African American Reaction To Freedom

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Raul A. Rojas Dr. Donna M. Whyte HIS 216 09 October 2012 Section II: Take-Home, Open Book Essay Question #1: Discuss African Americans’ reaction to freedom after the emancipation. What would real freedom mean to them? Who were their allies and enemies in their struggle for freedom? African Americans reaction to freedom after the emancipation had many meanings to them. Most importantly for most former slaves, freedom meant that families would stay together. It also meant that women would no longer be sexually exploited, no more inappropriate touching, or rape by a white man. Freedom meant learning to read and write, gaining an education, also the organization of churches. Freedom meant moving around without having to obtain permission,…show more content…
However, much of the land consisted of swampy wetlands or unfertile pinewoods unsuitable for farming. To make things worse, by 1866 bureau officials tried to force freedmen to sign labor contracts with white landowners, returning black people to white authority. Black men who refused to sign contracts could be arrested. Families were often cheated out of their fair share of the crop. Without land of their own, they remained under white authority well into the twentieth century. For the African American people, the church became the most important institution other than family. It filled deep spiritual needs, offered good music, provided charity and compassion to those in needs, developed community and political leaders, and was free of white supervision. Freedom and education were inseparable. To be illiterate after emancipation was to stay enslaved. Almost every freed black person, young or old desperately wanted to learn. In 1861 Mary Peake, a freed black woman, opened a school in Hampton, Virginia. Then in 1862, Charlotte Forten, a black woman, opened Penn school on St. Helena’s Island. By 1863 there were 1,700 students and 45 teachers at 30 schools in the South Carolina low…show more content…
The black man told him that he no longer belonged to anybody, “I am free now.” With that, the white man roared, “Sas me? You black devil!” (AAO, 309) In October 1864 in Syracuse, New York, 145 black leaders gathered in a national convention. Some of the century’s most important black men and women attended, including Henry Highland Garnet an abolitionist, minister, and educator, Frances E. W. Harper also an abolitionist, poet and author, William Wells Brown another abolitionist, lecturer, novelist, and historian , Francis L. Cardozo a clergyman, politician, and educator, Richard H. Cain a minister, and Jonathan C. Gibbs a minister and a prominent African-American officeholder during Reconstruction. Frederick Douglass, full of pride announced at the convention, “that we hereby assert our full confidence in the fundamental principles of this government . . . the great heart of this nation will ultimately concede us our just claims, accord us our rights, and grant us our full measure of citizenship under the broad shield of the Constitution.” (AAO,
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