Throughout the world, particularly the United States, African Americans have been largely discriminated against and subjected to extreme, radical prejudice. Up until the end of the Civil War in 1865, African Americans were legally held as slaves and were mandated to participate in forced labor under horrible, dehumanizing conditions in the United States. While slavery has been abolished for well over a century, discriminational sentiments carried on throughout the entirety of the 20th century and, unfortunately, persist to this day.

The most significant way that African Americans were discriminated against following the Civil War was through racial segregation. Segregation was incorporated into U.S. law in the 18th and 19th centuries because many people strongly believed that whites and people of color were incapable of coexisting with one another. After the 13th Amendment was passed and abolished slavery, the fate of African Americans was up in the air; some people argued that African Americans should be “returned” to Africa while others argued that they establish their own homeland. Abraham Lincoln, the president at the time, opted for the former after recognizing Haiti and Liberia as ex-slave countries. He planned on opening up channels for colonization with the two countries but failed to allot proper funding and support for the idea. Neither of the ideas worked and instead, segregational practices were legally enforced in the United States.

Again, after the Civil War, the fate of African Americans’ lives was up in the air. Not only in a legal way, but in a literal way. While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, African Americans were still incredibly discriminated against and had little to no opportunities to obtain real jobs, housing, or provide for themselves. As a result, Black Codes were created in the South. Black Codes were essentially the same thing as slavery, the only difference being that they were paid for their labor, even though it was ridiculously low and barely enough to survive. Shortly after, Jim Crow laws were established; they segregated everything from homes to public spaces to schools to water fountains.

African Americans may no longer have been slaves, but they were certainly not equal to whites and remain unequal to whites to this day due to systematic racism within society, especially in the judicial system. Men of color, particularly African American/black men are far more likely to be arrested and charged (given much larger sentences/sentences that are close to the maximum sentencing) than their white counterparts for the exact same crimes. One particular case that gained a lot of attention was that of Marcus Robinson. Robinson was a black man who was convicted of murder and robbery and furthermore sentenced to death in North Carolina in 1994. At the time, North Carolina had just passed the Racial Justice Act. This act was crucial for African Americans because it allowed people who felt as if their death sentence was subject to racial discrimination to challenge it. In most cases, systemic racism stems from the jury selection process: jurors who have racist sentiments can sway the jury’s overall decision. Regarding Marcus Robinson’s case, the prosecutor removed 50% of the black potential jurors while only removing about 14% of non-black jurors. Clearly, the prosecutor showed bias when fulfilling the jury selection process and it resulted in Robinson having a jury that was not representative of the general population. Robinson ended up meeting the burden of proof and was acquitted from death row but was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Without this act, Robinson would be one of the thousands of black men (and women) who were sentenced to death row over life in prison strictly based on racist sentiments.

Racism is a significant problem in modern society and will continue to persist as people proceed to be ignorant of their biases. People who are African American have faced prejudice in the United States since the beginning and while there has been significant legal progress, a substantial amount of hatred and bigotry remains within the population. It is factual that African American/black people are more likely to get pulled over, arrested, and charged. Police brutality is real and is largely targeted towards black individuals (and in many cases occurs when the individual is not even participating in anything illegal). The judicial system remains biased against African Americans, as does the population who can potentially serve as jurors. Many African Americans have been sentenced to death row for wrongful convictions, unfair trials, or unequal treatment through the courts. The amount of discrimination that African Americans have faced in the history of the United States and continue to face today is daunting and seemingly endless, but if people were to become more aware of their ignorance and prejudice, perhaps we could move towards a more accepting and racist-free society.