions bad for all black Americans during the 1920s? Explain your answer fully. When Black Americans first came to the USA they were used as slaves in the 17th and 18th century; and so when slavery ended in 1860s, there were more black Americans than whites living in the Southern States. During this time white Americans controlled the state governments, fearing the power of blacks and introducing laws to control their freedoms. The USA constitution and federal law declared that everyone was equal. The southern states passed the Jim Crow Laws which related to segregation.This meant that white people and black people had to live separately. The areas of society affected by segregation included churches, hospitals, theatres and schools. Black American’s were only segregated in the South. There the KKK (Klu Klutz Klan) formed, their aim was to terrorise foreigners, and black Americans were the most affected by this. The KKK would lynch black people and kill them, they usually raided houses at night and there they killed their victims. By 1925 the KKK had around 5 million members. Blacks found it hard to get fair treatment.They could not vote and were denied access to good jobs and a reasonable education. Between 1925 and 1922 more than 430 black Americans were lynched. The KKK had a huge influence on the people living in the area around the KKK, many law enforcers were also part of the KKK and some politicians were forced into the KKK or else they wouldn’t get votes. Due to the Segregation in the south many black American’s moved to the North in hope for better living conditions, around 1 million black people moved from the south to the North during that time. This was known as the â€Å"Great Migration†.The conditions in the North were not that much better off, although they weren’t segregated like they were in the South they were still discriminated. For example they couldn’t get on the same bus as whites and didn’t go to the same schools. Most blacks lived in poorer housing and yet they paid higher rents. They also got bad jobs. There were slight improvements for the black Americans living in the North. During the time Jazz was bought to fame by musicians like Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith was a famous Jazz singer and it was reported that she died as she wasn’t admitted to a white hospital after a accident.This shows that even when people were famous and rich they were still discriminated for their race. Overall the conditions for Black Americans were all bad but some were more severe than other. This is because those who were unfortunate enough to live in the South were segregated and had a tougher life then the black Americans in the North. For those people that lived in the south their life was much tuffer and there was always a chance that they might not live the next day while in the Northern States they could go to work, even though it wasn’t the best job, and they had a safe place to live where they knew no one would raid them.