What types of violence were commonly faced by African Americans in the South?

The correct answer highlights the particularly brutal and targeted nature of violence that African Americans faced in the South, specifically through lynchings and race riots. Lynchings were extrajudicial killings carried out predominantly by white mobs, aimed at instilling fear and maintaining white supremacy. These acts were often public spectacles, meant to terrorize African American communities and deter any challenges to racial inequality. Race riots, on the other hand, occurred when racial tensions erupted into violent confrontations, resulting in significant loss of life and property, often instigated by white citizens against Black communities.

The prominence of these forms of violence in the historical context of the South underscores the systemic racism embedded in societal structures during this period. While protests and boycotts were forms of passive resistance initiated by African Americans in response to discrimination, they were not expressions of the violent oppression faced. Arson and vandalism might have occurred, but they are less defining of the targeted violence towards African Americans compared to lynchings and race riots. Although wars and uprisings could refer to broader conflicts, they do not specifically encapsulate the everyday violence faced by African Americans in their communities during this historical period.