Slavery in America was abolished in 1865 after the Southern States had surrendered to the Northern States in the Civil War. Racial segregation, however, did not end with the conclusion of slavery. African Americans endured years of racial inequality because of Jim Crow Laws that were passed, legally separating blacks from whites in areas and activities (Jim Crow Law ). White people, as a result of these laws, continued treating African Americans as inferior people. An example of this is evident when Phoenix Jackson meets the white hunter in the forest.
When this happened, it meant that slavery was now legal in all of the thirteen British colonies that would eventually become the United States of America. Many African Americans had high hopes that the independence from Britain would apply to them. These hopes, however, would be crushed and the end of enslavement for black Americans wouldn’t come for another century. Before having read this book I never had realized how few primary sources there actually were on the life of African immigrants. There is only a handful written by actual slaves, rather than just stories passed on and written many years later by third parties.
At the time slaves were still legal in the south; therefore the act of of helping them escape to freedom was illegal. The appeal for freedom was very strong and there were many blacks speaking out on the issue. On unique piece of reading was the “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World”, by David Walker. Walker was born free in North Carolina but still saw a better end for his brothers in the south. His writing was an appeal to the injustice of slavery in the Southern states, using political and religious means to convey his ideas.
Instead of the government allowing slavery, it looked like it found a loop hole to not treat people of color equally for anything whether it was sports, school or public facilities blacks were still treated as inferior. Thankfully the civil rights movement that occurred during the 1950’s and 1960’s would turn out successful after years of civil demonstrations (some which would become riots e.g. : Birmingham, Alabama), marches, and speeches. One might say that one of the most famous speeches of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, would see fruition when looking at today’s society despite some traces of racism. Now we live in an era where different races can co-exist.
FEB 6 2014 Slavery and Frontiers Mississippi 1720-1835 Slavery in Mississippi has a very interesting beginning in the state. The indigenous people of the region did practice slavery to some extent. The Native Americans however did not use the same practices of the Europeans. The Europeans maintained slavery for its means of profitability but the native Americans only had slaves as a luxury. The Indians did not really differentiate the Europeans and the slaves that they brought with them to the newly discovered lands.
Europeans started bringing African-Americans to America back in the mid -1500s. Two and a half centuries of slavery and segregation stop black men and women from exercising their rights. They were denied the right to vote and if they tried to vote they were either beaten or even killed for trying to do so. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was formed in 1909. It’s sole purpose was to try to abolish segregation and discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting, and transportation and securing for African Americans their constitutional rights.
The African Americans were forced to come to the USA; they were not immigrants by choice. They were discriminated against, made slaves of and treated like animals, or maybe even worse. Looking back, it is hard to imagine that human beings could be responsible for such cruelty, and to think that racial segregation was legal until 60 years ago. More so it is a terrifying thought that it took almost two hundred and fifty years before it was made illegal to hold humans as slaves, in the USA. America has a dark history of slavery, but after 1863 vassalage was abolished.
Take Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for example, Dr. King played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement that led to the desegregation of the South. There are some cities and states that refuse to have a street or even a park named after him. According to Schaefer, “Efforts to recognize significant figures in African American history have often been controversial. There are only 650 cities in 41 states that have renamed streets in honor of the late and great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” Oh my dear friend when will we all love and live as one as Dr. King wanted? Another issue my people haven faced for some time is racial profiling and here lately it has been on the hot seat!
So as Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mocking Bird” would say, “let’s try to climb into one’s skin and walk around in it”. Approximately half a million Africans were brought over from Africa during the slave trade. Due to the law saying that the offspring of a slave was automatically considered the same, the slave population in the U.S grew rapidly to 4 million by 1860. Indian slavery was practiced as well in the 17th century, but mostly were slaves from Africa. Slaves were needed by many reasons to serve rich and higher class
According to Bowles, 2012, slavery began the civil war which led to further violence which in turn led to segregation. But just because this was the end of slavery, does not mean that the military leaders nor politicians can change the ingrained cultural beliefs of a people. The country was split between the North and the South; Northern white and in the Southern Blacks. African-Americans such as Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and even more recent Barrack Obama have made significant steps to improve and even stop segregation. According to Bowles, 2011, American History 1865 to present End of Isolation, The Black Codes codified some of these feelings into law when in 1865 southern state governments created legislation that restricted and controlled the lives of the ex-slaves.