The Progressive Era The progressive era was most significant to African Americans for the opportunities to emigrate to Northern cities as the advent of new manufacturing processes and growth of industry meant there were more opportunities for African Americans. This is the main reason why Tianna decided to move her family to Detroit. She moved in order to work in a factory that belonged to Henry Ford. She thought things up North would be easier for African Americans and a way to be more self-sufficient.
Now that the slaves were free, it was time to decide their role in society. Lincoln proposed colonization; however, many African Americans preferred to stay in America (Lincoln, 556). Because of this, southern legislators felt the need to establish the Black Codes. These codes limited the rights of the newly freed slaves in order to regulate their involvement as citizens and to maintain white power (Black Codes, 573-580). Again, race dictated the decision to make rights and privileges interchangeable.
Although slavery had been outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment, it continued in many southern states. In an effort to get around laws passed by Congress, southern states created black codes, which were discriminatory state laws which aimed to keep white supremacy in place. While the codes granted certain freedoms to African Americans, their primary purpose was to fulfill an important economic need in the postwar South. To maintain agricultural production, the South had relied on slaves to work the land. Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their ties to the land.
The course begins with the year 1877, which is when Reconstruction “ended”, even though it stilled occurred for years after, but not at as great of capacity. I believe that this is the best place to start this course because there is a different name to the United States after Reconstruction, and to see how much progress was made after the Civil War. Many important events occurred during Reconstruction, such as the creation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. These amendments legally allowed for African- Americans to have rights in the United States. African American men were now legal United States citizens due to the Fourteenth Amendment, and had “equal protection of the laws” compared to white citizens during this time era, and
I honestly can not see or fathom why you could ever think that the Reconstruction Era was a success in helping blacks. I agree with you that it helped America unite to a certain extent, however, it did nothing to help the blacks whatsoever. Yes, slaves were emancipated and there were three amendments to help them to achieve rights and citizenship , nevertheless, the government rarely enforced any of the laws and regulations they set in place for the blacks to have equality and people worked tirelessly to make sure that any sense of freedom and rights that blacks could have were snatched away from them. What is the point of passing a law saying that black man can vote when they have KKK members trespassing in their house, beating them and ultimately
Although not every African American was a slave, slavery came to only be limited to people of African descent. Throughout the time of slavery, white people were worried that the slaves were going to rebel. Fearing that the slaves were gonna cause more trouble colonial authorities wrote slave codes. These slave codes prohibited slaves to own their own weapons, leave the plantation without permission and even meet in large groups. The slave rebelled up until slavery ended in 1865.
During the Civil Rights Movement African American were the ones in risk of being killed. Yes, everybody is in risk of being killed by natural disasters, but not everybody during that time were at endanger of being killed because of their race and beliefs. This is the reasons why we fight for our lives as African Americans because we were and still are discriminated by, disrespected, racially profiled, and killed for no reason on a daily basis. The police couldn’t do anything but stand there, because they couldn’t call anybody on themselves.
Black codes came into the picture after the civil war. Black codes were mainly used to put black people into a position as similar to slavery as possible. Later, Jim Crow laws came into America. They were used as a way to continue oppressing and separating black people. For hundreds of years, there have been countless laws made to justify devaluing black lives and protect the legality of slavery.
To make it even worse the Reconstruction Era brought in many groups of racist supremacists who did not support the freedom of blacks nor did they want a nation full of mixed races only whites in the country. One of these groups being the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK aroused in the south in 1877. This group would go out and terrorize any blacks who took part in voting for the United States. Eventually, things would slowly move down making racism and discrimination go away with the civil rights movement in place. African Americans had a tough life for many centuries and eventually they received their freedom.
Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).
During the Civil War the Union Army and slaves faced many hardships. Many problems surfaced during the Civil War whether it was for the Army or for the African Americans serving in the Army in the North. Not only were the African Americans fighting for the Union, they were fighting for their own freedom as well. The African Americans were not only helping themselves, but improving the union army. Even though they might have been considered equal to the Union, they were not always treated as equals compared to other white soldiers.
This seminar offers students an introduction to the history of the African American freedom struggle beginning with the end of Reconstruction. It will engage with both the domestic and the transnational dimension of the quest for freedom against blacks’ exploitation and oppression by whites. Topics include lynching, colonialism, racial segregation, and the political struggles for decolonization and human rights. The course is designed to help students increase their knowledge of people, events, and places that were central to the African American and global struggle against racial oppression from the end of the nineteenth century to the close of the twentieth. This course is appropriate for sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in learning
Obviously, the majority of state offices were initially held by whites; however, as the Reconstruction period progressed, more blacks began to fill positions such as law enforcement and tax assessors (Schultz, 2013). Some blacks were even voted into office, such as the first African American Senator of Mississippi, Hiram Revels. For those not fortunate enough to land a government job, they continued to work small plots of land in order to make a living, only as sharecroppers, as opposed to slaves. The South began to see an influx of carpetbaggers moving south to for a variety of different reasons (Schultz, 2013). Some of them worked with southern Republicans to get all types of improvements made in the south, such as new public schools
In the period of reconstruction, there was a lack of racial equality and racism towards blacks. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, with the exception of allowing it as a punishment for a crime (“Thirteenth Amendment” 19). Although it abolished slavery, there was still a lack of equality towards blacks. The Black Codes were state laws in the south, that were implemented in 1866. These laws limited the rights of African Americans and were
It is stated in the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. However, during the Gilded Age, many different crowds of people were not being treated equally. The new immigrants traveling to America had to deal with the pain and sorrow from the multiple challenges that came with Ellis Island. After all of it was over, they ventured out into the country, but had to face overcrowded living quarters, long work days, dangerous jobs, poorly paid jobs, and the threat of disease. During the same time, African Americans had a lot of limits on their rights; including, limited social rights, limited political rights, and limited economic rights.
