Emancipation

Following the Civil War, America was in shambles. There were many groups with strong, conflicting ideas of how things should be. However, most groups had one idea in common: reducing the rights of African Americans as much as possible. Freed slaves had very little freedom under the law, were treated like a lesser species by those around them, and faced dangerous environments everywhere they went. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have legally freed slaves, but African Americans were barely more than paid slaves.

Racism was a larger issue back in the 1930’s than it is today. During the 1930’s many Black Americans were unable to find jobs. With the Great Depression came the “last hired first fired” mindset. Many African Americans felt that this was targeted towards them (Racial 5). This along with Jim Crow laws kept most blacks in a level of poverty, which added to the discrimination (Racial 7). Throughout this time, all the way up into the 1960’s and 1970’s African Americans were under great segregation. During this thirty years, great strides toward social equality were made, but at the cost of numerous racial driven incidents. Many great African American icons were assassinated during this time. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 because he stood up against racial oppression as well as Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated in 1968. Both of these two men were part of the leading force in the desegregation of America (Rosenberg 1). This movement led to great tension between the African American culture and white culture, which led to many very violent cases between the races. A great

In The Long Emancipation: The Demise of Slavery in the United States, Berlin draws attention to various parts of anti-slavery resistance that often escape consideration. He emphasizes the efforts of African Americans themselves. Berlin brings together main ideas, events, and people who made slave emancipation in the U.S. possible and that American freedom as a complex, disputed process. The author is not focused on speeches, written arguments, and petitions against slavery but with how slaves and free blacks took steps to permanently pull apart forced servitude in the face of crushing hostility. Author Glenn David Brasher of The Peninsula Campaign and the Necessity of Emancipation: African Americans and the Fight for Freedom zooms in and focuses

to which the president of the United States has signed his name,” (Dudley 181). Just by demanding that all slavery be abolished in certain areas, this considerably changed the ways of the African American people. With this new feeling of freedom, many African Americans began to fight for other rights to accompany this. (Dudley 180-183)

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.

As a result of the North’s victory in the civil war and the reconstruction period that followed, African-Americans were seemingly on the verge of being able to enjoy the freedom of no longer being slaves. During the reconstruction era, important pieces of legislature were written in order to protect the rights of the newly freed men. Those pieces of legislature were essentially trying to somehow transform former slave into free productive members of society. However, a number of disgruntled southerners took it as their duty to prevent African-American from being free of their former masters. They saw the northerners demand as an infringement of the South traditional values. Although the

In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed all African Americans that lived in rebel states. For years, only the rebel states had free African Americans, however, after the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment freed all slaves, no matter where they were. Of course, after years of slavery, whites were not used to having free African Americans around them, creating a hostile environment. One former slave, Houston Holloway wrote, “For we colored people did not know how to be free and the white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them” (African American Odyssey 1).

The 1960s was a time for change. It promoted on going expectations of equality for all races. This proved to be difficult for minorities. In August of 1965, civil unrest broke out, which lead to six-day revolt called the Watts Riot. Nearly thirty years later another riot broke out which caused even greater damage and left an even greater impact in our history, the Rodney King Riots. Both of these events share similar qualities and devastating damages, however, their meanings are much harder to decipher from one another. These impactful events in our society demonstrate how much there needs to change in our society, especially when dealing with minorities.

Mainstream political leaders gave little or no discussion of inner city challenges. Mainly, in the 1960’s, the United States transitioned from legal segregation to a more racially open society. Literature from the Harlem Renaissance began to bring up issues that were not addressed professionally. People began to express how they felt about the political and social situation of America in violent terms, such as riots. Literature after the 1970’s was mainly influenced by the Civil Rights Movement. Literature from both time periods, The Harlem Renaissance and after the 1970’s, encouraged people to take a stand against what is right. An uproar of social order and political chaos began in American as undertreated African Americans began realizing what the future needs to hold, for them and their

America has a long history of oppression, discrimination and injustices towards African Americans, however the 1960s has brought important political and social changes. People who have not lived through this decade of change can gather some information of this time through historical documents such as letters and films that portray true events. An example of a film that is based on a true story is “Mississipi Burning” and a powerful historical document is “A Letter from Burmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther king. Each of these materials describes/portrays some of the issues African-American faced during the 1960s, specifically in the south. After analyzing these materials, we are able to understand some of what African-Americans endured during the 1960s.

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

Although the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the Reconstruction brought great hope to America’s four million former slaves, the efforts of Congressional Reconstruction ultimately failed to establish equal rights for the freedmen because the racist mindset still dominated American society at the time and Democratic influence steadily overcame Republican control in Congress. Despite the Union’s victory, the end of the Civil War brought many significant national problems, including an economically and culturally devastated South and the protection of the freedmen. After a period of Reconstruction under Lincoln and then under Andrew Johnson, it was Congress’s turn to determine the path of Reconstruction. While the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation were large steps in the freedmen’s road to equality, it was never going to be that easy to attain true equality for all. The Southerners’ mindset was still fixated on the idea that freedmen were naturally inferior.

Afterward the emancipation proclamation during the Civil War, The U.S government cause a big problem in the way of the emancipation of the slaves. Frederick Douglass identifies in “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass”, 1881 (document 2): “the heads of the freedmen the bitterest hostility of race and class”[...]“they were sent empty-handed, without money, without friends, and without a foot of land to stand upon”. The government didn't gave to the people that have been slaves any piece of money and land. In addition, the unfriendly and hostility treaty which they received remains yet. Furthermore, another political problem came up, the right to vote or the suffrage. A statement of an Afro-American Council, 1898 mentioned: “Since 1868 there has been a steady and persistent determination to eliminate us from the politics of the Southern States” [...] “we insist that restrictions shall apply alike to all citizens of all states”. The suffrage is a federal guaranty which Afro-Americans fought for a long time (3 decades to be exactly). Although, the Southern States persistently wanted to deprive their right to vote. As a result this struggle it will continues for the next decades until a big change will come to put an end of this political

The discriminating social stratification in 1950’s developed a set of servile behavior on the blacks. They were thought to be inferior to whites, and were treated accordingly. Moreover, different parts of the country had various ranges of sensitivities while dealing with the blacks. For example, in Mississippi things were particularly tense after the Parker lynch case. No black man would dare look into any white man’s eyes in fear of the repercussions. On the bus, a man warned Griffin to watch himself closely until he caught onto Mississippi’s ways. In an extreme case like this, it was vital to learn about their roles and behave accordingly.

Though, one of the aims of Lincolns plan was achieved there was still the question of what to do with the salves and their freedom, an issue that was not as adequately solved as the problem surrounding the divided sates. For example, even though black Americans, in the eyes of the law, were granted citizenship and awarded the same rights as white Americans this was not a de facto change in the political sense. This is referring to the fact that African Americans were still prohibited from actually talking part in the voting system. Most southern states had become very judgmental on who could actually vote and adopted various vices that enabled them to reduce the electorate, discriminating against race via various laws and regulations. One of the vices used to prevent African Americans from voting was the Grandfather Clause, which stated that in order to vote an individual’s ancestors must be American, a requirement that would be impossible for black Americans to prove. Furthermore, registrars and those in control of local voting stations could ask for individuals to take certain literacy tests to show that they are intellectually able to vote or take part in something as complicated as politics. These tests were almost always filled with ridiculous questions such as, ‘how many bubbles are there in a bar of soap?’ Clearly, reconstruction failed in terms of enabling Africa Americans de