Causes Of Deprivation Free African Americans

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The Deprivation Freed Blacks Faced In between the years 1820-1860, political, economic and social changes were occurring in America. Free African Americans continued to expand throughout different cities and states. In fact “in the year of 1820, there were 233,504 freed African Americans living in the United States in which free blacks were accounted for only 2.4 percent of the American population.” (Clark-Hine, C-Hine, and Harrold). However, by the year of 1860 the percentage of free African Americans rapidly increased in many cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and Richmond. Because of the expansion of free African Americans, many white people feared the thought of competing with another races. In particular, the white workers feared that African Americans were taking their jobs. The thought of an African American who was once enslaved receiving the same job opportunities as an American citizen bothered the white people in society.…show more content…
Some black males were not allowed to vote, while others lost employment opportunities. These harsh laws followed up underneath the Fugitive Slave Law. The constant undermining view of African Americans being inferior to white people in every way continued to spread throughout the northern states. During 1820-1860, the American society was very selfish. The average American focus was not on the inhumane treat against the black people but the competiveness that was caused because of the black people. According to The American Odyssey, “As long as they did not feel threatened, white people were usually willing to tolerate a few black people.” (Clark-Hine, C-Hine, and Harrold). From this statement, it can be concluded that white people did not fear other competition between their own ethnicity but only with black
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