On June 19, 1865 – 155 years ago – black Americans celebrating the day of Jubilee, later known as Juneteenth, may have expected a shot at real opportunity. Freedom from slavery should have been freedom to climb up the economic ladder, helped – or at least not hindered – by a nation newly rededicated to human equality.
Black Americans had served in the war, too, making up more than 10% of the Union Army, a quarter of the Union Navy and untold numbers aiding the Union effort.
In many national crises since then, black Americans have also been essential workers.
But serving in crucial roles has not resulted in economic equality. Government responses to economic crises have historically set black Americans back relative to whites, stripping black wealth and setting new and stronger barriers in paths to success – even in times of national economic growth.
After the Civil War
In the late 1860s, white Southerners desperate to rebuild their war-torn states took advantage of newly freed black workers – but did not treat them fairly.
States like Mississippi declared it illegal to be unemployed, forcing former bondspeople to take whatever jobs they could, under whatever terms were offered.
Most African Americans’ living options were limited, too. Sharecropping – renting farmland with a percentage of the harvest – soon trapped many families in perpetual debt. Government land grants in the form of homesteading were mostly off-limits to black people. African-descended landowners often had their real estate stolen by whites.
Convict leasing jump-started Southern industrialization. When black citizens arrested for petty crimes couldn’t pay the fine, courts contracted out their labor. A conviction for trumped-up charges like “selling cotton after sun set” could result in a debt that could never be paid.
Imaginary offenses could, effectively, carry life sentences: 40% of prisoners leased to Alabama mines died in 1870. Black women and children too were forced to work in fields and factories for no pay.
By 1880, black workers earned 34 cents for every dollar white workers earned nationally.
Early 20th century
During the First World War, African Americans were drafted disproportionately to serve in uniform.
Wartime manufacturers also recruited black workers to cities like Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia to make war materiel. But instead of welcoming refugees from Southern poverty and discrimination, the first wave of what became the Great Migration was met with violence.
African American migrants seizing economic opportunity were crowded into rundown housing, paying high rents and ruinous interest rates on consumer credit. Better-paying unionized jobs were reserved for whites, and during the Great Depression, African Americans with scant job security and resources were most at risk.