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The black america civil right movement up to 1960
The black america civil right movement up to 1960
The black america civil right movement up to 1960
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During this era the north was industrializing but leaving the south behind. South was using slaves to harvest crops or do domestic work. There was also a cotton boom; therefore more blacks were needed to produce to the demand. Blacks did not have a choice to what they were. The Fugitive Slave Act stated that all blacks should be sent south to be a slave, whether they were free or a
Just after Reconstruction, life for African Americans began to go downhill as all of their newly gained rights became suppressed because of the new laws and systems that were put in place. Many African Americans that stayed in the South did so because they wanted to continue working in agriculture, and, therefore, had the end goal of getting their own land, which let them fall into the trap that was sharecropping. Africans Americans would rent small plots of land from a landowner, and pay their debts in the form of a portion of their crops. There was also the vagrancy law, which caused any African American that was not working and had no proof that they had a job to be arrested. This leads to the convict lease system, in which wealthy, usually Caucasian American, people rented out prisoners for labor.
Although, there African Americans were technically free the former white slaveowners in the South did not agree with this and attempted to contain the Freedmen in the South. They had been successful with the practice of sharecropping. Sharecropping was where the freedman would come to an agreement with the former white slave owners, where both sides benefited; the freedman would get paid for their labor while the white former slave owner were able to continue their business. Sharecropping was corrupted and the white former slave owner would cheat the freedman and not pay them. The white former slave owners would keep track of the payments and would alter the data because they were educated, and the freedman population had no knowledge, and were illiterate because of this they were not able to keep track.
In the 19th century, slavery and the Reconstruction was a sore subject for the South. Reconstruction forged civil rights for African-Americans, but once the North’s influenced waned in the South, the South terrorized African-Americans and blocked them from accessing their newfound rights. While Reconstruction may have brought civil rights, those rights were quickly squashed by the South’s racism. Even after certain freedoms were securely gained, every new attempt to make African-Americans equal to the white populace was contested. A large group of people were happy to see slavery ended and civil rights rise.
“The slave went free: stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back into slavery.” This quote by Web Dubois refers to a period in American history called reconstruction in which the South was rebuilt and remitted into the union after the civil war. During this time African Americans gained many rights including citizenship and suffrage. However, many of those rights were lost after the compromise of 1877 brought an end to reconstruction. The south was solely responsible for killing reconstruction through its use of intimidation tactics by scalawags and carpetbaggers, the purposeful reversal of reconstruction policies, and the refusal to work together.
The term “lowland whites” defined mechanics, tradesmen, and small cotton farmers who lived in the south. They Hoped to someday achieve the American Dream that the rich plantation owners lived. Free blacks lived in the north, but that didn’t mean that they received their basic human rights that were well deserved. They were denied the following; right to vote and the right to a public education. Slaves were taking over the north and south population even though the right to smuggle slaves was banned.
become an American citizen they had so many laws and things to stop African Americans to be equal to White citizens. First, there were these codes called black codes they allowed slaves to be freed but they stopped them from having rights they restricted freed slaves from voting, they could not go in jury duty and limited there right to testify against white people. They also were not allowed to own guns or any weapons and also could not work in many places so even though they were freed they were still held against their rights and they did not have much at all. Amendments were passed to allow people as in African American men to vote they banned or prohibited government from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote based on race,color,or past servitude.
After the war, freed slaves were denied the right to vote, they were not provided with jobs or a safe place to go once they were free, and there were groups of people
Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.
The status, demographics, community institutions, difficulties, and advantages of free blacks varied by region in the United States during the antebellum period. The Jacksonian Era saw many improvements in life for white men, as the political process opened up and reform flourished in a variety of areas. The “Age of Democracy,” however, failed to spread equality to all races. Free blacks faced many difficulties in the North, as increased racism led to “black laws” restricting movement to certain states, disfranchisement in many Northern areas, as well as pervasive segregation in areas of transportation, education, and housing. Although life held challenges, strong, vibrant, black communities developed in the North.
The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.
Right away they used such ideas of truths that would be self evident in the American ideology, “that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” but explain that even though these ideas are the general consensus in America they still and have been undergoing many constraints and limitations to their rights. Furthermore, describe their futile efforts in making a change declaring it nearly impossible to impose any change ”Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government.” For them men have deprived them of their rights by denying them education, creating false public sentiment with a code of morals, and closed “all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself.” As we can see, both movements relied heavily on using America's political ideas and imagery to point out hypocrisy and
Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.
Reconstruction caused prejudice and inequality. To elaborate, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes were both in the time period of reconstruction, which caused chaos and violence throughout the Union. One of the goals of reconstruction was to repair the economy in the South, because it depended on slavery, which was now illegal, due to the thirteenth amendment. The South’s economic system now depended on Sharecropping, which caused former slaves to be in constant debt and was unjust to the black society. The reconstruction time period, was a time of dispute between the Union.
The Reconstruction (1865-1877) was a period during which the life of the defeated South was to be returned to normal; it was also a time when the Black Americans attained some rights thanks to Lincoln and the Republican part of the Congress and despite Johnson’s intentions. An extremely violent time, it is sometimes called “the darkest period of American history”; still, it brought many important progressive changes to the US. Abraham Lincoln is known for proclaiming the black slaves Emancipation in 1863; he was convinced that it was necessary for the North to win the war. Lincoln believed that the Confederate states needed to be reintegrated back into the US while preserving the abolition of slavery; however, the 16th President wasn’t planning
