Segregation is a set of laws or social customs that differentiate and separate certain groups of people from each other in society, on the basis of race, creed, gender, or other characteristics. In the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, segregation most infamously took the form of numerous arbitrary, elastic local laws separating black people from white people at considerable expense to the former. These laws were most ruthlessly enforced in Deep Southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama, but were not limited to that region. During the 1950s and '60s, social awareness movements based on civil disobedience caused these states to question the advisability of continuing the segregation system. Federal laws passed in the 1960s declared the old system to be unfair and inhumane, and American racial segregation was completely abolished as an official institution by 1970.
Segregation in Southern Victory[]
The Confederate States' phasing-out of slavery in the 1880s did not mean the end of mistreatment of the black population of the CSA. Numerous laws were put in place to restrict Black rights within the border of the CSA, which ultimately led to the Red Rebellion of 1915 during the Great War. These laws were, however, far less of a monstrosity than the Population Reduction eventually perpetrated by President Jake Featherston and the Freedom Party during the Second Great War.
Among the legal restrictions imposed on the black population were:
- They were not permitted to have surnames (although this was not enforced in Cuba, a very permissive state)[1]
- They were required to carry passbooks for identification purposes, even for internal travel within the CSA.
- They were defined as residents rather than citizens, and therefore did not have the right to vote.
In the 1920s, blacks who had served in the Confederate Army during the Great War were given citizenship including voting rights, which were revoked under Featherston's rule. No such privilege was ever given to the general black population.
After the USA conquered the CSA in 1944, they abolished all racial restrictions, recruited blacks for positions of power, and imposed integration on all walks of life. The goals of this movement were outlined in the pamphlet Equality, which Military Governor Irving Morrell distributed throughout the Atlantic Military District.
References[]
- ↑ The text does not specify whether the surname question was a matter of law, or simply of custom.
