African Americans In The 19th Century

Those who called themselves Americans were really proud of their heritage, as they should be because every countryman should be proud of where they were born. However stereotypically when someone defined an American in the 19th Century most would think of either a white man or woman. It was not really common to think of an American to be someone who had African ancestors, Spanish ancestors or even Asian ancestors. The color of skin that a person has is not their defining factor, nor should they be held responsible for what tensions each race held in the past. This was particularly difficult for many Asian Americans post the Vietnam War. As the Vietnam War was focused on keeping the communist parties at bay, the war was also focused on proving

Hence the next topic was again the injustice towards people of different background specifically the African Americans. Even though the 13th and 14th Amendments had been passed many people were still prodigious of the African Americans. In the 1950’s African Americans were not allowed to go to the same school as White Americans went to, everything was segregated. People acted as if being black was a disease and could not bear to be next to them. The racism during the 1950’s and 1960’s was preposterous, it was if instead of going forward the United States had taken 20 steps backwards. Fortunately for the African Americans they had a great advocate named Martin Luther King Jr. He would seek justice and be the voice for those whose voice had been taken away. Leading a number of sit-ins and being a peaceful protester King lead the Civil Rights

In 1968 King would deliver his famous “I have a Dream Speech” in front of thousands in Washington Memorial. His speech was based off of a speech that Philip Randolph wrote in 1941 showing how prolonged the civil rights movement was. It was there at Washington Memorial where the advocate of Civil Rights was assassinated. Even after his death King’s speech is commemorated and lies as a basis for the American society. King taught the people that the color of their skin does not define them nor should they be limited by it. It was not until 1964 when the United States abolished segregation. This was a major move forward for the American nation that would eventually lead to many African Americans to hold positions in government office and eventually to have an African American