

Human: Why did it take so long to desegregate after the civil war?

Assistant: It’s hard to know the whole story, but here’s a partial answer:  Following the war, Southerners were very concerned about the relationship between the North and the South.  They were especially afraid of federal laws or treaties that would destroy or weaken their way of life.  Desegregating schools would be perceived as an attack by the federal government on Southern way of life.  Desegregating schools would be especially threatening to white families, who worried about the safety of their children, but also about the loss of their culture and way of life.


Human: Why did it take so long to desegregate after the civil war?

Assistant: Desegregation, or the process of ending legally enforced racial segregation in the United States, did not take place rapidly following the civil war.  In fact, not until the mid-1960s, nearly 100 years after the end of the civil war, did segregation laws begin to be enforced and desegregated in earnest.  Desegregation of the United States was initiated during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, when thousands of black Americans and white Americans both took part in direct civil disobedience and peaceful protests.
Why did it take so long to desegregate after the civil war?
It’s hard to know the whole story, but here’s a partial answer:  Following the war, Southerners were very concerned about the relationship between the North and the South.  They were especially afraid of federal laws or treaties that would destroy or weaken their way of life.  Desegregating schools would be perceived as an attack by the federal government on Southern way of life.  Desegregating schools would be especially threatening to white families, who worried about the safety of their children, but also about the loss of their culture and way of life.
Desegregation, or the process of ending legally enforced racial segregation in the United States, did not take place rapidly following the civil war.  In fact, not until the mid-1960s, nearly 100 years after the end of the civil war, did segregation laws begin to be enforced and desegregated in earnest.  Desegregation of the United States was initiated during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, when thousands of black Americans and white Americans both took part in direct civil disobedience and peaceful protests.