African American Racial Injustice Essay

Since the first slave ship arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, African Americans have faced several trials in the proceeding years. During the time of slavery there was also a time of ignorance among the black slave community. Due to their lack of education several of them did not understand the social dilemma. In the later years of the United States slavery has been eliminated as well as many other social and economic barriers concerning African Americans. However a trail of injustice can be followed all the way to the present. In this essay it can be seen that the events of racial injustice in history have effected the youth of this current African American culture, and this can be portrayed by historical events, and civil rights leaders.

African American history in part has been placed in school curriculums so much so that children of every race have a basic understanding. Most importantly they remember the popular events that took place at various periods in history. For example the event that has directly effected African Americans to this day is the “Emancipation Proclamation” issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."(Franklin 1) This applied only to states that seceded from the union but it still set the precedent for future abolishment. This new found freedom was a foreign concept to slaves. Many were not expecting this transformation after two hundred years of hard labor. This was a tremendous victory at the time but their struggle was far from over. Almost a century later another act of injustice occurred involving a young man oppressed by a public standard. Emmett Louis Till was a 14 year old African American from a middle class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. On the summer of 1955 in Webb, Mississippi, Emmett was spending time with some relatives. After debatably talking to a white woman in a derogatory fashion, three men abducted him from his current residence, and savagely murdered the boy. After Emmett’s mother had the body of her son returned to her she made an effort to make it a point