Effects Of Mass Hysteria

Mass Hysteria Mass hysteria is caused by fear. Where this fear comes from may vary, and could even be caused by many forms of fear put together. A country having fear, not just fear as a whole, but fear that separates the people within, is exactly what happened in the United states prior to the civil rights movement. This goes clear back to the end of the civil war, when the segregation of the blacks and whites began. Before the civil rights movement, mass hysteria was caused in the United States by a fear between two peoples, a fear as a country, and the effects this fear had on the actions of the people. The segregation between the blacks and whites left fear on both sides. The fear of each race was different. One major fear they had was …show more content…
The government during this time had a fear of the people. Separation was not something our country wanted to deal with. They, of course, had to cut in somehow. This separation lead to many things. During the civil war, Abraham Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation granted freedom to the slaves of the war, only if the union won (Lincoln). This brought hope to the african american slaves at the time, and could certainly spark hope for a new generation to gain their rights. It gave them a glimmer of hope for a better future and a better life. Nonetheless they were still waiting for this to happen. For a country built on the ideas of freedom and equality, this did not seem right. After the civil war, the 14th amendment to the constitution was ratified (Primary Documents). It granted equality to those of color. This amendment was not being upheld by the United States government. They had plenty of reason to want their …show more content…
In an article by Anthony Badger it says, “recent historians have raised questions about the centrality of the nonviolent protest exemplified by King. African Americans in the rural South had always had a tradition of armed self-defense. World War II inspired black soldiers not to turn the other cheek on their return to the South” (Badger). They were prepared to fight back. There were many violent acts against them, but also many that they caused. Not all that they did was violent, nor was it particularly an act of fear. It was more of an act of rebellion. They started the movement of “Freedom Riders”. They began in the early 1960’s. It was a group of people, not white only, not black only, but a mix of people. They would ride busses through the south to show that they could live without segregation (Staff, History.com). Through these acts they both reacted to fear and caused