He gave a powerful speech on the fourth of July addressing his fellow African Americans called ‘What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July.’ He portrays how all of America celebrates Independence Day with their political freedom. “May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation older, the patriot’s heart might be sadder and the reformer’s brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom in the hope of it prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought that America is young” (Douglas, 1852).
Even after Walker published his Appeal the southern states did not want it publishes nowhere that the blacks could get a hold of it, unwavering the fact that many of them could not read. Walker even became known as wanted man by the southern states (during that time in was a bounty) to be killed just for speaking on slavery. “Having travelled over a considerable portion of these United States, and having, in the course of my travels, taken the most accurate observations of things as they exist-the result of my observations has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, that we, (coloured people of the United States,) are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of beings
As a nation it was time for all Americans to enjoy equality not just the privileged whites. The Civil Rights movement tore the United States apart, instead of American embracing each other we fought each other because of the color of one’s skin. Equality is the bases of the United States Constitution and yet those freedoms that so many Americans had fought and died to protect were not afforded to everyone. American minorities for decades had been expected to defend their country but their own countrymen treated them as if they did not belong, they were segregated and shunned. The youth of the 60’s decided that if they were equal enough to fight for the freedom of all Americans on foreign soil, then they wanted to enjoy the same lifestyle as the privileged whites in their own country.
He believed blacks should fight for full equal rights in every area of life. Marcus Garvey, the founder of UNIA believed Blacks should aim to set up a homeland in Africa. Some Black people worked hard to set up businesses, others entered professions and there were outstanding stories, such as athlete Jesse Owens and boxer Joe Louis. However, black soldiers weren’t so fortunate, they returned to a country where blacks were still victims of violence and had the worst paid
They just wanted to be treated as equals with the white people. African-Americans, although free, were still treated very poorly. In the 1960’s bathrooms, schools, restaurants, and even water fountains were segregated and had signs saying “whites only” and “blacks only.” The places that the blacks were allowed to go were of the poorest conditions and even though they weren’t property of the white people any more they still had to do what they say or end up in jail. The African-American dream was to get equality of all races and live in harmony together without prejudice and racism. Martin Luther king, an activist who was trying to help the movement for equality gave his famous I had a dream speech and this sparked a revolution and even though Mr. King was shot and killed by some white dude who hated blacks.
The March on Washington was for African American freedom and jobs. King had a dream that one day this nation would treat all Americans equal. King had a passion for equal rights for African Americans because he was tired of the way that were being treated. King's nonviolence protest made the government upset. "And we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead, we cannot turn back.
It is easy to say that equality was achieved among our African American citizens by looking around in today's America. Today we may pay no mind to the struggles and hardships African Americans endured throughout our history as a nation. However, we know that many wars were fought and many people stood up for what's right; they stood up for liberty and justice for all. There are many ways African Americans stood united to fight discrimination, end segregation and isolation, and finally attain full equality and civil rights (Bowles 2011). It was a long process that began way before the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s (Bowles 2011).
Washington stated, “No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized”. It is imperative that all freedom of the laws be ours, but it is immensely more essential that we be equipped for the application of those rights. All this had been said in his Atlanta Compromise Address in1895. It was obvious to those African Americans who did not entirely agree with Washington's idea that this was a mark of submission for the black race. By submissive they meant that they were to accept to continue to work as a means of being useful to the white society.
Shanese Bonner Mr. Kyle Taylor ENGL 1101 TR 9:30 29 November 2012 Essay #4 Segregation was a downfall for many African-Americans after slavery. Even though they were freed one hundred and forty-seven years ago, they were not necessarily granted with the equal rights under the law. During both Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” and John F. Kennedy’s “Civil Rights Address,” the speakers interpret that African Americans should be granted every right to any and everything as a non-colored person, that they should be able to have the right to get the same education, just to someday know that all men are created the same, and everybody can come together as one. During Kennedy’s speech, he genuinely generates thought by stating, “following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama” to inform the people of how two negro students of the Alabama
Today every citizen of United States has equal privileges and practices of freedom but the history proves how tyrannical the society was before. Throughout the dawn of republic, African Americans in United States have gone through great hardships. Even though Civil War ended slavery, it did not overcome racial discrimination and inequality because blacks still had to face segregation on social, political and ideological levels. After the Civil War, blacks had to face discrimination socially. They were segregated in all public places and accommodations.