...The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 Leonard Stinson HIS204: American History Since 1865 Instructor John Durr December 5th, 2011 The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 This was a time when America was trying to find herself. These were the years known as the Reconstruction Period from 1865-1877. During this time period, the African-American people became free from slavery but one can only imagine what free really is. While the nation search for ways to establish true meaning of equality, African-American people continued to struggle to find out just what equality means and to have the same rights and freedom as the white people in the nation. Whether as slaves or free people, the political and social status of African Americans has always been to obtain the ability to participate in the nation’s economy. While many historians believe that slavery and politics can be attributed to the Civil War, more than 600,000 Americans died and with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation to start the motion to free the slaves, America became even more a divided country in 1865 than the previous earlier years (Bowles, 2011). Although freedom in the post-Civil War years did not guarantee equality, African Americans continued to struggle from racism, segregation and discrimination for many years, but the birth of equality is beginning to grow and show that all men and women are created equal. The effort to integrate...
Words: 3595 - Pages: 15
...Civil Rights In past decades, African Americans were considered as slaves and servants for the white majority. Minorities were segregated, marginalized and humiliated because of the color of their skin. When people hear the words civil rights its always connected to the image of Martin Luther King Jr., and his famous speech I Have a Dream in the nation’s capital. The civil rights movement succeeded thanks in part to the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. and the fight for equality of all people’s has started to become a reality. Inspired . African Americans got the most public attention after the end of World War II. They are well-know activists in protesting against discrimination in racism. Since the end of World War II, the population of African Americans in the United States has been increased 7% in few decades. The massive increase of African Americans population formed huge communities in cities, such as Oakland, Richmond, Los Angels etc. In this long time period, African Americans have to face and struggle for racial discrimination in their life. The major problems were employment, education, and housing. In the case of hiring, the ratio of unemployed African Americans increased double from 1940s to 1970s. Most of African Americans people had to deal with lower living standard. The economic discrimination kept African Americans away from skilled work or sometime not even a chance to get hired in any job. Before World War II, African Americans were denied to work...
Words: 1344 - Pages: 6
...World War II: Segregation Abroad and at Home Military policies and general notions regarding race relations were already very prevalent since the First World War. They became even more defined in the pre-war American times. The African American community in America was pushing for equality; to fit in the society. Racial tension swept across the nation like wild fire. Regional phenomena became a nationwide aspect. The white majority kept the two races segregated, in all aspects of the society. The term "Separate but equal" made famous by the United States Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson remained instantiated as the law of the land in reference to racial policy. This concept of keeping both races segregated had permeated across the United States and was the prominent view of most white citizens during this period. Segregation was seen—from a white point-of-view—as a way for both races to live within the society without racial conflict and tension. Separation of blacks and whites stretched across all societal institutions, including the United States Military. African Americans did not receive the same rights and freedoms that their white counterparts did. Moreover, they were discriminated against, physically abused, and were seen as less than American; and even worse, less than human. Despite all of the injustices against them, they still served and remained loyal to their country. They sought both equality and victory during World War II. The Home Front African Americans...
Words: 2395 - Pages: 10
...The African American Experience ETH/125 Nov. 11, 2012 Brittany Smith The African American Experience African Americans have had a difficult past in the United State’s history. They did not have the freedoms to come to a new land in hopes for a better life. They were sold off as slaves and shipped to the New World. Here, the slaves were bought and used to work on plantations and as house servants. This continued until around 1861 when the Civil War began; some say that the Civil War was the turning point in African American history. On Sept. 22, 1862 President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all persons held as slaves in the still rebellious southern Confederacy be freed. This did not abolish slavery though; it was not until 1865 that the thirteenth amendment to the United States constitution outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude. Even though this amendment ended slavery, it took much more than a war to change the status of African Americans in America. Over the course of nearly 100 years, African Americans still endured much discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed legislation that outlawed major forms of discrimination based on racial, ethnic, and religious beliefs. This act ended unequal voting rights, segregation in school, work, and public facilities, and was the beginning of equal rights for African Americans. Now, in 2012, African Americans still have to fight discrimination in some places. African Americans throughout...
Words: 783 - Pages: 4
...journal dealing with the African American history, I chose the journal article named “The 1964 Civil Rights Act: The Crucial Role of Social Movements in the Enactment and Implementation of Anti-Discrimination Law”, written by Gerald Rosenberg. After just reading this title, I have a question about how the status of African American have been changed due to the Civil Rights Act. Through reading some material from classes and researching about African American history and culture, I found out that for centuries, the African American never gave up to fight for the equal rights, especially after the Second World War black American civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Act is actually the result of long struggle to achieve the content of equality by the black people. The American blacks in politics, education, economy and other aspects have brought a great impact. The Civil Rights Act basically ensures that the rights of the law on the equality....
Words: 498 - Pages: 2
...Mohamud Historical Report on Race We as African Americans have always had a struggle throughout American History. They were brought to America as slaves and had no say at all in their relocation or even separation from their families. Most African Americans today are the descendants of captive Africans held in the United States from 1619 to 1865. In the past, African Americans were referred to and self-identified as the American Negro. Our history is celebrated annually in the United States during the month of February which has been designated as Black History Month. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_history) The majority of African Americans descended from slaved brought in directly from Africa, or from the Caribbean. These slaves descended from prisoners of war that were captured by African states and sold to Arab, American, or European slave trades. The American slave population was made up of the various ethnic groups from western and central Africa, which includes Bakongo, Igbo, Mande, Wolof, Akan, Fon, and Makua. Before the Atlantic Slave Trade there were already people in America who was of the African descent. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_history) Africans first arrived in 1619 when a Dutch ship sold 19 blacks as indentured servants to Englishmen at Point Comfort. Point Comfort, which is known as Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia in 1619. The majority of these people came from the West African coast and a small percent came from Madagascar...
Words: 907 - Pages: 4
...Running head: AFRICAN AMERICANS African Americans Past to Present HIS204 Tyrone Johnson Professor Kimberly Hornback June 18, 2012 Before the American Civil War, medical observers deemed psychosis to be rare in slaves, but common in free blacks of the North and of Caribbean descent. After 1865, the prevailing psychiatric perception of African Americans was that psychosis was increasing at an alarming rate. Basically observers that many African Americans had some sort of mental illness, which lead to them being over diagnosis, which created very much false impressions of who they were. Jarvis (2008), Reasons for the increasing rates were initially scribed to the effects of emancipation, but as researchers reported rates of psychosis to be on the rise through the first half of the 20th century, the stress of internal migration and social adversity were increasingly invoked as explanatory factors. Even though many changes and the challenges did not seemly to actually change. The involvement in the ending of isolation among African Americans, as well being one of the culture groups of people involved in the struggles, segregation, civil rights movement...
Words: 1316 - Pages: 6
...Segregation The road to ending segregation was a long and hard move for the South. In the 1800s-1900’s segregation was enforced to keep African Americans separated from whites. During this time African Americans had to deal with the symbols of what was called Jim Crow’s, (Whites Only and Colored Only) signs; which are found today in museums, old photographs, and documentaries. Now since an African American has been elected President of the United States, a person could say segregation seems as old-fashioned and distant as watching an old black and white television. Although, the major challenge is to explain the reasons for the legacy of segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights, that African Americans worked to end. The best way to describe the shape of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, “according to eminent historian Robert Wiebe, the answer was isolated island communities,” (Bowles, 2011, Section 1.1, Para 1). Wiebe used the symbol of the island because cities were very much separated and isolated from each other and had a weak system of communication between them. The time came, after the divisiveness and devastation of the Civil War, when the nation searched for order economically, politically, geographically, and racially. Although, emancipation came during the Civil War, nearly 4 million freed slaves struggled to make a home for themselves as citizens during a period known as Reconstruction, which lasted...
Words: 1203 - Pages: 5
...Civil Rights Movement in the USA The Civil Rights Movement was a movement to secure for African Americans equal access to and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S citizenship. Although the base of the movement go back to the 19th century, it peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. The civil rights movement took place after the ending of the civil war in the early 1860s. Laws such as the “Jim Crow Laws” enforced this racial segregation in the southern Uunited Sstates. These laws continued in force until 1965 acting to keep the white dominance in Aamerica. Jim Crow Laws were created in the American South after the Civil war. These laws mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in states of the former confederate states...
Words: 689 - Pages: 3
...on Race: African Americans Frederik Seixas ETH 125 Jennifer Friedrich, Ph.D. 01/26/2014 It is an undeniable fact that, throughout history, the African American community has dealt with its fair share of discrimination. This is of particular historical significance to those living in the United States because it is an essential component of the founding of this country, and will continue to be a reoccurring theme in the curricula of educational institutions and in the headlines of current events. Historically, Africans were first brought into the Jamestown colony in 1619 for the purpose of harvesting tobacco (Slavery in America, 2012). Their arrival had a huge influence on the course of American history, so much so that it is no exaggeration to say that, without the presence of the African American people, our country would not be what it is today. Unfortunately theirs is a tale of enslavement and mistreatment, and with current-day discrimination still posing a threat to this particular race, it is impossible to deny that African Americans have weathered some of the most horrifying struggles possible. In many ways, the battle for freedom and equality is still very much alive, and, as a historian, I simply cannot ignore my duty to share the story of one of the most resilient races our country as ever known. Let us begin with some historical references on the matter of the African American community's experience in the United States. In terms of politicAfrican Americans were enlisted...
Words: 1870 - Pages: 8
...The Civil War brought significant changes for African Americans, as they were freed from slavery. However, rather than achieving complete legal, political, and economic equality during the Reconstruction Era, which lasted from the end of the Civil War until 1877, African Americans continued to be second class citizens. As will be argued in this paper, African Americans experienced hardship and significant discrimination after 1877 due to racist laws, social, economic, and educational inequality; however, as laws and cultural sentiments about blacks changed during the Civil Rights Era, African Americans today have more political, economic, and educational opportunities than ever before. On the following pages, this paper will trace the path of African Americans to equality by discussing salient events in African American history from 1877 to the present. Significantly, as the author believes, while progress has been made since the nineteenth century, complete equality remains elusive even today for many African American men and women. The end of slavery did by no means lead to the immediate equality of African Americans in American society. The years after the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era, were characterized by wide-spread discrimination against African Americans. In the South, so-called Jim Crow laws effectively barred African Americans from having very basic civil liberties. Public and social life in the South but also in other places in the United States, was strictly...
Words: 1373 - Pages: 6
...History 17B Summary Paper World War II was America's most important twentieth-century war and was also known to be one of the greatest military conflicts in history. Many people viewed World War II as the “Good War”, which was a war against fascism and for democracy. After World War I which ended in 1918, Germany had to give up land and was banned from having any armed forces, which was caused from the Treaty of Versailles. Germany surrendered many material goods like cannons, machine guns, planes, trench mortars, and even railroads after World War I. Germany felt a huge war guilt and was embarrassed with the defeat if the war. The start of the second world war was influenced with the rise of Adolf Hitler. When World War II began on September 1, 1939, our government, movies, music, publishing, and fashion contributed lots of support for the war. The Treaty of Versailles caused Germany to surrender many things which caused them be in a poor economic state. Since Germany was in a horrible state, Adolf Hitler rose to become a Führer to the people of Germany do to his spectacular public speeches. Hitler promised to make his country better and quickly began to arm Germany again and to seize land from other countries, thus breaking the Treaty of Versailles. He also had a hated for Jews and used them a scapegoat. Hitler was a huge fascist. “Fascism an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.” (Webster). It opposed the capitalist...
Words: 1981 - Pages: 8
...How have African-Americans worked to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights? For centuries, African Americans have played and continue to play a significant role in American history. While today, African American no longer face the laws of segregation and discrimination, they continue to fight for equality and civil rights. This continued fight is one of a long past with several triumphs and tragedies all which are an integral part of history. This essay will discuss how African Americans worked to end slavery, segregation, discrimination, freedom, and isolation. It will also discuss what led to the civil right implementation and how it was executed. Equal rights for African Americans have been contentious, and fought for decades. They have fought to impede ethic discrimination, gain equal opportunity and their civil rights since slavery in the 1600s. When slavery started in 1620s, African Americans only made up about 3 to 4 percent of the population in America. Although the number grew slowly at first, by the end of the 17th century, the population of African American slave grew to well over 650,000. (Becker, 2000) In America, slave labor became the key component in agriculture and booming capitalist economy of the 17th & 18th centuries. (County, 1999) In the beginning, Africans were exchanged for food and place as “indentured servants” by the Dutch. This practice was also true for many poor Englishmen who were...
Words: 1656 - Pages: 7
...The African American Experience African Americans have had a difficult past in the United State’s history. They did not have the freedoms to come to a new land in hopes for a better life. They were sold off as slaves and shipped to the New World. Here, the slaves were bought and used to work on plantations and as house servants. This continued until around 1861 when the Civil War began; some say that the Civil War was the turning point in African American history. On Sept. 22, 1862 President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all persons held as slaves in the still rebellious southern Confederacy be freed. This did not abolish slavery though; it was not until 1865 that the thirteenth amendment to the United States constitution outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude. Even though this amendment ended slavery, it took much more than a war to change the status of African Americans in America. Over the course of nearly 100 years, African Americans still endured much discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed legislation that outlawed major forms of discrimination based on racial, ethnic, and religious beliefs. This act ended unequal voting rights, segregation in school, work, and public facilities, and was the beginning of equal rights for African Americans. Now, in 2012, African Americans still have to fight discrimination in some places. African Americans throughout U.S. history have seen their share of political, social, and cultural issues...
Words: 306 - Pages: 2
...Historical Report on Race ETH 125 Historical Report on Race Throughout history, the African American community dealt with much discrimination. In 1619, Europeans shipped African Americans as slaves to Jamestown colony to harvest tobacco and that was the start of discrimination (Slavery in America, 2012. Sugar, rice and wheat are some of the crops that slaves tend to under the control of their slave owners. From dusk until dawn, enslaved African Americans worked to tend crops (Slavery in America, 2012). African Americans were enlisted and were forced to join the Army when Civil War came but refused to because of a law that was being upheld to keep them from enlisting. This was changed when President Lincoln submitted the Final Proclamation. There were still discrimination and segregation even though African Americans were already allowed to enlist in the army (The Civil War and Emancipation, 2012). There have been many concerns regarding African Americans participating in political causes throughout the years. There was an instance that a literacy test was done in the State of Mississippi to prevent Blacks from voting. The result was the state adopted a grandpa clause because the test caused whites from being able to vote as well. Before 1870, regardless of literacy or tax qualifications, everyone has the right to vote. The Black community was stopped to vote while whites were able to vote under grandpa clause. Several laws that supported slavery were made in the 1700s and...
Words: 695 - Pages: 3
