Did Racial Segregation Improve the Status of African...

Did Racial Segregation Improve the Status of African Americans? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;â€Å"Whites were there because they chose to be; blacks were there because they had no choice.† (p. 158) This quote, from the essay written by Howard N. Rabinowitz, encompasses many, if not all of the ideas that go along with racial segregation. It is a well-known fact that racial segregation did create a separate and subordinate status for blacks, however, seeing as how at the turn of the century the integration of blacks and whites was a seemingly unrealistic idea, segregation could be seen as somewhat of an improvement from the blacks’ previous position in the U.S. as slaves. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;â€Å"Everything is forgiven in the South†¦show more content†¦157) Although these actions can’t really be compared to the racism shown by whites, by implementing their own establishments, blacks showed that they too could contribute to the separation of blacks and whites. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Black Codes, as well as the few segregation laws that were passed by the post Civil war government, failed to carry on through the Reconstruction period. What Litwack saw, as stated in his essay entitled White Folks: Acts, to be their replacement, â€Å"was not racial integration, but an informal code of exclusion and discrimination†. (p. 160) A black South Caroliner states, â€Å"the white people couldn’t master these niggers any more so they took up the task of intimidating them.† (p.160) Litwack is showing here that as a result of the eradication of slavery from the United States, whites felt as if they no longer had control over the blacks and therefore felt the need to find some way to still master them without owning them. It is evident, from the examples that Litwack provides in his essay that segregation caused many confrontations between whites and blacks. Although there were supposed to be separate but equal facilities for both blacks and whites, in many situations that was not the case. For example, Litwack points out that many of the public parks entrances had signs that stated: â€Å"Negroes and dogs not allowed†. 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