ipl-logo

Democracy And Freedom

1965 Words8 Pages

Democracy and freedom: the two things the founding fathers used as the basis of the United States. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone, right? Wrong. Well at least for a majority of the history of the US. After years of fighting two of the earliest wars of America’s history is about freedom, the ancestors finally eradicated official ball-and-chain slavery from our cities upon the hills. But even if literal slavery passed, Jim Crow laws, arguably one of the most unjustifiable crimes to the American Dream, brought segregation, causing the freedom to be not so free after all. Blacks weren’t the only ones that faced discrimination either: women, natives, and other minorities had to work their way through life, dealing with …show more content…

WW2 started off with a blast in the US, and the government called black and white troops alike to fight for their country. “One million African American men and women served in the military, in segregated units. Blacks in the military and civilian wartime jobs saw themselves as waging a ‘double victory’ campaign to secure democracy abroad and for themselves in their own country” (Alvah). This campaign caused many African Americans to agree that, as they fought for the liberation of Europe, they should fight for their freedom as well. After all, as Michael J. Klarman, a graduate of Harvard Law School, puts it, “Many black servicemen apparently calculated that if they were good enough to die for their country, they were also good enough to vote, to work, or to attend school with white people” (Klarman 17). The philosophy the veterans obtained sped up the civil rights movement because now the people coming back from the battle were tired of second-hand citizenship in a country that they just defended. The only problem with this philosophy was that the freedoms for which they fought so hard to earn weren’t given to them when they got back home. The servicemen, seeing the injustice that they faced, decided to protest for their rights by holding rallies and marches, asking the government to take action: and action they took. Truman was president post-war and during his presidency people like A Philip Randolph, a civil rights activist, were able to convince his administration and Congress to make reforms. Two of these reforms Truman himself signed were Executive Order 9980, which barred racial discrimination in civil service and Executive Order 9981, which called for the “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces” (Alvah). Truman’s executive orders are prime examples that the government was

Show More
Related
68 Words | 1 Pages

U.S. Soldier’s Respond on Truman’s Executive Order Many white soldiers opposed the Executive Order 9981 by protesting and retiring from the U.S. armed forces, in spite of the fact that issuing this order is one small spark of innovation of equality. African-Americans were still battling essentially with discrimination in the military because some regiments were still segregated. The order was not taken full effect after the Korean War.

Read More
227 Words | 1 Pages

In the nineteen-forties there was a terrible war raging on, with many dead, and others wounded. Little did America know, there was another war, a silent war, a war of opportunities and understanding. During the war years, morale was low and Americans were afraid to go to war, however; the Double V campaign encouraged Americans to fight for democracy and victory abroad and at home. Unfortunately, it didn 't include all Americans. African-Americans had been fighting for their own freedom for many years, but now, they wanted to fight for their country and were denied,“For surely those who perpetrate these ugly prejudices here are seeking to destroy our democratic form of government just as surely as the Axis forces.”

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

It seemed for a while that equal rights for the African-Americans would soon be granted. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were made. But then the South began

Read More
1126 Words | 5 Pages

Many African-Americans felt it was time to fight the tyranny of oppression within their own country like they were fighting it in Europe. Racism was still prevalent, but the African-Americans’ participation in the war led to the Fair Employment Practices Commissions, whose job it was to ensure that companies did not discriminate based on color. In places like Shreveport, who refused to abide by the FEP, they lost defense contracts because they did not want to be bullied to hire African-Americans. Despite this, many African-Americans were hired to do jobs that would normally go to a white man because of a labor shortage. There was also a bid to stop them from voting.

Read More
1020 Words | 5 Pages

They barred African Americans from things such as voting, serving in the state militia or even testifying against white people in court. African Americans were required to sign labor contracts which kept many on the same plantation they had worked on as slaves. For many blacks, the end of freedom did not mean the beginning of freedom. The problems encountered by both American Indians and by African Americans were almost entirely created by white Americans.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1690 Words | 7 Pages

It was rough for African Americans in the 1890’s, and though they tried to live a normal easy life they always had obstacles that got in the way. They had thought everything was going good for them with the 13th and 14th amendment being announced. Also The Emancipation Proclamation which stated, on January 1, 1863, "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free" was a speech that actually came out before the 13th and 14th amendment which was the whole reason why those amendments had came out. The 13th amendment stated that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. This was such a big deal since

Read More
866 Words | 4 Pages

Although slavery was abolished, there was still plenty of unequal treatment towards African Americans. In many states, Jim Crow laws were passed that segregated men of different colors. Many were lynched or executed for a crime they never committed. Many individuals voiced their concern over the abuse that others received, and many

Read More
909 Words | 4 Pages

Backed by Democratic liberals and unions, Truman in 1945 tried to revive New Deal politics with a program he eventually called the Fair Deal. This would improve the social safety net and raise living standards. Truman pressed Congress to hike the minimum wage, create a national health insurance system, and increase public housing, Social Security, and educational aid. The year 1946 was one of labor revolt.

Read More
667 Words | 3 Pages

It did not outlaw slavery, nor did it stop slavery from continuing on in different forms, such as

Read More
1639 Words | 7 Pages

The disenfranchisement of Black Americans is as old as their presence in The United States. This disenfranchisement manifests itself in many different ways and is perpetuated on an institutional and individual levels. The oppression that blacks face have been consistently resisted by Black people and our allies. One of the more favorable ways of resistance towards institutional racism in the past and in the present has been to create legal reform. Laws such as the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment, also referred to as Reconstruction Amendments, are some laws that alleviated the oppression black people faced.

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

Even though it granted Blacks citizenship it did not give them equality, and soon arose numerous

Read More
249 Words | 1 Pages

African Americans encompassed the most militant and politically active group of soldiers during the Vietnam era because their struggle was linked with discrimination that existed in American (Small and Hoover, 119). They had reached their levels of exploitation and realized that it made no sense to fight for a country who did not respect them. As revealed in the Pentagon Papers, while General Westmoreland wanted more troops sent to Vietnam they were mindful that there was an increased defiance of the draft and a growing unrest. They were no longer certain if they had the population’s trust to expand the war when their neglecting of domestic problems was causing an open rebellion (“The Black Revolt and the End of the War Against Viet Nam.” Class

Read More
1128 Words | 5 Pages

For a multitude of years, African Americans were considered purchasable property, not people. When the United States ratified the Constitution and they had established their government, slavery had not been abolished. It was not until the period after The Civil War that the United States government passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments and African Americans had gained their long-awaited freedom and civil rights. These Reconstruction Amendments gave African Americans the right to live the American Dream. The Reconstruction Amendments helped African Americans build an American Dream by promoting their general welfare, giving them liberty, and assuring justice for all people of color.

Read More

More about Democracy And Freedom

Related Topics

Open Document