Why are the late 1800s considered the “nadir” or the lowest point of race relations?

Historian Rayford Logan introduced the idea that the nadir of American race relations took place from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 until the early 20th century. What he meant was that the social and political conditions of that period, made racial tensions grow throughout the country reaching an all-time peak.

His views have been largely supported, as during those years African Americans lost most civil rights they had gained in the Reconstruction. The black community suffered from physical attacks, institutional segregation, and discrimination by the legal system. Alongside these outrageous conditions, a growing expression of white supremacy started to become the norm. Not only African-Americans suffered the consequences, as the chinese community was also impacted by the same kind of violence and institutionalized racism, culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

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