African Americans And The Meaning Of Freedom Essay

The United States is a immigrant country, which faces varieties of problems. The African American problem is one of the most serious one. Racial segregation is a deep-rooted social problem, which reflects in every field in the United States. For example, education, labor market and criminal justice system. In the aspect of education, most of black children were not permitted to enter the school, because the white children studied there. In the aspect of labor market, the black people 's average wages were lower than the whites. They did the manual work. In the aspect of criminal justice system, the blacks were easily in jail. Badly, their sentences were also more serious than the whites. In general, the blacks live in the bottom of the American society. Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream, ' ' I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ' ' (1) However, it was difficult for African American to get the freedom. The 1776 Declaration of Independence announced that everyone are equal and freedom.But black slavery still occurred in the southern states of America. Then the Civil War broke out, African American kept struggling for land and political rights.

Congress comes in to play in December 1865. The Congress was made up mostly of Republicans and they refused to let past Confederates to take their seats in Congress at this time. This marked the beginning of Radical Reconstruction or sometimes known as Congressional Reconstruction. The president and the congress did not agree on many issues. Congress overrode President Johnson on the Civil Rights Act of 1866, The Fourteenth Amendment, and the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. The Fourteenth Amendment spelled out rights of both black and white citizens as equal. It prolonged Federal powers for the enforcement of civil rights. States that approved the Fourteenth Amendment were considered reconstructed, and Tennessee did so. President Johnson advised other southern states to oppose doing this. Congress passed many laws to limit President Johnson’s powers. They passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 which set new

Another important characteristic of the Reconstruction after the civil war was the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Its responsibilities according to Foner (2014) were related with social work, “ Bureau agents were supposed to establish schools, provide aid to the poor and aged, settle disputes between whites and blacks and among the freedpeople, and secure for former slaves and white Unionists equal treatment before the courts” (p. 562) . Still, the Bureau lasted only until 1870, but made many achievements helping the black community.

America is the universal symbol of freedom. But is it really free? Does the history of the United States stay true to the ideas of our forefathers? Or has the definition been altered to fit American policies? Has freedom defined America? Or has America defined freedom? I believe America was at first defined by freedom, then after time, America defined freedom, altering the definition to fit the niche it fits in, but still keeping key components so it still seems to be staying true to the ideas of America’s founding fathers.

     All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to      the      jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State      wherein they      reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge      the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State      deprive any      person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor      deny to any      person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws      (http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html ).

The Fifteenth Amendment granted black men to vote. Put emphasis on men because at this time women still couldn't vote.This amendment would not be fully followed until almost a century. What the government did was that they made a literacy test so difficult that no slave could pass because they had no education. So no blacks could vote really for a long time. So to loop their loophole that made a rule called the Grandfather Clause. This made if your grandfather could vote you did not have to take the literacy test. So every white person's grandfather could vote since they lived in england. So this rule did not apply to blacks since their grandfathers were black and could not vote. One of the main reasons that they made this rule is because

Edmund S. Morgan’s famous novel American Slavery, American Freedom was published by Norton in 1975, and since then has been a compelling scholarship in which he portrays how the first stages of America began to develop and prosper. Within his researched narrative, Morgan displays the question of how society with the influence of the leaders of the American Revolution, could have grown so devoted to human freedom while at the same time conformed to a system of labor that fully revoked human dignity and liberty. Using colonial Virginia, Morgan endeavors how American perceptions of independence gave way to the upswing of slavery. At such a time of underdevelopment and exiguity, cultivation and production of commodities were at a high demand. Resources were of monumental importance not just in Virginia, but all over North America, for they helped immensely in maintaining and enriching individuals and families lives. In different ways, people in colonies like Virginia’s took advantage of these commodities to ultimately establish or reestablish their societies.

Congressional Reconstruction was what happened after the election of 1866. The congress had many people in power from the south that shouldn’t have been in power yet. The congress passed a tenure of Office Act which prohibited the president from removing federal officials or military commanders without the Senate’s approval. While Andrew Johnson was President, he got rid of most of the officials that were against the south, and put in Southerners against the Senate’s approval.

During the year of 1865, after the North’s victory in the Civil War, the Republican Party began to pass national legislation in order to secure free blacks’ rights.

Throughout the Constitution, blacks, whites, or slaves are not mentioned in the constitution. Slaves, instead, are referred to as persons to underline their humanity, as highlighted through the words of The Daily Signal, when they state, “The Constitution speaks of people, citizens, persons, other persons (a euphemism for slaves) and Indians” In fact, the first references of race and color would not appear until the 15th Amendment’s guaranteed right to vote. However, while the constitution did not particularly benefit free African Americans, it did not assist their freedom in any way. Free African Americans could not vote, have a say in government office, or own land, and those captured would face the difficulties of proving their freedom,

The Civil War was worth the costs of lives and suffering. Unfortunately, 618,000 Americans had died, but the war did preserve the Union and prevented it from separating into two countries. The Union's victory allowed freedom from slavery for the blacks. Congress recognized the Freedman's Bureau which distributed food to former slaves, established schools, and allowed blacks to settle on lands of their own. Later on in 1866, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment that granted citizenship to all born in the United States and those who were naturalized citizens. In addition, the Fifteenth Amendment forbade states from denying suffrage (the right to vote) to any citizen according to their race and previous slave status. Newly established policies

From textbooks and documentaries to music and television we have always recognized the black freedom struggle as a historic event in American history. However, this tale is more than just “American.” African American history is part of a global story. The black freedom struggle was part of a global fight for liberation. Minorities around the world united against oppression.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within it jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Were you born with freedom? History has shown us that people had to demand their freedom, so in a way they achieved or earned it. “Is freedom granted only if it is demanded”, is a question that people ask when they see our country or other nations’ history. When we are born, we don’t really think how we received our freedom, but we got it by the help of people from the past. The following stories are examples of the fight for freedom in our country and others: “March on Washington”, “Cairo”, and also “Reading Lolita in Tehran”. People had to protest for days maybe even more, just so the government would take them serious. People didn’t give up so easily, at some point they did win and receive their freedom. As history shown us, people