The Freedom Of The African Americans

During the late 1800’s, Europe was looking for a way to improve themselves as a whole. With growing population and a steady decline in available work, something new had to be done. Countries looked towards Africa to serve as new colonies for the Europeans in order to better their own countries. During the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914 Europe’s attitude towards Africa was that Africa was the inferior race in comparison to the Europeans. With the help of a strong feeling of nationalism, Europeans were motivated to acquire new lands in order to improve their motherland’s

Throughout history, Americans have sought to spread the spirit of equality, which is believed to be the realization of true freedom. Before establishing this freedom, every American had only one question stuck in their head: What is freedom? Our country received it in the year of 1776 from the British through a series of difficulties and wars. African Americans defined it as an escape from slavery, while immigrants defined it as their acceptance into a new society. More yet, women of the women’s suffrage defined their freedom as their recognition into society and for their rights to be equal to that of every other man. These different perceptions of cultures/groups in America tied together to form an American view of freedom. Freedom is

The Scramble for Africa can easily be defined as the forced invasion and division of African countries among European superpowers. Those powers included Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and Belgium. Each superpower wanted control over a certain area on the continent and would do anything to ensure that their area remained in their best interest. To bring the conflicts to the forefront, the countries participated in the Berlin Africa Conference in 1884-1885. In this conference, the issues of Anglo-German relations and everybody’s control in Africa were discussed. As a result of the conference, European control began to overtake the African continent and imperialism became a giant part of the European mark. In his book, “Worlds of Color” W.E.B DuBois discusses the idea of whole colonial enterprise stating that the problem the world faces is the color line. This can easily be interpreted as Dr. DuBois giving the idea that if World, more specifically European superpowers stop viewing the color line and Africa’s color line as something less than them a lot of the world’s issues could be detected and fixed. But more importantly, Dr. DuBois is stating that without the Worlds of Color, European industrialization would not exist.

     There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons may be that Europeans believed that the

There are many reasons why Europeans colonized Africa. One reason why they colonized Africa is so they could take people and use them as slaves. Europeans got slaves by either, buying people from their tribes or, using force and taking them. The Europeans did this so they could take the slaves to mines and farms in Africa or they took them back to Europe and use them as laborers for themselves or they would sell the slaves to other Europeans and make money off of selling them. They did this because people needed slave laborers to manage their farms or help work in their mines. Another way Europeans wanted to colonize Africa was for economic reasons like new markets, trade and they wanted raw materials. They took

Africa has had a long and tumultuous road of colonization and decolonization the rush to colonize Africa started in the 17th century with the discovery of the vast amounts of gold, diamonds, and rubber with colonization hitting a fever pitch during World War I. However, the repercussions of colonization have left deep wounds that still remain unhealed in the 21st century. Early on, European nations such as Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium scrambled for territories. Countries wanted land so they could harvest the resources, increase trade, and gain power. The European colonization of Africa brought racism, civil unrest, and insatiable greed; all of which have had lasting impacts on Africa.

For centuries, European nations had been trading slaves, gold, ivory, and more with the west coast of Africa. Throughout the early 1800s, Europeans barely knew anything about the rest of the country of Africa. This quickly changed as Europe grew a sudden interest in exploring the rest of the country and taking advantage of their many valuable resources. Many wonder what motivated Europeans to Imperialize Africa, or extend their country’s power throughout Africa. The driving forces behind European Imperialism in Africa were the strive for ultimate power in Africa between competing countries, the need for money and technological advancements in European civilizations, and the constant attempt for Europeans to spread their cultures throughout

Between the period from 1880 to 1914, European powers went after overseas empires in Africa. The governments and political leaders of the European powers believed that this colonization of the African empires was necessary to maintain their global influence. A second group of people supposed that African colonization was the result of the greedy Capitalists who \only cared for new resources and markets. The third group of people claimed it to be their job to enlighten and educate the uncivilized people of Africa. Although the political leaders of European powers encouraged colonization of African empires to advance their nation’s global influence, others argued that it was only for the profiteering of the Capitalists who sought new

During the 1860s there was a lot of different stands on the state of freedom for the African-American people in the south, also a false identity of freedom for the quote on quote freed slaves. During this time there were multiple documents stating the condition of the south by observation, also to further educate the Northerners of the condition of the US and following up on the progress that was being made after the civil war.

Before the Europeans began to explore Africa, little was known about the continent. However, after some initial exploration of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, European countries had only small colonies in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the resources in the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African regions and assume control. This led to “ the race” and ultimately, the partition of Africa. There were many motives for the Europeans to imperialize Africa. There were humanitarian and religious goals, political goals, military goals, and most importantly, there were economic interests. During the Berlin conference, The European powers decided that they were going to spread the three C’s (Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization) in Africa. To do this, the conference had three aims “ Ensure free trade for all nations throughout the Congo, to ensure free navigation for all countries on the Niger River of West Africa, and agree to set rules by which the Europeans could proceed to divide the rest of the continent.” (Part II: The European Conquest, Pg 11). Later in the document it states that not one African representative was present at the Berlin Conference to discuss Africa's future. The European people tricked themselves into thinking that what they were doing

diplomacy or military force. In the 20th century many European countries attempted to colonize the great continent of Africa. Europeans saw Africa as an area they would be able to profit from, as it had a great climate, good size, and some phenomenal natural resources. While the Europeans divided the continent of Africa they failed to see the possible negative effects on themselves, and the indigenous people of Africa. Their foresight was limited to only the positive outcomes.

During the 19th century, King Leopold II of Belgium compared Africa to a cake. At the Berlin Conference in 1885, seven European nations took slices of Africa for themselves without discussing any details with Africans. From a 21st century perspective, this seems like a selfish thing to have done, so why did Europeans engage in imperialism? Certainly, political factors, cultural causes, and technological advancements were important. But the primary cause was economic. European nations competed to exploit the rich resources of Africa for financial and commercial gain.

The fight for freedom is like drowning. Some people have been under the water for so long they are no longer conscious of their surroundings. Others try to resurface. Once we do resurface, we must never stop swimming or we will be dragged back under the dark, devastating water. The freedom we create for ourselves may change our lives, but there is always room for improvement in this ever changing world. In order to make the best for ourselves and our families, we need to liberate ourselves from these forces repeatedly as the pressure the controlling forces put on us becomes too much.

The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without restraint, is what we know today as Freedom. While an unjust act or occurrence is implied as Injustice. These two terms are examples of the issues that many African Americans face daily in America. Freedom and Injustice could be combined to define the term of Slavery. Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco. It was practiced throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the new nation. Slavery was ultimately outlawed and laws prohibiting discrimination against African-Americans passed, racism against this community remains and is manifested in more subtle ways today.

America is regarded as a place of freedom, a place where everyone is treated the same and have equal rights. However, this freedom did not always apply to everyone and even now this freedom is incomplete. To this day these people are still suffering from discrimination, but there are groups and movements trying to amend this. Though America has prided itself as a country of freedom, the path to freedom for marginalized African Americans is treacherous and incomplete because of slavery, racism, violence, and segregation, but has made much progress.