Racial/Ethnic Prejudice in America's Social History between 1877 & 1900

The Role of Racial/Ethnic Prejudice in America's Social History between 1877 and 1900
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The Role of Racial/Ethnic Prejudice in America's Social History between 1877 and 1900
Introduction
Any discussion of American social history is shaped by racial or ethnic prejudice in one form or another. Ranging from slavery, racial discrimination to modern-day systemic racism, the American social account is one with immense greatness. It contradicts humanity in the form of cruelty and injustice. The paper focuses on America's history between 1877 and 1900 and how the racial/ethnic prejudice helped shape the country's social history by looking at the South, West, and North/East regions.
Homestead, Timber Culture, and Desert Lands Acts
Following the Civil War, there was immense immigration of settlers from the East to the west. Arriving immigrants were mostly from the established Anglo-American societies originating from the eastern United States with a substantial foreign-born from European territories. The west's main attraction included minerals deposits (gold and silver), pasture, and fertile meadows. The settlers were beneficiaries of the homestead act that allowed them to acquire massive tracts of land at the expense of the natives. Due to the increase in commercial activities, the demand for labor increased tremendously. While the western working class was highly diverse in terms of race, the workforce was stratified along racial boundaries.
In contrast, workers (regardless of their origin) occupied higher ranking jobs in management and supervision. People reminded the lower tier of jobs of color. A significant obstacle to establishing white settlements in the West was native communities that resisted the increasing development. The settling whites believed that the West was a 'virgin land' that awaited civilization. Therefore, there was a need to stop eliminating Indian Tribes that threatened the spread of white society. By 1877, White settlers had created tribal policies that segregated each tribe into distinct reservations through coercion and manipulation of tribal leaders. By forcing tribes into scattered concentrations, the government could easily control white people to take over desirable lands.
Decimation of Buffaloes
Before 1877, White settlers had embarked on a mission to slaughter the buffalo herds. The relentless mission aimed to destroy the livelihood of the natives by eliminating their reliable source of food and useful hides. Historical records suggest that by 1865, there at least 15 million buffaloes. Two decades later, since the mission began, only 1000 of the animals had survived. The mission weakened the ability of the natives to resist the white advance.
The Dawes Act
As part of its mission to destroy tribal structures, the federal government passed the Dawes Act that further deepened tribal and ethnic prejudice. The first step involved abolishing the communal ownership of land as it was the cultural trait of the tribes. In the new policy, disguised in assimilation, the government required individuals to abandon their culture and collective ownership of land to become part of the advancing white civilization. The Dawes Act become instrumental in advancing individual ownership of land. Unlike other (white) citizens, however, individual landowners could not fully control property for at least 25 years.
Through the idea of assimilation and 'the saving of a diminishing race,' the Bureau of Indian Affairs (led by whites) effectively moved tribal families into their plots of land, using them as workers or' employees.' They also took thousands of native children away into boarding schools across ran by white officials. Further, the Act allowed the Bureau to forcefully stop tribal rituals and religious activities, replacing them with Christianity by establishing churches on the reservations.
The Rise of Industries
What England had achieved in a hundred years, in terms of industrialization, the United States had succeeded in less than 50 years before 1900. However, while the remarkable growth improved living standards and wealth accumulation, it did so at the expense of inequality. Following the whites' activities in assimilating the native tribes and enslavement of the African Americans, and given their population compared to the rest of the races, they held the concentration of power, wealth, and control. They were the greatest beneficiaries of the dark sides of capitalism, which embodied Darwin's idea of 'Survival for the fittest' and the ideology of individualism.
With the rise of industries came the need for the skilled and unskilled workforce. Many people began migrating into industrial cities. White people, regardless of their ethnicity. They were favored to hold top positions with less ranking manual jobs held by people of color. The period saw over 25 million immigrants arrive in the country from Europe and Asia. With the increasing urbanization, the country that had begun as an agrarian republic transformed into an urban nation with emerging issues like housing proving problematic. Apart from the foreign immigrants, some Americans left the declining Agricultural activities of the East. While some moved to the west to pursue agriculture, a majority headed to the Midwest and East's growing cities. From the south came African Americans escaping poverty, violence, debt, and oppression created by the cruel Jim Crow Laws.
Assimilation and Exclusion
With the increasing number of immigrants, old-stock Americans demanded new settlers be screened and assimilate to the 'American' way of life. In essence, immigrants were forced to abandon their cultures and practices to settle in the country. Lessons in public schools were taught in English, and employers demanded English speaking employees (431). Stores stocked only American products forcing immigrants to adapt to the 'American' diet, clothing, and norms. In churches, leaders were mainly native-born or assimilated immigrants because they could teach the American way of life. Apart from assimilation, immigrants, especially from China and Japan, underwent intense scrutiny to eliminate 'undesirables' and were subjected to higher taxes than their white counterparts from Europe. Some congressional acts were also passed to restrict the entrance of Chinese immigrants into the country.
Conclusion
Therefore, the period between 1877 and 1900 was a continuation of the prejudice against people of color and the construction of prejudicial structures and policies that continue to harm American society on racial lines. The continued perception of native Americans and people of color as inferior can be linked to Darwinism's developmental interpretation that emerged in this period. Therefore, racial or ethnic prejudice was instrumental in the construction of American social history.
References
ADDIN Mendeley Bibliography CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People, Volume II. Vol. 12. McGraw-Hill, 1993.
History Dept. Faculty at Houston Community College. American Perspectives Readings in American History. Vol. 2. Pearson, 2003.

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