The Freedmen's Bureau Act: The First Reconstruction Era

In the 1865, the Civil War ended offering more freedom to African Americans. The Black code, Freedman’s Bureau, and the Civil Rights Act of 1865 offered more freedoms to African American people. At the end of the Civil War, the African Americans had a lot more freedom from which they had before. In the Freedman’s Bureau, it offered a ‘’ride’’ from slavery to freedom. It’s job was to bring slaves from the South to their freedom up North.

Historically speaking, except for a short time during reconstruction, African Americans in the South were denied basic political and economic rights. As a result of Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign in Selma, Alabama, the Voting Rights act of 1965 was passed. This act meant that literacy test, test used for voting discrimination against African Americans, were removed from voting requirements, as well as the poll tax, another tool used to keep African Americans from voting. Because of this, the percentage of black adults who registered to vote nearly doubled between 1964 and 1966. The ultimate goal of the movement was to achieve equality, and once African Americans were granted basic political rights, and could vote and participate in politics, their economic and social conditions would also slowly become better.

This changed during the presidential campaign in 2006, as the newly arrived found a candidate who not only looked like them but also shared many of their experiences. Obama came of age in a society shaped by the changes initiated by the Civil Rights and Immigration Acts. The interplay between them propelled him to a position that suggested how the fourth great migration had begun to redefine the lives of African Americans and then American life, at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. The new circumstances demanded a new narrative. Obama struggled to define a sense of self as many children of immigrants have, and he

689), his previous claims and allegations point to the idea that “reconstruction” towards a perfectly equal society could actually be possible. Looking at America today, impressive strides towards equality have already been achieved since the early 18th and 19th centuries including the election of our very first black president for two terms. The steep uphill battle towards white and black races (and all minorities) living in a country upon an equal footing will be most challenging. But unlike the thinking of De Tocqueville, the possibility of this idealistic world is plausible but simply cannot be achieved overnight. Considering how far we have come as a nation from the time of slavery to now, the future could hold that version of equality that we are so set on achieving.

In the 19th century, the journey to unity, freedom, and equality for African Americans began with the creation of the black press. Its contribution to the overall advancement of people of color was one of the greatest of all time. Though it possessed a strong impact on the lives of African Americans, the demand for a black press eventually faded, specifically during the pre-civil rights era. The decline in the prevalence of minority based newspapers was the result of various changes in lifestyle; changes that would affect black and white America. During the 1950’s the downward spiral of the circulation of black newspapers began.

According to Thomas Maloney, University of Utah, the nineteenth century was a time of radical tranformation in the political and legal status of African Americans. Blacks were freed from slavery and began to enjoy greater right in citizens. The century was divide into three distinct eras. However the text said it is four. As was the case in the 1880s, African American ecomomic life in the early 1900s centered on Southern cotton agrculture.

Since the 18th century to the 21st century, the United States has witnessed a numerous amount of changes towards their African American population. They started off as slaves to white slave owners, and slowly worked their way to citizens under the 13th amendment in 1865. Even though African Americans were legally citizens, they encountered countless injustices which still occur centuries later. African American literature from the 1900’s can give insight into the changes and similarities of the mindset of blacks, specifically “Still I Rise” (1978) by Maya Angelou and “I, Too, Sing America” (1926) by Langston Hughes. Both literary pieces contain the similar essence in regards to blacks; African Americans will rise into glory, and their true

The United State of America came to be the great country is today with racial minorities help build its foundation, by working the country’s land. Minorities made it possible for Europeans to become rich and privileged. With minorities being house servants, they allowed white rich families to be educated. African Americans became slaves after forcibly being imported from Africa. African slaves gave wealth and prosperity to white families across the southern United States, by working in plantations.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of rebirth for African-American culture, which left a legacy in jazz, literature, theater productions, motion pictures, and visual rats. The Harlem Renaissance was created as a result of many factors that went into effect during the Roaring Twenties. For example, due to the decimated economy of the South because of the Civil War, many “African-Americans headed [north] for jobs, education, and opportunities, [especially in Harlem], known as the Great Migration” (“The Harlem Renaissance” 1). Blacks migrated to the North to escape the prejudiced Southerners and to find jobs because of the economic boom. Although many African-Americans were

After all male, regardless to race, were guaranteed the right to vote by the 15th Amendment, white Southerners started to create ways in which they could oppress blacks and disempower their newly found privileges. The disfranchisement of blacks started with literacy tests, poll taxes and the grandfather clause. In other words, the ability to read or pay taxes has to be proven before people could vote. However, most black people grew up without a good educational background and were therefore excluded from the voting system. In 1877, when the Reconstruction era ended, inequality and injustice towards black people was present more than ever.