Emancipation And Reconstruction: Washington And Du Bois

Many people will tell you that African Americans were free during the reconstruction after the civil war, which on paper may be the case. Life during this time was getting better, however, it still wasn’t good. African Americans faced multiple different forms of oppression that would make it seem that they were in prison. A few of these were the black codes, and the government's reaction to the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. However the amendments were not meant to have the states to poke holes in them, they were made to give freed African Americans the same right as everyone else.

During the American Gilded Age, W.E.B Du Bois, a civil rights activist, historian, and sociologist, was a significant figure in U.S history. He strongly advocated for the rights of blacks in post-civil war America primarily focusing on the importance of education, political rights, and social equality for African Americans. His accomplishments include becoming the first black to get a PhD at Harvard and co-founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909. Although there were many ground breaking progress for blacks, Du Bois heavily expressed his concern for black representation in the political system. In his 1903 book, The Souls of Black Folks, Du Bois articulated the importance of representation for blacks stating,

African American’s first legal sight of freedom came in 1799 with the Gradual Emancipation of slaves that were born on or after 1799. Many whites against slavery helped with their efforts in bring the Gradual Emancipation’s approval. The Quakers were the first to help the slaves fight for freedom. The New York Manumission Society contributed the most for the emancipation of slaves, but let’s not give all the credit to the whites. Black efforts undeniably helped in the process of gradually abolishing slavery as well.

The Emancipation Proclamation is one of the biggest documents in the history of the United States and its effects lasted years after its implementation. On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln announced a preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation (Dudley 166). This preliminary version told the basis of President Lincoln’s plan; all slaves who were living in a seceded and rebelling area of the South would be declared “then, thenceforward, and forever free” as of January 1, 1863 (Dudley 167). Whether or not the document would truly make a change in the nation was something that was disputed among many during the time of its issuing. Frederick Douglass was a widely known runaway slave turned abolitionist, speaker, and writer who promoted

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are our natural rights as citizens of the United States of America. Our founding fathers instilled those rights in our Declaration of Independence, so we all could enjoy our freedom of life and pursue anything that brought us happiness. But who is we? Thomas Jefferson, the author of those famous words wanted a society of freedom, but it didn’t apply to everyone in the new founded union. Thomas Jefferson viewed the African American slaves as a lesser people; they were physically and mentally inferior in comparison to all white Americans. Jefferson supported the emancipation to free the slaves, but he believed they needed to be colonized elsewhere after freedom as

The quote taken from James Forten is a perfect example of the effect that the American Revolution had on African American people. The American Revolution was the “Great Awakening” for African Americans, because it was the spark to the coming Civil War. African Americans used the ideology of the American Revolution to their advantage, and used the ideology to pursue freedom. Even though the American Revolution had a lasting effect on African Americans during this time period it was only moderately revolutionary in improving the lives of African Africans; because, African American were still slaves in most areas, had many of their natural right suppressed, and were seen unfit to handle freedom. The American Revolution gave African Americans ideas of natural rights, equality, and hope for freedom.

Although there were more than four million slaves living in the U.S. at this time, the Emancipation Proclamation did not formally free a single one of them. So that presents us with a couple of very interesting questions: first, why did Lincoln issue the proclamation if it had no practical effect? Second, why is the Emancipation Proclamation considered Lincoln's most important legacy if it didn't actually free anyone?

During reconstruction the United States was divided on social issues, presidential campaigns were won and loss on these issues during this period. The struggle for development of African Americans and how they initiated change in political, economic, educational, and social conditions to shape their future and that of the United States. (Dixon, 2000) The South’s attempts to recover from the Civil war included determining what to do with newly freed slaves and finding labor to replace them. The task of elevating the Negro from slave to citizen was the most enormous one which had ever confronted the country. Local governments implemented mechanisms of discrimination to combat citizenship

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.

On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, issued the first, or preliminary, Emancipation Proclamation. In this document he warned that unless the states of the Confederacy returned to the Union by January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves to be “forever free.” During the Civil War, he was fighting to save the Union and trying not to free the slaves. Lincoln was quoted to say, “I am not, nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.” The Emancipation Proclamation illustrated this view.

The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The first one, issued September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The second order, issued January 1, 1863, named ten specific states where it would apply. Lincoln issued the Executive Order by his authority as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" under Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution. Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free all the slaves, but it kept critical border states from seceding and it

The emancipation proclamation was an order signed by president Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War in attempt to abolish slavery in the ten rebellion states in the confederacy. The order took effect on January 1, 1863 in attempts to free more than 3.5 million slaves in the confederate area where they rebelled against the Union, and to maintain apprehended freedom between the newly freed slaves and the federal government and military. This was a turning point in the Civil war as Abraham lincoln changed the focal point of the war from secession to slavery, which the South [Jefferson Davis] didn’t want to occur, in fear of losing foreign allies, such as anti-slavery Great Britain. The North really increased their chances of

The Emancipation Proclamation. John Hope Franklin. Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1963, 1965, 1995. 155 pp.

Including the right to vote, Du Bois also hoped that his people would one day be able to achieve equality in education. To Du Bois “education [was] the development of power and ideal” (Niagara Movement 2). If African Americans could not reach this they would never be seen in the eyes of the whites as equal. He wanted his people to been seen as bright and capable. He refused the idea that little black boys and girls should be trained as nothing more than servants. African Americans deserved to get a real education yes, “[they were] workers, but work [was] not necessarily education” (Niagara Movement 2). To Du Bois education meant more than having the skill to work as a laborer it meant his race would have a brighter future ahead of them. They could take what they had learned in school and with it would be able to gain jobs, and a relatively satisfying living, they would be seen as more alike to the whites, they after all had the “right to know, to think, to aspire” (Niagara Movement 2). Without an education blacks were merely playing into the stereotype they had been cast. An education could change this they would no longer be seen as criminals. As Du Bois points out that out of

The black freedom struggle has not yet come to an end – there are still prejudiced and racist radicals that try to negotiate white supremacy and dominance in order to prevent the blacks from their long wait for equality. Consequently, the movement has progressed very sluggishly in the past few centuries. Nevertheless, the campaign for equal rights has led to the triumph over slavery and has led to the accrual of suffrage rights. However, this is still not enough, not after centuries of enslavement, lynching, segregation, and discrimination. Oftentimes, there is still no justice in court houses, especially when black people are accused and convicted, even for the simplest of crimes – as compared to the white and powerful who are charged for heinous misconducts and get away scratch free. Hence, throughout the period of the Blacks’ long fight for freedom and equality, several Black intellectuals have come front with ideas that could administer better treatment for their people. A good strategy to encourage the black populace to fight for their freedom and their rights is by inverting popular ideas so that there is a clear distinction between the reasonable and unreasonable notions of equality and justice. Thus, it was not uncommon for these literati to undermine dominant discourses in order to bolster their own analyses. Among the discussed black intellectuals who inverted prevailing dissertations, three that stood out the most are Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia Cooper, and