blog #7

1. During this time women had no say in things, they could not participate in the war in any way. They were not allowed to vote and had no choices. Class Divisions were a problem and also “labor and capital overtook the inequalities of race as the most overt challenge to America’s national unity” (Page 271). Women in a way stood beside each other because they were all going through the same thing. In the North, some women decided to get political rights from the men, “and the woman suffrage movement came into its own” (Page 271). There was a division between the women in the North and South because slaves were trying to gain freedom and people were agreeing to this issue. When there was a separation of states due to the slaves, the women in the South and North did not agree.

2. The “New South” was a great time for black women because they were finally free to do as they please, and choose their own jobs. This had a big impact on their lives. “Black women fought for control over their labor” while “elite white women sought new capacities and strengths to accommodate” (Page 277). This was a good and a bad time, depending on whose point of view you are looking at. For the slaves, it was a huge change in their lives; they were no longer property and could live their lives. But for the whites, they had nobody to do the duties that the slaves did in their homes, which was a problem for them. In fact, if they wanted to have a slave in their home, they had to pay them for the work done. “The complex result of these post-Reconstruction social, political, and economic changes was known as “the New South” (page 277).

Textbook Document:
1. The large conflict that led to the lynching of Thomas Moss was basically that his grocery store was affecting the business of a white man’s store, which was a problem. “Moss’s crime had been the competition that his successful grocery business poses to whites” (Page 306). This is such a shame because he Moss was only doing his job, which seemed to be a threat to the white man. This showed a lot about how there were conflicts among the blacks and whites “after the end of slavery’ (page 307). When Moss opened his grocery store, it was considered to be a “crime” to the whites, and therefore the white mobs lynched him.

2. The opinion about Wells being lynched was that it was an act of rape. “Although lynching was irregular and contrary to law and order, unreasoning anger over the terrible crime of rape led to the lynching” (Page 308). This was a way for the whites to get back at the blacks and take out their anger on them. The white’s were fairly angry that they did not have any power over the blacks and this in a way was like revenge. This was to let everyone know that it was not allowed for a black to have sex with a white woman and that they would be accused of rape if they even tried to. The white men did not accept the blacks and tried to make it hard on them as much as possible.

3. Wells did not agree with this relationship and thought that it was wrong. This is discriminating against the blacks because if a black woman was raped, then it was not a big deal. On the other hand if a white woman was raped, then that was a crime that needed punishment. Wells saw this as a way for white men to take out their anger on the blacks, since they had their freedom now. White men thought that it was okay to rape a black woman, but it was not okay for a black man to rape a white woman. It is the same crime, but the whites denied it. This was a ridiculous concept that Wells definitely did not agree with.