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The Effects of Social Reaction on Legal Progression: Race Relations of Blacks and Whites, 1920-1950 The character of the relationship between blacks and whites is a long-running theme in American history. In the early days of slavery in the colonies, whites considered African-Americans as subordinate humans while believing in their own superiority, and continued to do so for much of contemporary history. But when law mandated that blacks be treated as beings of equal status, a majority of whites refused to comply, forcing African-Americans to constantly put up a fight for their rights as United States citizens. Blacks have solicited the federal government and various interest groups for help to improve their social, political, and economic conditions. When these resources could only provide minimal assistance, blacks turned inward and first began fighting with violent intent, but the movement gradually evolved into a nonviolent resistance to white oppression. Legal changes served only as symbolic steps toward change, as many whites refused to comply with and enforce such social transformations. Social reactions of blacks to the existing conditions of inequality had a greater impace on improving race relations than did the actual