Diversity and US Racial Policy

Dealing with Diversity in America from Reconstruction through the 1920s: The Lost Cause Narrative
Racial policy in the U.S. after the Civil War was supposed to based on the egalitarian principles espoused by Lincoln at his Second Inaugural. However, with Lincoln’s assassination, the Reconstruction Era got off to an ugly start. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) developed to carry on the traditions promoted in the concept of the Lost Cause narrative; the KKK led the charge to carry on the traditions of white supremacy in the South and to resist the ascension of free blacks into public life and administrative positions in government (The Lost Cause, n.d.). Jim Crow laws followed (Schultz, 2018), and segregation of blacks and whites continued well into the 20th century thanks to Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 (). (Schultz, 2018). This paper will show how the Lost Cause of the Civil War effectively sabotaged and influenced racial policy in the U.S. in the post-Civil War period.
With Reconstruction was meant to come a new period of rebuilding in America. People were now supposed to be equal. Slavery was over, and the blacks and whites could live as one people. However, the ideology of the South was not quite as dead as might have been suspected. The South might have lost the War, but the ideals lived on—particularly through the Ku Klux Klan (The Lost Cause, n.d.). The KKK formed to carry on the torch of the Lost Cause—the noble ideas that Southerners refused to surrender—and their formation led directly to the antagonistic spirit that continued to harass blacks in the South. Though freed, blacks now had to contend with a vengeful community that refused to participate in the healing of the nation’s wounds. In popular media, the KKK was portrayed as heroic: for instance, in 1915, Hollywood director D. W. Griffith in his hit American epic film Birth of a Nation portrayed the KKK “as continuing the noble traditions of the South and the CSA soldier by defending Southern culture in general” (The Lost Cause, n.d.). This portrayal helped to carry on the traditions of the South in society.
The spirit of the Lost Cause also proceeded to inform regulations and laws throughout the country. The concept of Jim Crow was manifested by the way that police and businesses and schools and churches all looked at blacks as different from whites. While equality might have been granted them in theory, it was nowhere near perfect. Blacks had to ride separately from whites, had to eat in separate restaurants from whites and could mix interracially with whites all throughout the south (Schultz, 2018). For example, in the 1920s, blacks could not serve together with whites in the Army: they had to obey the Jim Crow laws that made them out to be different than whites. This spirit did not promote the ideals of Reconstruction, but did promote the ideals of the Lost Cause narrative.
The Lost Cause narrative was also seen in the “separate but equal” Supreme Court decision made in 1896, which came about when a black man named Plessy bought a first class ticket aboard a train and boarded a whites only car. He was told to sit in the blacks only car and refused. He was arrested and convicted of breaking the law. He appealed the decision, but the Supreme Court sided with Jim Crow and the Lost Cause narrative by saying while blacks and whites were equal they must be separate in society and not be allowed to mix (Davis, 1896).
The opposing view that the Lost Cause narrative did not sabotage or influence the racial policy of the U.S. in the post-Civil War period is ridiculous on the face of it, because as has been shown, social policy was directly related to the racist doctrines and principles that the South had propagated before and after the War. The Plessy v. Ferguson decision, the Jim Crow laws, and the KKK were all evidence of this fact. The Lost Cause narrative certainly did not promote the ideas of equality that were supposed to be effected during Reconstruction.
In my life today, I can see that history has been shown to shape and impact issues in my workplace in one specific way: today, racial equality is better protected—thanks to the Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Act that was finally passed in 1964. This historical event helped to make sure that the Jim Crow laws and Lost Cause narrative would not continue on. The South lost and its ideals would not be permitted to impact racial policy in the U.S. anymore. The Civil Rights Act made it illegal for employers to base hiring someone on racial grounds. Today, I work with many ethnic people of different racial backgrounds and we can celebrate one another’s diversity as a result and truly live like equals.
In conclusion, the Lost Cause narrative negatively impacted the racial policy of the U.S. following the Civil War—but that narrative was finally killed in the 1960s. For the century in between that moment and the end of the War, however, blacks were subjected to the violent crusades of the KKK, the KKK’s representation as heroic in films like Birth of a Nation, Jim Crow laws that kept blacks from serving with whites in the Army, and the separate but equal ruling of the Supreme Court.



References
Davis, J. C. Bancroft. (1896). Plessy vs. Ferguson. Retrieved from 
http://college.cengage. com/history/wadsworth_ 9781133309888/unprotected/ps/ plessy_ferguson_1896.htm
The Lost Cause. (n.d.). Civil War Journeys. Retrieved from 
http: //civil-war-journeys.org/the_ lost_cause.htm
Schultz, Kevin M. (2018). HIST5: Volume 2: U.S. History Since 1865 (Student edition).
Boston: Cengage.