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 becom...