Final answer:
Turn-of-the-century African Americans were intimidated by lynchings, disenfranchised by white primaries, and faced discrimination in employment. This systemic racism and violence were pervasive both in the South and the North, despite the legal differences between these regions.
Step-by-step explanation:
African Americans faced severe intimidation and violence at the turn of the century that aimed to disenfranchise and marginalize them socially, politically, and economically. Lynching was a particularly brutal form of violence; it was an illegal execution carried out by a mob, sometimes involving torture or mutilation. These acts were often committed with impunity, as perpetrators were rarely punished. In politics, African Americans were systematically disenfranchised through mechanisms such as white primaries, where political parties in the South restricted membership to whites, effectively silencing black voices in elections. Moreover, in the labor sphere, African Americans faced both unemployment and workplace discrimination, as white workers would sometimes ensure black workers were fired, denying them access to jobs during economic hardships.
Race riots and residential segregation in the North also reflected the pervasive nature of racial discrimination. Though not enforced by law as in the South, de facto segregation in employment, housing, and education was widespread. The Great Migration saw many African Americans moving northward in search of better opportunities, but they were met with institutional barriers and sometimes violent backlash in those regions as well.