Pros And Cons Of Being An African American

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.

In the South, it was very well known for slaves to be working in plantation fields. The often would work cultivating cotton, tobacco, and sugar. Tobacco was a very popular cash crop, but died out due to the harsh conditions it would give the soil. Moreover, southern states were referred to as Cotton Kingdom. The reason being is because in the southern states, cotton was the major cash crop they grew. In addition, more than 50% of the cotton was grown in the south. Additionally, the culture in the South was quite different compared to the slaves that were in the North. The southern slave states culture was determined by plantation owners and families. The slaves were not authorized to be educated, and only the plantation owners had the right to be educated. They were not allowed to attend school and their culture revolved around the plantations. To add in, their economy revolved around the agricultural plantations. The southern grew cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar cane, and indigo. Many of

The United States is a immigrant country, which faces varieties of problems. The African American problem is one of the most serious one. Racial segregation is a deep-rooted social problem, which reflects in every field in the United States. For example, education, labor market and criminal justice system. In the aspect of education, most of black children were not permitted to enter the school, because the white children studied there. In the aspect of labor market, the black people 's average wages were lower than the whites. They did the manual work. In the aspect of criminal justice system, the blacks were easily in jail. Badly, their sentences were also more serious than the whites. In general, the blacks live in the bottom of the American society. Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream, ' ' I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ' ' (1) However, it was difficult for African American to get the freedom. The 1776 Declaration of Independence announced that everyone are equal and freedom.But black slavery still occurred in the southern states of America. Then the Civil War broke out, African American kept struggling for land and political rights.

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

“She said, “You should say ‘master’. You all are not free…” (“Document C: Henry Adams Statement” 4). Henry Adams was a slave and was freed after the Civil War. However, most white southerners did not acknowledge his freedom. They limited his rights, and tortured him for stating that he was a free citizen. African Americans were not free during Reconstruction because, they were not able to own property and were terrorized by the KKK.

To be free means you have freedom and certain rights without anyone interfering with you. You can also do things at your own will. However, during Reconstruction African Americans were not free because whites abused the fact that they had rights and would overpower them. One example is the Ku Klux Klan.

     In the later 1700’s to 1863, slavery was an intricate part of the South. Slaves were needed for plantation work like planting, caring for, and harvesting crops to maintaining the land. After

Slavery is an association of authority and respect where one individual, the plantation owner, owns another individual, the slave. The owner can command the individual to various jobs around the plantation. Slaves were brought from Africa to work in the home, babysit plantation owner 's kids, and the most popular , to work on farms. Women were more common for working in the owner 's homes and watching after the owner 's kids. Where men were more likely to work on farms picking cotton. Slavery was serious and diminishing towards the African American race. Punishment toward slaves included numerous gruesome activities such as being whipped. Slaves had no legal rights. Slaves could not own property, vote, or have control over their family. There was so much expected from slaves to keep the plantation running like it needed too. Without slaves the South would not

Slavery in colonial America was a hard way of life. Slaves varied in ages and gender. Slaves were assigned a task or tasks that had to be completed during the day. The male slaves would participate in the hard labor such as working on the farm. The female slaves would generally work in the household, sent on errands or spent most of their time with the house owner. Female slaves were forced into sexual relationships for reproduction. Reproduction would either be forced between one African slave and another or between the slave and the house owner. Slaves were also treated like livestock and being bought, sold and traded among owners. For the enslaved people they had to endure being separated from their families when captured or when sold at the slave market. Their new

The free blacks in the North weren’t considered on the same social class as the other free people. “... he shall not be free to dine and drink at our board…” (Doc B) A African American wasn’t allowed to eat and talk with white people because they were looked down upon. They wouldn’t let them eat, drink or talk with them. “... to mingle with us in the concert-room, the lecture-room, the theatre, or the church, or to marry with our daughters...” (Doc B) The African Americans weren’t free to do any of these things purely because they were African American even though they are “free”. They were definitely not free socially but were they free religiously?

The free Negros were taxed and did not have the right to vote. Representatives and leaders were to caught up worrying about themselves they didn’t realize there hypocrite actions. As Britain did to America, America did to the slaves it was a cycle of disrespect. There was no common sense involved in the actions taken between both countries. Though America strived for a democracy they blatantly denied certain right such as those to free slaves. There were a total of eighteen free slaves who signed the petition, which can be related to the Declaration of Rights and

It is known as the land of the free and home of the brave. It’s the United States of America one of the greatest countries to live in. A country where many other people from around the world wish they lived in. “This country is home to five percent of the world’s population” (13th, Netflix). But I ask is it really the land of the free for everyone? Unfair treatment to African Americans has been around for decades and it’s gone from slavery, to mass incarceration, to police brutality, and to racism that still occurs in the present time. African Americans make up to twelve point three percent of the United States. Through the decades mass incarceration of African Americans has skyrocketed. The dramatic increase in mass incarceration of African Americans has now left more blacks in prison then there was during the time of slavery. Since America started taking more and more prisoners throughout the years a film documentary named 13th illustrates that “the United States now home to twenty five percent of the world’s prisoners” and that “1 and 4 human beings are locked up with their hands on bars in this country they call the land of the free” (Netflix). Millions of dollars were spent building more and more prisons to contain and hold all of the prisoners from over the years of incarcerating so much people. So the United States may be known as the land of the free, but to the African American people it isn’t or hasn’t always been so free for them.

Frederick Douglass' narrative reveals a lot about the work of the slaves. Some few slaves worked in the master's house, some more worked in the master's production huts around the farm, but most of them worked in the field under the watch of an overseer with a whip ready in hand. The slaves would be punished, sometimes very severely, if they weren't working early in the morning. They could also be punished if they didn't work fast enough or well enough. After a long day of work, they would have to go to their huts and do their own cooking and washing. They could only sleep a few hours a night after doing all the work they had to do. When they were finished with their work they would fall down on their beds and "sleep till they [were] summoned to the field by the driver's horn." (48) Looking at the slaves as property, the master wanted to use them as much as he could to get his money's value. He didn't think of them as human beings who had needs, but as machines

Althea Gibson & Barbara Jordan are being seen as trailblazers because they are African american and successful! They were both very successful in what they did and people didn't like that. As seen in the text White people ran the tennis scene and didn't want Althea Gibson being successful in tennis so they didn't let her play. Also White people didn't want Barbara Jordan being great at what she was doing. Althea Gibson went from being decent at ping pong to becoming a top 10 player in tennis. Barbara Jordan went from From nothing to becoming the first African american Texas state senate.

Slaves had no rights at all in the south. Many worked as servants and farm laborers. Some practiced skill trade as shoemaking and others worked on cotton plantations as field hands. Men and women did harsh backbreaking labor in the fields. They cleared new land, planted seeds, and harvested crops in all weather. Teenagers worked alongside the adults pulling weeds, picking insects off the crops and carrying water to the other workers. Some slaves became skilled workers such as blacksmiths and carpenters. Some slaves worked in cities but their earnings belonged to their owners. Planters often hired these skilled workers to work on their plantations. Older slaves like women worked as servants in the planter’s house. They cooked, cleaned and did other chores under the supervision of the planter’s wife.