Essay On Black Freedom Struggle

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”

When the Americans were tirelessly fighting the war of independence, it was unknown to them that they were simultaneously laying the foundation for an alternative war that was to rage for centuries to come - the war of black freedom. As they pass through the many precincts of American history, they created perplexes that would soon resonate conflicts, rebellions, catastrophes, carnage and even wars sporadically.

The Rise of African- Americans From 1865 To 2012, Their Struggles To Become Free Americans

In this paper I will demonstrate the purpose of Franklin & Higginbotham, from Slavery to Freedom describing “a movement of movements.” Meaning some movements may have been considered little but they were the cause of something much bigger. Martin Luther King Jr. had a major impact in the 1960s promoting “nonviolent direct action to attain racial equality.” It then states “in the 1940s, they engaged in strikes, sit-ins, boycotts and freedom rides, and they planned a mass march on Washington.” African American realized that violence was not going to help them with their issues with the Caucasian class of America. The civil rights movement was a great ordeal in United States history and America would not be what it is today without it.

African Americans have always suffered to be put down or belittle by the opposite race, not knowing that blacks were actually the first to overcome many circumstances and changing the world. In today’s society not too many African Americans understand or know where they come from and how many of their ancestors pave the way for Blacks today. After reading the poem On the origins of things by Listervel middleton African Americans have fought with knowledge, overcame circumstances and changed history.

By supporting the Revolutionaries actions to break free from British Rule, Douglass alluded to the similar fight that the American population faced to attain the same liberty that white citizens had. With the same courage the Founding Fathers had to create a free country, the American generation of 1852 faced a similar test to uphold the values of the Declaration of Independence, and liberate American slaves.7 After applauding the Founding Fathers, Douglass acknowledges that the emphasis of his speech is not to give praise, but to call on America to act on it’s own failures and begin to faithfully fulfill the nations oath.8 He asks his audience, “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us [African Americans]?”9 This rhetorical question Douglass presents, challenges America to reevaluate what they are truly celebrating on the Fourth of July, for it is surely not the freedom in which they claim to have achieved. Douglass asserts that asking black people to rejoice in the “shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery”10 and do not respect the courage, and steps the Founding Fathers took to create a free, liberated nation.11

African Americans have come a very long way from 1865; they have fought many battles to earn their place in America’s Society. From the ending of slavery African Americans have had various achievements from their suffering. Some fought, some spoke, some marched, some sat, some cried, some died, some even dreamed, but all of these things left a footprint in history. In this paper I will discuss some very important events in African American history beginning with the ending of slavery which has brought us to the America we all enjoy today.

The time has come again to celebrate the achievements of all black men and women who have chipped in to form the Black society. There are television programs about the African Queens and Kings who never set sail for America, but are acknowledged as the pillars of our identity. In addition, our black school children finally get to hear about the history of their ancestors instead of hearing about Columbus and the founding of America. The great founding of America briefly includes the slavery period and the Antebellum south, but readily excludes both black men and women, such as George Washington Carver, Langston Hughes, and Mary Bethune. These men and women have contributed greatly to American society.

We live in a country that has a pledge of allegiance that says “freedom for all” however black communities have not received their freedom. Freedom is defined as the power and right to act, speak, or think as one wants without any restraint. African Americans have not been allowed to enjoy any of these luxuries even after the end of slavery. African Americans had to face a variety of issues such as segregation, mass incarceration and poverty. These challenges continue to oppress African Americans, therefore, they still have to struggle to obtain freedom. Freedom in which they feel accepted anywhere and are exposed to the same opportunities and support as any other race. With leaders like, Reverend T. J. Jemison and W. E. B. DuBois, African Americans have been reminded and encouraged to keep striving through their life filled with struggles because they

Black people in the U.S have been fighting for themselves since the birth of America. Many today say that it will never stop. They may say that the challenges they face will never disappear. During the 1800s Blacks went through extreme hardships. Most of which were regarding slavery and the many attempts to put an end to it. The title of Howard Zinn’s Chapter Nine in A people’s History of the U.S represents much more than a typical reader would presume. The title has a meaning that represents a bulk of black history in the United States of America. The chapter title “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom” represents the everlasting fight that black people in the United States of America have had to put up for their own rights and freedom because blacks fought during the time of slavery and didn’t give up, the time period spent fighting to end slavery, and even after Slaves were freed they have had to continue fighting for the reason that they weren’t given true freedom.

Another monumental activist from African American history I was introduced to was Marcus Garvey. Throughout school, Martin Luther King was always stressed at the most prominent civil right activist in America. After learning about the impact and movement that Garvey had in America, I was shocked at the fact that I had never heard about him in a history course before. Marcus Garvey’s ultimate goal was to form a united black nation which would unify blacks across the globe. Garvey’s movement symbolized the turning of the perception of black people, not only by blacks but other races as well.

The documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, allows one to experience African American history through key historical sites, and interviews with living eyewitnesses such as those who fought during the well-known civil-rights movement. The documentary sheds light on the experience of African Americans, both in the past and today. The information presented in class further aids in detailing how African American history shaped the African American community in regards to support systems, crises, but most importantly, how these individuals used resiliency to overcome their trials and tribulations towards a fights for rights, freedom, and respect. During the six episodes, one will see that the road and battle to freedom for blacks in America was not linear, but rather complex and difficult- it was much like the course of a river, full of loops and turns, sometimes slow, and sometimes reversing the current of advancement. Although enslavement led to the creation of the African American people, it manifested into the multiplicity of cultural institution, beliefs, and religion and social institutions that the African American people have established- along with their strength and resiliency. From slavery, lynching’s, and the many marches and protests led by phenomenal black leaders, to the gained freedoms and the first black president in the White House, the documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, details an engaging journey through African-American history from a perspective that thoroughly reflects the lives of African-Americans and the community in its

Over the course of this semester, I was introduced to many people, ideas, writings, and discussions that sparked my interest and enlightened me on African American history. However, I feel like this was just the beginning of my journey of learning the history of my people, as there is still so much out there to be brought to the surface. Prior to taking this course, I was always ignorant on the topic of African American history and simply made the connection to slavery. Additionally, I was unaware of other black activist, movements, and struggles that I had the chance to witness for the first time in this class. I came to a realization of how deprived of this information I was, because other historic events have been deemed more important. A quote that stuck with me throughout the course that was made by Arthur Schomburg was, “... African history and negro history, are the missing pages of world history”.

Throughout history, African Americans have encountered an overwhelming amount of obstacles for justice and equality. You can see instances of these obstacles especially during the 1800’s where there were various forms of segregation and racism such as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan terrorism, Jim- Crow laws, voting restrictions. These negative forces asserted by societal racism were present both pre and post slavery. Although blacks were often seen as being a core foundation for the creation of society and what it is today, they never were given credit for their work although forced. This was due to the various laws and social morals that were sustained for over 100 years throughout the United States. However, what the world didn’t

Pan Africanism was a philosophical, economic and sociocultural call for unity between Africans and the diaspora that gained popularity in the 19th century. The aim of the movement was to resist physical and symbolic domination exerted by capitalist powers and overturn the social hierarchies established by the forces of slavery, racism, and colonialism in Africa and abroad. The idea behind including the African diaspora in Pan Africanist efforts is due not only to the common history that connects them but to a common plight rooted in the same racism experienced by Africans and people of African descent. United, African Nations would have the socio-political and economic strength to compete on the world stage and the power to redefine the narratives illustrating blackness in an Eurocentric society within a Eurocentric world. Among the black leaders that represented Pan Africanism were W.E.B DuBois and Marcus Garvey, political advocates different, and almost opposing, in their methods but similar in their belief in the need for African solidarity in order to reassert African pride and humanity from neo-colonial subjugation.