Were Free African Americans In The North Essay

Blacks in the North were only partially free. Document B is and insert from a book called Life and Liberty in America written by Charles Mackay in 1859. Charles was an Englishman who came to America and wrote about his travels and observations. When talking about African Americans this document says, “He shall be free to live and to thrive, if he can,and to pay taxes and perform duties.”. This quote says that African Americans are free to live their lives as an any other American citizen if he is not a slave. He is saying that they will be treated as any white man when it comes to taxes and supporting themselves.

In 1850 The Northern free blacks started to become more free.There was a slave population in the U.S which was 476,000. Slaves are becoming more free in voting and political freedom. What political, economic, and social freedoms did free blacks have in the North? In The North the free northern blacks had some political, economic, and social freedoms.

In the American society during the late 19th and early 20th century, many people had several ideas in how the country’s development should be managed. During this, the social and political situations black Americans had to deal with was their continuous struggle for civil rights. The right not to vote was one of the biggest issue in the southern black life’s. The Jim crow law helping during this time by mandating equal rights, yet separate.

Even with slavery being abolished roughly 50 years ago, African Americans still faced harsh racism in the south. It wasn’t legal to deny any rights of African Americans, southerners still found ways to set requirements that were legal and still limited rights of African Americans. The Jim Crow laws put poll taxes and literacy requirements on presidential elections. After receiving harsh racism for most of his life growing up, Richard thought it would be a good idea to move north and restart his life in Chicago which he thought was equal. “This was the terror which I fled” (Wright 257).

Stokely Carmichael famously said, “We have to fight for the right to invent the terms which will allow us to define ourselves and to define our relations to society, and we have to fight that these terms will be accepted.” Preceding his statement over 150 years, newly freed blacks began to assimilate into the white-dominated society of the United States. While slavery still dominated in the southern part of the country, blacks in the north began to be freed during and after the American Revolution. While there were instances of free blacks in southern society, as demonstrated by the case study of Louisville, KY, this newfound freedom was commonly seen throughout the northern states, such as New York City.

Were African Americans free during Reconstruction? After the Civil War in 1865 and for the next 17 years America was in Reconstruction, during this time period African Americans were referred to as freedmen and women or negroes. Many important things happened during these 15 years, one of them being the 13th Amendment being passed stating that all men were free (Doc. A). The definition of freedom is, the ability to do whatever you want and control your own actions, without external pressure. So were African Americans really free?

Blacks couldn't do about anything in the north. So they weren't allowed to work at certain jobs, eat at places whites ate at or even use the same restroom. They may have been free but they still had to be careful on what they do, just because the north is free doesn't mean all whites still agree with it. Lots of time blacks were kicked out of areas because of the whites not liking them. Free blacks in the north had very limited freedoms.

During Reconstruction, African Americans’ freedoms were very restricted. There were strict regulations on voting, relationships, employment, firearms, and other freedoms that white people had. African American faced disenfranchisement for years after being freed and becoming citizens. In What a Black Man Wants by Frederick Douglass, Douglass angrily demands the freedom to vote that every American deserved. He assesses the black man’s contribution to society and wonders why this contribution has not led to more rights. Those who were supposed to be fighting for the rights of freed slaves were not speaking up. Even the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was not fighting for the rights of the freed slaves. Because of the restrictions on voting, African Americans did not have the same power over their own lives that white people had. Disenfranchisement is just one way white people limited freedoms of freed slaves.

The Civil War had ended and the Reconstruction era had given African American’s a much-needed voice in the electoral process. They were finally able to have rights in the way that business matters were being organized. Unfortunately, this was short-lived. White domination took over every aspect of life, particularly in the south. Between 1890 and 1906, every southern state was involved in constitutional provisions and passing laws that were meant to completely wipe out the black vote altogether. There were a few ways in which they did this. One was by charging a poll tax. If you couldn’t pay the tax, you couldn’t vote. Although, this tax was waived for the equally poor white voters. A handful of the southern states issued what was called

Throughout the Constitution, blacks, whites, or slaves are not mentioned in the constitution. Slaves, instead, are referred to as persons to underline their humanity, as highlighted through the words of The Daily Signal, when they state, “The Constitution speaks of people, citizens, persons, other persons (a euphemism for slaves) and Indians” In fact, the first references of race and color would not appear until the 15th Amendment’s guaranteed right to vote. However, while the constitution did not particularly benefit free African Americans, it did not assist their freedom in any way. Free African Americans could not vote, have a say in government office, or own land, and those captured would face the difficulties of proving their freedom,

There are major historical narratives pertaining to Reconstruction that can offer insight on what is true American Freedom: The Dunning School view of the 1920s-1930s reflecting white southern elites, the Revisionist view from the 1960s, and the Post-Revisionist view of the 1970s to present. The white elites who were upset by the loss of the confederacy and resented Radical Reconstruction felt betrayed by the of “corruption presided over by unscrupulous carpetbaggers, traitorous scalawags, and ignorant freedmen” (Lecture Recon.). The Dunning School view that emerged in the early twentieth century supported these white supremacists’ ideas and popularized that “black suffrage had been a political blunder and that the Republican state governments in the South that rested upon black votes had been corrupt, extravagant, unrepresentative, and oppressive” (Lecture Recon.). Foner argues that “liberals” started “echoing white southerner’s complaints that Reconstruction violated principles of good government by expelling me of property from power,” and that “gullible lower-class voters throughout the country” were being coerced (119). Eventually, the nation experienced “such travesties… as the Tweed Ring of New York City” because of the additional voters (119). Overall, this view of Reconstruction condemned the

Slaves were freed and discovered newfound hope for their futures. This hope was soon demolished by things such as the “Black Codes”, who’s main purpose was to restore white supremacy. Under the Black Codes, “African Americans could not vote, serve on juries, testify against whites, or attend public schools” (Tindall P.589). For many years, African Americans had been striving to gain the right to vote. With the addition of Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, this dream was finally becoming a reality. Black men thought that this meant they could not be denied the right to vote, but they soon realized this was not entirely true. White supremacy was a great factor during this time and whites soon found ways around this

Much of America’s history was overcast by the darkness that was slavery. The battle against it took many years to be completed, and even free blacks were restricted by laws and social constructs. Though slavery had been largely forgotten in the Northern states by the early 1800s, many years before the Emancipation Proclamation’s passing in 1863, racism still stood strong. Free blacks in the North, who made up only 4.9 percent of the nationwide African American population (How Free…Blacks, 2013), could not participate in politics, have extended interaction with whites, or find jobs above servitude. For these reasons, it can be concluded that free blacks in the North, while freer than slaves, were still not entirely free.

Some of the ways that Blacks were free in society are, some could have an early education, some were able to work and they were allowed to pay taxes. Going back to the early education, it might seem like a great idea for them to have an early education but, it was really torture. They would go through all their schooling but, when they went to get a job they were limited to the extreme. Since they were black and most whites owned a business they could not work at what they were most skilled at, they would end up with a job for a lower class. There were more restrictions than freedoms for Black Americans. Restrictions such as, nobody wanting to hire them, they weren’t allowed to take care of whites when they were sick, and many schools were separate from each other. Education is important to anyone but, to blacks it was very hard to get into a school at all because, of their race. The rules even went as far as not being allowed to dine with any white families. (Doc C, B

Race and the right to vote have been volatile issues since the creation of the American republic. The Founding Fathers betrayed a deep mistrust of permitting white men to vote who lacked education and had no stake in the society through possession of property and wealth. With all that going slaves could not vote. In the 1700’s a few black men in the Northeastern states of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont did vote. The right to vote has held a central place in the black freedom struggle. With abolition of slavery, African Americans sought the ballot as a means to claim their first-class citizenship. When emancipated blacks pursued equality, they demanded the franchise on the same basis as that exercised by whites. Indeed, when Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic Gettysburg Address in 1863, universal white manhood suffrage existed in the North and the South. Democratic reforms over the