African American Freedom

From being considered two-thirds of a person to fighting a war for freedom, African American’s have surmounted many obstacles that limited them in America and each year continue to move further away from the concept of “the other”. During the Rationalism Era, African Americans have no voice in society and take no part in the unification of the country, but instead are taken advantage of. They are not considered as humans during this period, but rather property, and are only used for economic and political gain for white males. During the Romantic Era, African American’s begin to voice their abolitionist views in hopes of spreading awareness of the cruelty of slavery. Although the effort was valiant, African Americans were still considered an inferior race, of which whom could not participate in society. During the civil war and emancipation era, Slaves are freed from their owners in the eyes of the law, but still have limited civil rights. Although not all slaves are freed immediately, it starts the recovering process for African American’s, which will evidently provide them a sustainable role in society. Throughout American history, African Americans have been marginalized in society and have represented “the other”, America’s racial values begin in the construction of the United States where African Americans are excluded and then as the country begins to split apart into the North and South, tensions of slavery rise and ultimately leading to the emancipation of slaves

Life for African Americans has never been truly easy, especially during slavery and Reconstruction. In the United States, African Americans have always been placed into situations where they have had to fight for their citizenship and to be equal to whites. Through slavery and Reconstruction, whites would constantly perform several different types of violent acts to belittle and control both black men and women. These acts of violence included verbal harassment, beatings, rapes, and sometimes, even murders. Thus, all of this structured the political, social, and economic citizenship of African Americans.

The meaning of freedom for black Americans have changed over time, during the Gilded Age Blacks’ definition of freedom was defined as a new “social order” still driven at the hope of an American society breaking free from the anti-democratic restraints imposed by a corrupt government. This concept of freedom changed when WWII and the 1960’s Conservative Revolution started ,allowing blacks to reap the benefits of social, political and economic prosperities by having the “right to choose” and participate in part of the American society .

Margaret Walker once said, “Handicapped as we have been by a racist system of dehumanizing slavery and segregation, our American history of nearly five hundred years reveals that our cultural and spiritual gifts brought from our African past are still intact” (Walker, 1997). African Americans have been oppressed by the institution of slavery and segregation for many years. They have been submitted to cruel and inhumane treatments, yet they are still vibrant. They have remained vibrant with the help of several leaders, faith, and the willingness to change condition in which they were living. To say that African Americans have been treated poorly would be an understatement. African Americans have endured laws and treatments that have tested the

“All Men are created equal” a quote from the United States Constitution. Freedom is what the United States stands for it is what it was rooted from. However, we are into the 21st century and the idea that the United States still discriminates against a certain race is taboo to many. Everyone likes to walk around thinking that everything is alright and equal. Sadly this is not true. The African American, especially those found in the urban setting of Chicago is at a disadvantage. This is due to the erosion of the public education system along with fractured families along with other socioeconomic factors which have contributed to the cycles of poverty and ultimately creates a disadvantaged for African Americans in Chicago. For this research paper I’m going to focus on Chicago for its strong roots in the African American Community, but this isn’t just a one city problem the disadvantages to African Americans are spread out throughout the entire country in every major city in every state and there is no hiding from it.

The main places freed African Americans had access to education were Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. As seen in the legend, while these states did have the highest populations, the state with the highest percentage, Maryland, was only at 4.87 percent, a strikingly low number. While this number is extremely low, this is still remarkable, that a state can be so slave dependent, yet still have the highest percentage of freemen gaining their right to education. A main reason for this occurrence is Whigs in the North were mainly anti-slavery, and so the free blacks that had escaped and found their way into Pennsylvania or New York had a chance to learn. Education was more easily accessible in the north, due to no need for children

In the early nineteenth century, the African American went from slavery to the struggle for freedom. They had to do several activities in order to survive. Even though food affected the lifestyle during slavery, with religion, soul food like greens, and hamburger meat was prepared and grown to help families survive. There were several kinds of slaves during the nineteenth century. The African Americans were the most popular among all the slaves and had the hardest time for survival. They reported in mid-2003 that today: "Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to

In the late 1700s, most African Americans were enslaved and treated poorly, because of their skin color. By the 1800s, some African Americans were free, because they fled to towns that allowed them to be treated fairly or they bought their freedom. Although some African Americans were free they were treated like they were still enslaved. Free African Americans did not have any rights, so they were still being prohibited from many things that whites had the privilege to do freely. For instance, free African Americans could not own land and they could only live in certain areas. While whites could own land and live wherever they desired. Whites had laws that allowed them to be free and live without limitations, while African Americans had

African Americans understanding of freedom were shaped by their experience as slaves of the free world around them. African Americans only knew that the whites were free before them and wanted all the rights that the white people had, but that wasn’t the case. Even though the African Americans were free constitutionally didn’t mean they were free to the sense of the word. Free or freedom meant that you got the same rights as everyone else in the country, but ex slaves were still treated horribly after the civil war was over. African Americans wanted to go to school and eat and drink where they wanted to without a white person telling them that they aren’t supposed to be doing whatever it is they are doing just because of the complexion of their

During the 1860s there was a lot of different stands on the state of freedom for the African-American people in the south, also a false identity of freedom for the quote on quote freed slaves. During this time there were multiple documents stating the condition of the south by observation, also to further educate the Northerners of the condition of the US and following up on the progress that was being made after the civil war.

In today's society it is hard to believe that once a person was denied freedom because of the color of their skin. In the 1800 African Americans were treated poorly and were denied their freedom. The freedoms African Americans were denied was their social freedom which is the freedom to socialize with who ever you want and to marry who you want, Political freedom which is to vote and to be able to run for political jobs and economic freedom is to able to spend money and make money and able to get a job , pay taxes and to own land. A lot of people of think that in the north African Americans were free but in my opinion they were not. In this essay we will be talking about how African Americans were not free in the north.

African American history is a long and troubling one. The journey for freedom had been a long troubling one, yet one worthwhile. The outcome was one of gained freedom, citizenship, protection, and so much more. African Americans have preserved and endured the hardships they have faced throughout their journey.

Over the years white culture has taken over the world. They still are in control even in the 21st century. Europeans enslaved and taken the lands of people like Africans and Native Americans. Even after Africans were freed from slavery and the Native Americans were given back land, the inequality did not stop. They were separated by the color of their skin in everyday life, from jobs to even public restrooms. It’s in cultural appropriation, police brutality, and in racist societies like the KKK.

As America having to realize that even though are now in the twenty first century, America’s dark past was what ultimately created the nation people know of today. It is very important for modern society today to understand that despite of the Emancipation Proclamation, which eliminated slavery, African Americans were kept down and were unable to rise past their station in life for many years to come. Imagine how difficult and hard it must have been of the African Americans to liven through that. They were prisoners in their homeland, they could not speak, do what they wanted to do, and the most important backs lacks the freedoms highlighted in the Constitution of the United States of America, which is the right to participate fully and equally

The United States of America is known for its claims of democracy, equality, and freedom for all of it’s citizens. These claims are the foundation of America’s independence and essentially its entire history. But “claims” are simply all they were in history. While many achieved equal democracy and freedom, the African-American population of the US was exempt from these “inalienable rights” and heavily oppressed by society. The cruelty of slavery and oppression as a whole reached its peak in the 19th century bringing upon the abolitionist movement, which eventually aided in the historic removal of slavery and the continued fight for equal right of citizenship for African-Americans. Of the many abolitionists who fought for