Southern United States was particularly resistant to the idea of civil and equal rights for blacks. Hence, in 1890, Jim Crow Laws were established in some southern states, wherein racial prejudice and segregation of public spaces was legal, even if slavery was not. These laws followed the Black Code that existed from 1800 to 1866, and restricted the civil rights and liberties of African Americans.
Post World War II, the outrage against these laws was unmanageable. With the argument that they had more than earned the right to be treated as equal citizens of United States of America after they had fought for it in the war, the Civil Rights Movement kicked off in 1954. It was characterised by civil resistance of the participants and the people protested through non-violence and civil disobedience. The progress of attaining civil rights legally was slow but ultimately in 1968, the Civil Rights Act was passed.
Shelby Steele acknowledges this event, but insists that the promise of the Civil Rights era—the promise of equality—has not been upheld because of what he calls “white guilt” and the response of a section of blacks to