Did African American Participation in the Civil War Change their Position in Society more Dramatically?

Four years later, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. In response to Rosa’s arrest, the black community of Montgomery, Alabama established a boycott, which lasted for over a year.

Though the conclusion of the American Civil War in 1965 marked the end of slavery in the United States, African-Americans would not see anything resembling true freedom from the segregation and isolation imposed by slavery until very recently, and only after decades of difficult struggle. Some of the most important achievements occurred during the 1960s, when a generation of African-American leaders and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and the Freedom Riders, fought against some of the last vestiges of explicit, institutionalized segregation, discrimination, and isolation in order to attain equality and civil rights. Only by examining the treatment of African-Americans throughout America's history can one begin to understand how the the ending of slavery, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and the contemporary issues facing the African-American community are inextricably linked. In turn this allows one to see how rather than existing as a single, identifiable turning point in the history of civil rights, African American's struggle for equality and an end to isolation must be considered as an ongoing project.

How far did US presidents hinder rather than help the development of African American civil rights in the period from 1865-1941?

This indicates that the white backlash had a negative effect on the civil rights effort as it prevented the passage of more stronger legislations in the ‘politico-economic’ system. The escalation of the Vietnam War played an even greater role in damaging the civil rights effort as it took the focus and funding away from the movement. This meant that there would have been fewer resources available to implement the legislations which had already been passed. The War also led to the deterioration of the relationship between Martin Luther King and Lyndon

Beginning in 1861, the civil war was fought over many political questions regarding slavery, yet was barely focused on the actual freedom of the slaves themselves. It is often taught that the Union fought for the freedom of slaves at the beginning of the war. However, it is more accurate to say that Abraham Lincoln’s primary goal at the beginning of the war was to reunite the Union after the majority of the slave-owning states seceded to protect their way of life: slavery. Yet, by the end of the war, the Union’s goal was to free the slaves. Though the laws securing slaves freedom and suffrage were contributed to by many, the primary driving forces behind them was the African Americans. Through their willingness to fight and support the Union cause, African Americans made the United States acknowledge their struggles and transformed the war into a fight for reconnection and freedom. Though hindered by racist people and policies, the African Americans’ participation during the war and Reconstruction greatly contributed to tremendous cultural change as well as the securing of legal rights to blacks.

In what ways did African Americans shape the course and consequences of the Civil War?

To begin with, immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely concentrated over the issue of slavery in American society. The North fought to preserve the Union while the Confederacy fought to

The spoils of hegemony spread through the American landscape in those ebullient years following World War II. The perks of empire-building abroad translated into an uninterrupted period of economic growth and labor reforms that re-calibrated the national consciousness and allowed, for the first time, the emergence of a middle class with sufficient autonomy and self-awareness to exert political influence and correct the power imbalance that had characterized the first decades of the 20th century. This social Renaissance, however, had been distributed unevenly along racial lines, and no government of the time sought to redress the disparity between white economic advancement and the stagnant conditions imposed on social minorities, ossified as they were by decades of systematic subjugation before society and before the law. Discontent seethed beneath black communities, who felt increasingly isolated -and persecuted- by the same social institutions who had demanded so high a sacrifice during the second World War, a sacrifice summoned and re-visited by the looming threat of a war with Vietnam. The landmark Brown vs. Board of Education was seen by many as a hollow victory, given the lethargic response of the Eisenhower administration to enforce the legislation, particularly in the Southern states where racial tensions, unaddressed by the larger cultural zeitgeist, had metamorphosed into open hostility and palpable contempt. An American president would not align himself with the

During American involvement in the war, African Americans were listed and reenlisted on the military draft at higher rates than any other nationalities including whites and Latin-Americans (Westheider 9). As a result, more African Americans than any othe r minority fought and died in combat. In addition, they constantly faced racism. One militant protested forcefully against the unfair conditions: “You should see for yourself how the black man is being treated over here and the ay we are dying. When it comes to rank, we are left out. When it comes to special privileges, we are left out. When it comes to patrols, perataions and so forth, we are first” (Gallagher). According to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., black youths represented an unequal share of early draftees and faced a significantly higher chance of seeing combat. “Rumors abounded that the U.S. government were using the Vietnam War as a form of genocide. Money was being pumped into Vietnam instead of poor black communities in America” (Gallegher).

The Civil War was a massive milestone in American History. This war started in 1861 and lasted four years. It was between the Union and the Confederacy over their differences and problems they created. The consequences the nation faced due to the demolition of the Civil War, was terrifying. Then the Reconstruction era was born to restore, reinstate, and unite the United States as one. During the Reconstruction of 1865 through 1867, African American lives were impacted economically because they were given few rights and their resources were limited, socially because they wanted to be given an ordinary lifestyle, and politically because they weren’t allowed to be joined or linked with the government.

The Civil War is being credited with having influenced early jazz music. After the Civil War, African Americans were free from slavery and now able to explore different aspects of life that were otherwise unavailable to them in the past. Although African Americans were involved in music such as Negro Spirituals, the post-Civil War era opened up new doors for what was once known as African American music. During this time all of the instruments from the Civil War Armies marching bands became available to African Americans due to the cheap prices and this allowed them to explore music more in depth which birth many different forms of jazz music. Not all instruments were available to African Americans so jazz music was birth from just a few basic

In Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy Mary L. Dudziak discusses the impact foreign governments had on the American domestic issue of civil rights from the 1950s through 1970. Dudziak analyzes how a domestic situation was internationally influenced and observed, and would dictate America’s position and allies in the world. She utilizes American propaganda, newspapers, and federal government statements to display how American civil rights were portrayed to the people and in the media. The chapter “Shifting the Focus of America’s Image Abroad” in Cold War Civil Rights examines how foreign eyes honed in on racial minorities fighting for equality in America and how the Johnson administration handled the complex domestic

In 1894, the US Supreme Court gave legal consent to state laws segregating black people and white people with its decision concerning the Plessey v Ferguson case. The decision stated that black and white should be separate but equal, meaning the same standard of facilities for both. In reality it legally enforced a state of affairs that assured that blacks would never be equal, and couldn’t get equal treatment, status or opportunity in their own country. During the Second World War, the black American Gi’s realised that they were fighting for a democracy abroad, which they did not have at home.

Commencing in the late 19th century, state level governments approved segregation acts, identified as the Jim Crow laws, and assigned limitations on voting requirements that caused the African American population economically and diplomatically helpless (Davis, n.d.). The civil rights movement commenced, intensely and assertively, in the early 1940s when the societal composition of black America took an increasingly urban, popular appeal (Korstad & Lichtenstein, 1988). The 1950s and 1960s was well known for racial conflicts and civil rights protests. The civil rights movement in the United States during the late 1950s and 1960s was based on political and social strives to achieve

But veterans and other people of colored skin took action in the way of direct action as discussed in class. An example that we discussed in class and in the reading is that a group of 16 men refused to move to the back of the bus when the bus passed into a state that required they move, even though the law did not. This is a form of direct action because it forced the government to enforce the laws in place and also promoted the civil rights movement. The help of media depicting the cruel manner of police forces against protestors also helped force the government to take action to clean up America’s image in order to appeal to countries in the east under the threat of communist Soviet Union. In my eyes we owe a lot to the Soviet Union because the threat of them turning more countries communist made or forced the United States into cleaning up the problems they had ignored for so