Ali Lundberg – Section 6
The Implications of Racism in the United States
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere
ignorance and conscientious stupidity”.1 As simplistic as this quote seemed back in 1960, Martin
Luther King Jr’s words are more prevalent and meaningful as ever looking back on the
heartbreaking social divide that took place less than a century ago. In the United States, racism
was le/ as an embarrassing reminder in history a/er creating many conflict between blacks
and whites but has since made great progression in the direction of a resolution as a result of
the remarkable Civil Rights Movement that took place in the late 1950s and all throughout the
1960s.
Racism against blacks, before the 1960s, was not being dealt with and the extreme
ethnic divide in the United States was threatening to society. Looking back on the history of
racism, it is evident that the world has made considerable progress since its foundation.
Although the origin of racism is practically untraceable, documented prejudiced acts such as
slave trade can be dated all the way back to 1472. Despite the fact that slavery was eventually
abolished, it took almost four centuries to 9nalize in 1865 a/er the Civil War ended with a
Northern victory. While the Civil War illegalized slavery, people were not completely adjusting to
an equal, unbiased lifestyle, and nevertheless, two years later, the notorious and racist group
named the Ku Klux Klan, formed in Tennessee.2 Always with the same intention of upholding
white supremacy, the Klan was known for their symbolic white hooded robes and their heinous
crimes against blacks, which included intimidation, violence, and property damage. Although
there was an a=empt to eliminate the group with the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, the act was
ine>ective and later removed a/er it was ruled unconstitutional, and the Klan inevitably stuck
1 “Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes.” h=p://mlkday.gov/plan/library/communications/quotes.php.
2 Walter J. Kelly, “Historical Perspectives on Racism.” The History Teacher 2.4 (1969): 28
Ali Lundberg – Section 6
around.3 Also during the time of the Klan, the Jim Crow Laws, which made all racial segregation
lawful, enacted in 1876 and presented the term “separate but equal” in hopes of sugar coating
the discrimination embedded within them. These laws included the racial separation of public
schools, places, transportation, restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains by signs that
labeled the utilities either “white” or “colored”.3 Twenty years later, in 1896, the case of Plessy v.
Ferguson, with the help of the the Jim Crow Car Law, resulted in the separation of blacks and
whites in transportation with the intention of providing equal facilities.4 When a black male,
Plessy, purchased a 9rst class train ticket and boarded a “whites-only” car, he was arrested a/er
refusing to move to the blacks-only car in accordance with the law. A/er being convicted and
charged, Plessy took to the Supreme Court, lost, and the result reiterated what most white
Americans thought to be the constitutionality of the racial divide during this time, and
