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Dbq Essay On Sympathy By Paul Laurence Dunbar

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As Paul Laurence Dunbar says in his poem “Sympathy,” “I know why the caged bird beats his wing / Till its blood is red on the cruel bars” The caged bird Dunbar is referring to is Black Americans. In 1860 right before the Civil War the northern states in the US outlawed slavery, while the southern states allowed it. Black Americans living in the south might have thought of the North as a sanctuary. It was not a problem. They were not enslaved, but they were not completely free. African Americans in the North were restricted in terms of earning potential, power, and resources. African Americans' everyday living was dramatically restricted in the North. One major way they were discriminated against was their restrictions on earning potential. …show more content…

According to the anonymous student in document C, “Shall I be a mechanic? No one will employ me... Drudgery and servitude, then, are my prospective portion.” This student is talking about how discouraged he is because even though he is at the top of his class he will have to resort to a low paying or manual labor job because of his skin color. Another way Black Americans' lives were caged is that they had dramatic restrictions on their power. According to Charles Mickay in document C, “[African Americans] shall not be free to dine and drink at our [table]... We are of another race, and he is inferior. Let him know his place- and keep it.” In the document, Mackay says that the white Americans needed Black Americans to understand their lower place in society. According to document A, only 5 out of 16 states gave Black male Americans the full right to vote. And furthermore, in only a single state out of 16 Black male Americans have the right to jury duty. Because of this, Black Americans have no say in the government that runs their lives. Nor did they have any say in whether justice was served in

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