American Culture Of The American Era

During Reconstruction, African Americans’ freedoms were very restricted. There were strict regulations on voting, relationships, employment, firearms, and other freedoms that white people had. African American faced disenfranchisement for years after being freed and becoming citizens. In What a Black Man Wants by Frederick Douglass, Douglass angrily demands the freedom to vote that every American deserved. He assesses the black man’s contribution to society and wonders why this contribution has not led to more rights. Those who were supposed to be fighting for the rights of freed slaves were not speaking up. Even the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was not fighting for the rights of the freed slaves. Because of the restrictions on voting, African Americans did not have the same power over their own lives that white people had. Disenfranchisement is just one way white people limited freedoms of freed slaves.

1. How can an understanding of the complexities of culture help us make sense of the day-to-day world which we live? Give an example from your life to illustrate your answer.

The newly freed men became scapegoats for the defeat of the South. The former slaves were a reminder of how much everything had changed after the war. Instead of working in the fields under white masters, they now competed for jobs with poor white farmers. The way that white southerners distinguished themselves from the freedmen was by the terrorism of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK). By joining the KKK a white southerner could take action backed by a large organization without fear of repercussions. At anytime the KKK could come to your door and hassle, berate, or even hang you simply because you were now free and had committed some tiny infraction. The testimony of Harriet Postle is a prime example that no freed person was safe. Her family committed no crime yet the KKK still burst down their door, and severely beat Mrs. Postle. The fact that she was around eight months pregnant didn’t deter the KKK from abusing her. Harriet Postle stated in her testimony that the KKK, “beat my head against the side of the house till I had no sense hardly left.” Now the freedmen lived in their own homes without a master, but any Klansman could come in and do what they pleased. Before the Civil War black men and women had no fear of the Klan because they didn’t exist. Now the newly freed person had the Klan breathing down their back along with the inability to assemble or go where they pleased.

African American that became a Freedmen are now officially a full United States citizen, but now face with segregation from the white. The government however, help with these problem with the Freedmen Bureau program. The South’s reaction to the Reconstruction that were given out to the North however, felt that their land are being taken by the carpetbaggers from the North for their political and economic gained during the 1863 to 1877. The Reconstruction are still seen overall as both positive and negative because it has had it’s downfall and gain from it. The aftermath of Reconstruction however, allowed blacks many rights that they have never gotten before and it’s a good beginning to Americans and the country as a whole for ending the unholiness of

Blackmon provides many stories in his book about what the slaves to forced laborers went through and how they felt about the new so called “freedom” they gained. The Black Americans prior to the Emancipation Proclamation have never seen the slightest clue to what freedom could even feel like. “Some of the old slaves said they too weren’t sure what “freedom” really was”

It is commonly believed that after the onset of the Civil War, Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was the key driver to freeing the slaves of the south. After the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Constitutional amendments were passed which aided newly freed slaves in being equally treated under the law, or so the story goes. The fact of the matter is that even after the Emancipation Proclamation and after the amendments, slavery in the United States was still “legal” and not only that, but it took on a much different form. The institution of slavery changed from having the direct enslavement of blacks, to the United States legal and prison system enslaving blacks. Yet, the enslavement itself was changed as black convicts

The Emancipation of the slaves presented the need for giving them the rights of citizens. The federal government granted them citizenship, civil rights, and suffrage. (Doc F) This brought immense change to the lifestyle of the south. Blacks gained political power and elected many leaders in government. (Doc G) Blacks had finally received the recognition and respect as Americans they had worked for. The Petition to the Union convention in Tennessee illustrates the emotion blacks felt in this area. (Doc C) Blacks were also given a chance to improve their economic status by the Freedmen’s Bureau. They received free education and other assistance. The Bureau, however, failed to distribute land in large amounts as it was promised to do. (Doc E)

The newly freed slaves were gaining rights that were always only a dream with legal marriage, education, and power over their children’s lives. However, Black Codes were being used to recreate slavery and were making it hard for African Americans to own property and function in society. (Lecture 1/29/16) Their rights were not given without many exceptions including that African Americans who were convicted of felonies were being put back to work on farms that they were just given the freedom to leave, and all of a sudden it was much easier to get a felony charge for being black and not having a job were considered committing a crime. President Johnson’s neglect of action in southern states was making it nearly impossible for the former slaves to function in society, even after The Civil Rights Act of 1866, and leads into the creation of the Ku Klux Klan

For Example, slaves were forced to work several hard labor jobs without pay. Many slaves had to go through the fear of being sold and torn apart from their families. Even children were auctioned off and torn apart from their families at early ages. Some children were sold as an act to punish their mother or father. Not only did slaves not have equal right, but they also could not get legally married to their significant others. Then you had the ‘free blacks’ who were former slaves that had been emancipated by their master or decedents of free blacks. Free blacks were able attain property, get an education, and move around as they pleased. Although free blacks escaped the harsh conditions of slavery, they still had to face the white racism that came their way. As more and more whites believed that slavery was the answer to the race problem that was going on around them, they constantly became more suspicious of free

In the discussion of African-Americans, one controversial issue has been a debate over their depiction following the Civil War, and subsequent Reconstruction as federal aid, which help them secure their civil rights disappeared. One the one hand, some historians argue that the era was not document and assumed that African-Americans accumulated well, in particular former slaves in the South. Resolved and seemingly nonexistent, the contentious issue of slavery in combination with the passage of a slew of law that secured rights African-Americans. In their minds, what could possibly be a bigger issue to close? On the other hand, numerous historians point out the uncertainty of the era raises several essential questions. What happened to freed

After the United States Civil War during The Reconstruction the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments helped the slaves gain freedom, but there were other twists to their “Freedom”. Black codes , Grandfather Clause, and Jim Crow Laws made freedom unfair to slaves. It was also hard for them to get jobs , be around the whites, travel, and many others. The slaves were free, The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth Amendment did what they intended to do,but slaves were still segregated and badly treated.

Even though, slavery was illegal now, some ex-slave owners took advantage of their former slaves predicament being that they were now homeless and jobless; and some of the former slave owners would allow the freedmen to stay on the plantation as long as they signed a contract to become sharecroppers, paid for their food and land, and got to keep about one-third of the crop for themselves. Slave owners began to notice a change in their former slaves as some of them did not immediately leave the plantation. They did nothing but sleep, get wood for themselves, and refuse to do the daily tending to the plantation needed (Edmondston). Ex-slave owners had the belief that their former slaves would stay faithful to them and not take advantage of their freedom because of all they had done for them in their time of slavery. For example, a former slave owner’s daughter accounts in her personal diary how well one of their former slaves were treated. “Henry, the plantation’s foreman has enjoyed many favors from his master, he had been exempt from hard work and enjoyed a house with four rooms and unlimited chicken and ducks for his household” (Edmondston). And yet, those mere pleasures could not outweigh the desire of newly freedmen had to go into their freedom; even if the destination was unknown to

In the United States of America after the Revolutionary War, freedom was a very relative term. According to the constitution all men were created equal and therefore all men are free. However, in this time prior to the American Civil War this was not the case. There existed, what would eventually be called an immoral evil by some abolitionists in, slavery. Slaves were African-Americans brought to the United States, specifically the South, and treated and sold at auction as if they were property not human beings. This would lead to a great many conflicts both physically and verbally as time progressed, eventually sparking a Civil War. The focus of this paper is on the

This would soon change as a great variety of inconsistencies emerged in race relations as the freed slaves became more confident, assertive, and ambitious. Woodward asserts that, with the influence of carpetbaggers and intense pressures emanating from the North, freedmen enjoyed much political freedom up until the 1890s. During this time blacks could vote, hold elective and appointed offices, and enjoy a redress of grievances. This time of “experiment, testing, and uncertainty [was] quite different from the time of repression and rigid uniformity that was to come toward the end of the century.” According to Woodward during the three decades following the Civil War there was no great demand of the white populace that the freed slaves be disfranchised

American culture refers to the traditions and practices of the people of the United States. Culture comprises of the nature of buildings, religion, music language and marriage. The population of the United States is more than 320 million people making it the most culturally diverse country in the globe. Books such as Crabgrass Frontier, Manifest Destination and Muscular Christianity are important sources of information about American culture. This paper is a reflection on the methods that these books use in providing information about the evolution of the US culture. The paper examines the relationship between these three sources and ways they challenge or inform an understanding of the American society during the late 19th and early 20th century. There is an analysis of the efficiency of the issues tackled by these books in influencing the contemporary discourse surrounding American culture. The major argument of this paper is that Crabgrass Frontier, Manifest Destination and Muscular Christianity provide reliable information about the evolution of the US culture and they supplement each other through the use of relevant examples.