Fight for Freedom Dred Scott was a slave who was treated unfairly in a case that determined his freedom, and he never got to enjoy the life of being free. He had already earned his freedom fairly in a federal court, but was tried again in the Supreme Court who decided against Scott. His determination and pride was strong, but the racism within the court was even stronger. Dred Scott (previously known as Sam Scott, but he changed his name in 1848 a few years after he was wed) was born a slave in Southampton, Virginia that worked as a farmhand, handyman, and stevedore. He belonged to a man named Peter Blow and they migrated west together.
Stand Up! As we look throughout history, one could argue, that we couldn’t find a more appalling and unjust act as that of slavery. Slavery played a major part of not only history but of an innumerable amount of American people. In David Walker’s “Appeal in Four Articles” and Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”, two men of African American descent struggle with the reality of slavery and the cruel results and effect it had on people like themselves. Walker was a free black man living in Boston who had a unique view of slavery.
When Frederick Douglass addressed the audience with his speech, it was very emotional and straight from his heart. As we all know, he was a freed slave and mainly considered his “slavery” as not being able to read and write, until his white master’s wife taught him to do so. With Douglass becoming a freed man and moved up North to pursue the life he dreamed to live, all he wanted was for the rest of the African American slave population to be free as well. Douglass believed that everybody had the right to succeed in society; he never understood how our country was founded on freedom but not everybody was free. Throughout Frederick’s speech, he repeatedly would ask the crowd uncomfortable questions and somewhat “guilt-trap” the people, example being “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.
(Kolchin 14) This quote shows that it is believed that the color of skin served as a basis for who they were as a person during this time period. The African slaves were seen as savage and wild beasts that were only tamable through slavery. The racial distinction is what kept slavery alive because the slaves were not seen as humans and therefore deserved little to no humanity. Kolchin then goes on to describe the relationship between the masters and slaves and how these relationships varied depending upon the region. In areas such as South Carolina and Georgia, the master was not present on the plantation.
A lot of these leaders were born into slavery and escaped, passing on powerful messages to the people to come together and fight for their rights. I found Fredrick Douglas to be a good example of one who was born into slavery. He had a slave mom and a white dad that resulted in him being sent to another plantation to be a servant because of his color. In 1838, Douglas escaped and became part of an Anti-Slavery Society in 1841. 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.
Cultural Studies: African American history: Rosa Parks For many centuries the African American people had been forced to suffer barbaric suffering and gross inhumanities by the hands of their white leaders based on the colour of their skin. Many were brought to America as slaves and forced to work on plantations under terrible conditions. The punishments for resisting this treatment would involve brutal whippings and many times this behaviour would result in death. Few African Americans spoke up against this treatment especially in the 19th century as they had no rights at all and were consider inferior beings. However some men and women did stand up against this treatment and fought for their civil rights and for this they are preserved in history for their bravery.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin research paper Josh Rich Honors US History Mrs. Westenberg March 2, 2012 In the United States during the early 1700s, slavery was a big economic, social, political, and historical issue. Said by a wise African American women, “Just because we aint white, don’t mean we aint livin.”(- Uncle Tom’s Cabin) This meaning black people we being treated unfairly. White people didn’t respect them at all. Uncle Tom’s Cabin shows people socially how these African American slaves were treated from their point of view. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is very historically accurate because the social events really happened for this was told from the perspective of a slave.
Those of African ancestry faced many struggles and obstacles after slavery. Even after gaining Emancipation in 1834, slaves in the British West Indies were still forced into other forms of unpaid labor. Instead of being owned by masters, they became impoverished free citizens. Their poverty made them desperate for work, therefore turning them into a cheap form of labor for the white supremacists. This created a new definition of owning slaves, now being owned by those who paid them a meager
Living, Eating, and Working as Slaves In the early 1865, slavery had come to the United States of America. Millions of slaves were told that they were free, and therefore many of them had been interviewed to share both of their happy and awful conditions they had during their slavery. The various conditions related to food, living, and work influenced whether or not slaves challenged their owners in the late 1800s. Some slaves were pretty satisfied with their owners but the others had lived the lives that people nowadays could ever imagine. The desire of being free resembled the awful conditions that some of them had.
“Frederick Douglass was the most important African American leader and intellectual of the nineteenth century. He lived twenty years as a slave and nearly nine years as a fugitive slave” (Blight, 1). He planned on escaping from the plantation and starting a new life dedicated to the fight for equality. His early attempts failed, but finally in 1838, he managed to board a train that was headed to Maryland and out of the south, from there Douglass travelled to New York to the house of David Ruggles, who was also an anti-slavery activist. His autobiography focuses on his life as a salve and how these hardships shaped the man he became later on in his life.