Mississippi Black Code Of Freedom Essay

Even the men who are in the Northern States who are black are not free. Douglass points out that “blacks are easily likely to face the death penalty for one crime, where white people would face punishment if they did the crime twice,” This, according to Douglass is slavery. This can be seen even today in our news and society. Many blacks are targeted and attacked solely based on their appearance, and experience many micro-aggressions. Douglass also says, “Do not need to argue about what is wrong with robbing these Negros from their liberty keep them ignorant from their relations to other men?” This speech truly emphasizes the inhumane, cruelty, and injustice associated with the treatment of blacks in America. While the whites look at the 4th of July as a celebratory to their lives and freedom, not everyone is truly free. It is important for Douglass to show that while many associate this holiday with prosperity and positive attributes, the blacks face slavery, prejudices, and unequal treatments day-to-day. “What is inhumane cannot be divine”, says Douglass. Later on in the speech, he talks

Certainly, freedom was supposed to be “freer”” for those slaves that had fought for their rights after years of submissionn, but, unfortunately, many white Southern people continued to ignore the law by not showing any respect for Africans-Americans. Because of the radical reconstruction in the south, the African-Americans were a step closer from the same political

Douglass also in his speeches liberated what Americans in this economy would have done with blacks. In his speech “what the blacks want” he states, “I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief.” (Douglass). Society’s “America” has already put us in a category. Race we are not superior or equal to no other. Economically we don’t have the means to live out what we strive for. Education wise we have none, we are not sufficient enough to read or write for us to have a better life. Douglass in this speech stresses to leave us alone we are cable of doing bad or good on our own. His would view principle of self-ownership, which he understood to include both the racial and equality.

According to Douglass, “They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to” (Douglass, 150). Douglass saw similarities between the struggles of the forefathers and black slaves, and he compelled his audience to recognize these similarities and follow the example of the forefathers.

“For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold…that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men…we are called upon to prove that we are men!” (Douglass) During his speech, Douglass elaborated on the different aspects of why blacks have a natural right to freedom as any other human being He argued it is wrong to turn a man into a “brute” and proceeded to argue that slavery is not divine in its origin. Douglass’s speech was a calling for equality, for change. He accomplished his goal and proved the fourth of July was a revolting reminder to him and those like him of the continual inhumane cruelty American attempted to conceal through its mockery.

The south did not practice the right that the Declaration Of Independence had given us stating that all men are created equal. Throughout Douglass’ narrative he shows the reader his mindset and what he does to overcome the challenges that he faces.

When one talks, people listen, when Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, best known as Fredrick Douglass, ‘an American slave’, wrote people read. When he spoke his truth, through his speeches he began to preach for the right against slavery. Known as the most recognised African American leader before the civil war, Douglass was born a slave. It is apparent that Fredrick Douglass was a significant figure and believed in abolitionism, a movement to end slavery, that occurred in American during middle 1800s. Literature was a major factor in Douglass’ approach in the battle in gaining the attention of his fellow victims of slavery. With no formal education, he wrote his first book, ‘The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. An analysis of the key events, conflicts and issues that have influenced Douglass’ first step into the anti-slavery civil rights movement. Spreading knowledge about his experiences and changing the law which made reading and access to education illegal for slaves. This motivated him to purchase his first book, a collection of famous speeches, which elevated his abilities to portray his message though public speeches. Fighting with his words instead of violence. These conflicts helped him accomplish his overall goal of solving the inequitable treatments of slaves.

The seventh section of these black codes allowed for the return of freed blacks to their employers if they were to quit “the service of his or her employer before the expiration of his or her term of service without good cause.” What a blacks’ term of service and what defined just cause for ending that term of service, would likely be left up to the employer, creating a system which virtually defined slavery itself. Since blacks were required to be employed, this meant that they could be held in slave-like conditions to white employers.

The eloquence that he possesses is what convinces people like William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips to see the error of slavery and fight for its abolition. When Douglass reads the speech, he receives, "(...) a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights." (24). This newly learned message empowers Douglass to fight for his right to freedom.

The Mississippi Black code was a code to restore slavery and white supremacy by calling it something different. Yes, there were given the rights like legal marriage, own property, limited access to courts but there were not allowed to do many things. One tiny mistake and they would be send to jail with a high jail bond. Rich white men would pay their jail bond only to put the blacks in debt with

The definition of freedom often differed in many ways between the black and white people. “For whites, freedom, no matter how defined, was a given, a birthright to be defended. For African-Americans, it was an open-ended process, a transformation of every aspect of their lives and of the society and culture that had sustained slavery in the first place. Although the freedpeople failed to achieve full freedom as they understood it, their definition did much to shape national debate during the turbulent era of Reconstruction” (Foner, 445). Chapter LXXX, an act regulating contracts for labor in the Texas Black Codes designed a contract between employer (white male) and employee (former African American slave). This chapter of the codes completely contradicts the ideology of civil rights. The

Eric Foner in Forever Free the Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction mentions that the Revolution made slavery a more discussed and controversial topic. Prominent figures like Abigail Adams wondered, “Could the ‘passion of liberty’ be among those ‘accustomed to deprive their fellow citizens of theirs?’” (Foner 9). Although Adams was white and a prominent figure, she was a woman who could not enjoy the same rights as African Americans. However, she was at a higher social status than the black population. That an important figure in the revolution for independence was able to question the idea of post-revolution liberty shows that freedom was a concept restricted to the white male population since the treatment of African Americans suggests freedom was not applied equally. Around 50 years later, Frederick Douglass reminds the America of the unequal treatment and rights of freedom at an abolitionist

“...there was a time when to pronounce against England [racialized slavery], and in favor of the cause of the colonies [abolition of racialized slavery], tried men’s souls. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men [a threat to the economic benefits of slavery]. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong , and with the oppressed [black slaves] against the oppressor [majority of whites]!” (Douglass, 1852)

Throughout years in the United States, Southern states have enforced various attempts of segregation at the state and local levels. One of the first regulations Southern states legally passed was Jim Crow Laws. Legalized in the early 1880s to the mid 1960s, Jim Crow Laws approved the segregation between blacks and whites. “Racism, which grew and changed in response to both domestic and international conditions and debates, existed across the entire country, but beyond the basic harshness and limitations that white supremacy place on

But because he felt a sense of loyalty to his master, he ignores the advice of the freed blacks and continued down the river until he reached his master’s brother. ”A slave had no rights of his own. He was the absolute possession of his master. And he was obligated to give his master unquestioning obedience. It was a humble position that demanded a man to think of his duties and obligations rather than his privileges. And it demanded the slaves’ loyalty to his master. The slave had no interests of his own, all he did was for His Master.” (Marji “Mike” Kruger). On December 18th, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln declared slavery to be illegal and he made slave owners set them free. Although this law was written down, it didn’t mean that the idea and ideology of slave-master relationship vanished completely. As history progressed onward, the term slave was replaced with a more demeaning term, nigger. During this age, the definition of a slave was a person oppressed to a degree which a person’s will can’t be done. Niggers [Negroes] were considered the second, inferior race. We finally were considered to be human beings. Although we were so-called free, we were still forced to live under limited conditions. Yes, the physical chains, bolts, and locks were done away with but we were still bared down by many laws that restrained us still from being recognized for a full potential. Set free but still forced to live under the rules of the white;