What were some barriers to radical social change that could have made things better for freed people following the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation?

Answer 1

Jim Crow laws

Answer 2

The biggest barrier was what we now call "white supremacy", the belief that former slaves and descendants of former slaves were inferior to white people of European ancestry. This was enforced, both in law and in practice, not just in the South but all over the nation. Read about "Jim Crow":

http://www.bing.com/search?q=jim+crow+laws&FORM=EDGNNC

Answer 3

"Jim Crow" laws were most common in the South. Discrimination in practice was not. Just for example, in Las Vegas, The Sands hotel and casino was a popular entertainment venue and hired famous stars to entertain there. When Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. were hired to perform as a single act in the early 1960s (not 1860s, 1960s), Davis was not allowed to stay in the hotel because he was black. Sinatra and Martin balked and said if Davis couldn't stay in the hotel with his buddies, they wouldn't perform. The Sands backed down because such a famous act in their showroom brought in business. When other black entertainers were hired to perform for "white" audiences, they had to enter the building through back doors or through the kitchen because white patrons did not want to "mix" with blacks in the lobby, not because of a law.

Answer 4

<<What were some barriers to radical social change that could have made things better for freed people following the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation? >>

Lack of basic literacy, availability of jobs (in the South), and basic financial literacy. In my view, after the civil war, the freed slaves had no marketable skills, no land, and most were illiterate in the South. They were in desperate conditions. Jim Crow laws did not emerge until the 1880's, and they just piled on the low social status already existent.