s citizens. But after the Reconstruction Era in the South, the government essentially withdrew from supporting the efforts of blacks to gain equality: "Jim Crow was gradually imposed as law in the South and informally maintained in the North . . . Segregation was enforced by mob rule, to which the federal government turned a blind eye" (Marx, 1998, p. 13).
Jim Crow allowed the exploitation of the labor of blacks to continue. Although blacks were technically free, they were relegated to menial jobs. In the South, many of them worked as sharecroppers, with no hope of ever gaining economic independence from white farm owners. Blacks in the North worked in industrial complexes, again, with little hope of gaining control of the means of production. Racial domination based on capitalism created an endless cycle of racial prejudice and subordination.
Because of the activism of the Civil Rights movement, modern blacks have been able to achieve a greater degree of economic freedom. Civil Rights legislation prohibited discrimination in employment, albeit prejudiced whites often succeed in thwarting such legislation using the subtle methods of modern racism. Nevertheless, blacks have made significant economic gains, which have resulted in a decrease in prejudice a
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