Since the beginning of American history, African Americans have had to deal with outright mistreatment and inferiority within society. During slavery, African Americans were completely stripped of their basic civil rights and liberties; they were not considered to be human. During the Civil Rights Movement, although African Americans had gained their freedom nearly a century ago, they still were not treated with dignity and respect, forced to advocate for the rights given to them as citizens of the United States. Because of the racism African Americans experienced, leaders such as David Walker and Martin Luther King organized efforts to help African Americans gain more respect and inclusion in American society. Both leaders had significant influence during the time in which they lived, directly addressing the oppressors and their actions against African Americans.
In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.
His role in achieving civil rights was greatly significant due to his technique of bringing people together and his signature non-violent protests. For decades before the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were exposed to all kinds of discrimination and persecution. They were not allowed to vote, had segregated seating on busses or do really anything that involved the two races being near each other. This segregation of both races was fuelled by laws known as the Jim Crow Laws which started in 1876. These laws founded the start of a
He ensured that the African American community had an equal opportunity in society as the other races in America. Martin Luther King dedicated his time to organizing campaigns, boycotts, and marches to bring awareness to the racism problem in America. I can agree that Dr. Martin Luther King struggle was an advocacy due to the obstacles that he faced during the time of the Civil Rights movement as well as the continuous racism of modern day society. Dr. Martin Luther King was successful in many ways with his advocacy to a good society, but as the years went by there were also flaws. I say that he was successful because he was able to get changes done in America for African Americans.
They did so by passing laws that helped protect those who used to be slaves, also known as “freedmen”, as well as to those who were already free before the war in the South. Although some African-Americans still faced some discrimination, the Reconstruction Era marked progress — African-Americans were even granted the right to vote. However, in the 1870s, with the help of rebel groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the White League, who intimated African-Americans from voting, the Democrats gradually regained power in the Southern states. These Southern Democrat governments, who were very angered by their defeat in the Civil War, and who held White supremacism beliefs, then scraped the freedmen protection laws and legislated Jim Crow laws, segregating the population in an attempt to disenfranchise and maltreat African-Americans. The segregation laws were named after the fictional blackface character Jim Crow played by Thomas Dartmouth
The revolt forced the Virginia legislature to openly discuss the idea of emancipation, which is “the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberation” according to the English dictionary. A much smaller portion of the southern population reached to the conclusion that Nat Turner’s rebellion signaled that slavery should be abolished. This led to a debate in Virginia, which unfortunately the white politicians of that time decided to be against freedom, equality, and emancipation. Instead, they opted for much harsher slave codes including rigorous restrictions and limits on the movement of black slaves, black congregations and the communication of black preachers toward other slaves. Nat Turner was a preacher so Floyd, which was the Governor at that time, and many other leaders believed that the best way to stop future revolts was to restrict black preachers who otherwise would had access and influence over a wide swath of the black populace.
Of course, given the nature of the text, it would be a crime for him to not explain to those unaware of the business of slavery the details and logic behind all of it. Douglass’s goal was not to spread his life story in order to gain fame (although he did succeed in that regard), but to bring to the public knowledge the ugly truth of slavery, and call on the idle to take action against the exploitation of fellow human beings. In doing so, Douglass was sure to provide abolitionists what they had desired for so long: an educated slave to personify slavery (that sounds equally exploitative, and it might have been if Frederick Douglass not been intelligent enough to take matters into his own
In the north, it helped widen the circle of abolitionists from just the extremists, as they were thought of then. Her novel helped open peoples’ eyes to the problems and inhumanities of slavery. Although some of the more extreme abolitionists said her novel was to compassionate toward southern slave owners, there was a reason she wrote it that way. She hoped, by not demonizing all of the slave holders in the novel, she would make an impact on the ideals of people in the south. That is also the reason she had some of the southern characters openly reject slavery in the
DuBois. Both helped to establish their own ideals concerning the matter of integration. Each of their writings influence society still today as people struggle with the issues of minority in America. The analysis of Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery and W.E.B. DuBois’ “The Souls of Black Folk” can help reader to better understand society’s views towards the acceptance of African Americans, their right to a fair education, and the right to vote.
The fight against the confederates is depicted as a war for slavery. “Confederates want to take slavery into South America”. Apart from Lincoln and Thaddeus Stevens, most white men appear to be racist, willing to sell blacks in order to reach peace. Slavery is seen, as something normal, you get to decide whether what’s on your land is a property or a person. Blacks were prohibited from simple rights such as voting.