African Americans

After the Civil War, the southern whites were extremely resentful and bitter. In 1865 the southern states began issuing “black codes,” which were laws made subsequent to the Civil War that had the effect of limiting the civil rights and civil liberties of blacks. This term tends to refer to the legislation passed by southern states to control the labor, migration, and other activities of newly freed slaves. When the slaves were freed, they still had

Soon after the war, and after slavery was ended, there was a shortage of people to work for those who once had slaves as their main workforce. This posed a challenge for the southern economy. So during the constitutional convention of 1865 various states including South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi included language in their state constitutions that regulated and managed the now free slaves. This served at the basis for the Black Codes -- a series of codes that restricted the rights of African Americans. These Black Codes made it difficult for former slaves to work in a labor economy that wasn’t based on low wages and debt tactics, as well as restricted them from owning property, conduct business, and move freely through public spaces.

The first American slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Their job was to aid in the production of crops such as tobacco as the Virginians “were desperate for labor, to grow enough to stay alive… needed labor, to grow corn for subsistence, to grow tobacco for export” (Zinn 24,25). The slaves that were being brought to the Americas were seen as builders of the economic foundations of the new nation and as time passed the ownership of slaves dwindled but inequality and segregation grew to be more prevalent in the U.S (“Slavery in America”). On January 1st, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order which freed slaves in the United States not within the Confederacy, under Union Control. Two years later the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution which abolished slavery but many Southern States managed to create unattainable prerequisites for blacks to live, work or participate in society. With nearly one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African-Americans were still treated just as unequally. Oppression, race-inspired violence, segregation and an unequal world of disenfranchisement lingered across Southern States for African-Americans. The Jim Crow Laws

In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation declares “that all persons held as slaves with the confederate states are, and henceforward shall be free”. It was not until 1865 when the Civil War ended and the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. As a replacement of slavery, whites created Whites in the southern states enacted the Black Codes. Black Codes were thought to uphold a social caste system, reflecting the racial hierarchy of slavery. Slavery was abolished, however it still serves as a form of punishment for those found guilty of a crime. In the Thirteenth Amendment (1865) lies a description of the policy: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction.” A major contributor to blacks becoming criminalized and, in turn, enslaved again were laws that penalized the homeless and unemployed. When black people traveled without proper documents that verified their employment or a home address, they would often be charged with trespassing (Browne-Marshall 2007). As newly freed people, most had no income to pay the consequential fines, thus, they would become prisoners and their enslavement would be legally justified.

In the wake of the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were ratified which abolished slavery and in theory granted people of all races the citizenship rights, equal protection, and suffrage that society owes them. However, that did not stop a wave of backlash policies from passing especially in Southern states that felt their way of life was threatened by the newfound independence of black Americans. These laws served to perpetuate racism and white privilege, and further divide the racist,

One of the main goals of Reconstruction was to create equality for African Americans, but the rules and laws that were created, were not enforced by the government. Soon after the 13th Amendment was passed, most Southern states started to enforce Black Codes. These codes, as described in St. Landry’s Parish’s Black Codes, required African Americans to work under a white man, not to have a house or land, and to receive permission for meetings, preaching, carrying weapons, and selling items (Document 6). The purpose of the St. Landry’s Black Codes, and Black Codes in general, was to inform the public about the rules African Americans have to follow, but also to maintain the social order of whites coming before blacks, and to limit African American’s rights. Southern whites continued to take away African Americans rights throughout Reconstruction.

In 1865, the American government successfully passed the thirteenth amendment: ending the institution of slavery in America. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The thirteenth amendment opened up economic opportunity for African Americans as slaves were no longer owned by someone else. However, not long after the thirteenth amendment was passed, former slaveholders and southerners created the black codes. Black Codes were a set of laws intended to restrict African American freedoms, causing them to go into low wage labor. A black code passed in the state of South Carolina stated, “To do farm work, a black in South Carolina had to have a written contract, attested to by white witnesses; failure to obtain one before commencing to work was a misdemeanor

African Americans have overcome multiple struggles within American society. Race brutality has been a major battle for African Americans to fight against. There have been many race riots throughout history that have influenced future actions towards African Americans. The anti-African American was a process of assimilation for immigrants who felt that being against African Americans was a way to adopt the values of the dominant American culture and to be seen as American and not as an immigrant. One way to adopt the values of the dominant culture was to believe in racial segregation.

The increased number of newly diagnosed HIV cases among young males who have sex with men (MSM) are due to the epic behavioral activities of the young African American males who have sex with men. However, identifying health disparities, stigmas and barriers, and prevention interventions can help alleviate HIV among young African American males who have sex with men.

Since the arrival of Africans in America the image in America for the African Americans both male and female have been portrayed in a negative light. Although African Americans today have risen up to some of the highest positions in America such as entrepreneurs, CEOs, and even as high up as the President of the United States of America being an African American man. Though there are many other top job positions being held by African Americans both male and female that prove that the African Americans have made their mark in America, the race of African Americans as a whole still has a long way to go. However, though both African American men and women are both viewed in a negative light the African American man is the one who is stereotyped most of all. A prime example of how the image of the African American man is still portrayed in a negative light is in the film world. The film world has only contributed to help produce the negative image of African American men and the roles they play inside of films. Films portray the African American men being the aggressors, delinquents, criminals and more, since some of the older films in America. Then with the African American male stereotypes still being relevant in contemporary films today. The film world has made these stereotypes come to life and be seen by the world on screen. In this paper I will discuss the birth of the black male stereotypes from early films to current films today and how the image of the black male and

Laws such as the black codes, Jim Crow laws, and Pig laws were employed after the 13th Amendment: reversing the progress of abolition. Slavery was abolished, but racism was expanding exponentially. Not only did this restrict former slaves from developing into a unified nation, but it annulled basic privileges far after abolition was ratified. In the feeble human mind, it is easy to possess the mindset “out of sight, out of mind”. Many did not want to make the

19th Century America was a hard time for African Americans. Though slavery had legally ended at the end of the 1800’s, life and rights for blacks did not improve much at all.

Slavery was an economic system, following the end of slavery and the civil war the southern economy was in shambles (DuVernay). After the Civil War, the South was solidly democratic and bitter about the outcome of the war and wanted to continue the racial caste system going on in the south. The North at the time was Republican, although Republicans wanted equality for African-Americans they did not advocate to adopt or implement racial justice reforms (Alexander 20).The economic and political structure of the South needed repair, the four million people who were once apart of the economic production system are now free, that was a problem to the south (DuVernay). The Thirteenth Amendment implemented in 1865 officially outlawed the institution

According to the historians the first Jamaicans were stone-age people called the Taínos Indians who settled there around 600 A.D, they had migrated to Jamaica from the northern coast of South America. After living there for about 900 years; they were wiped out within 50 years of Spanish conquest in 1494, due to the explotation by the Spanish pioneers, famine and a lack of resistance to European diseases. The language spoken by the Taínos Indians was the Arawak, in more recent days this language still alive in some words including the name of the country which comes from the word "Xaymaca" which means "land of wood and water".

Although the road to discrimination is still a work in progress, we as African American are making great strides. There have been numerous acts, bill and movements over the years that have said or promised change only to be altered. They were meant to improve the lives of everyone, but was the better life meant for African American in the 1800’s up until now. The events and developments in this assignment will depict why there has to be continues effects to improve our way of life. It was the leaders that were not afraid brave and fearless motivators that continue to shape the racial bias, making for a brighter future for black.