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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Relentless Determination. It is no secret that African Americans have struggled as both community and race for hundreds of years. In fact, the history of African Americans and their quest for fairness, equal rights, and nondiscrimination have shaped this country economically and culturally into what it is today. Forced to uproot their homelands, African Americans and their families traveled to the northern states to escape racism and discrimination.

I was surprised by the whole unit reading about the unfortunate racial tension between Caucasians and African-American people. Even After the civil war there was still too much segregation. Schools formed to teach African-American students finding a way to separate Caucasians from African-Americans. Colleges created for African-American students due to the Morrill Act, of 1890. Yet Caucasian colleges were still getting more state funding.

Through the institution of African slavery alone, blacks played key roles in helping to boost the early American economy particularly throughout the Southern states where crops such as cotton were capital. What is truly unfortunate is the fact that much like the Native Americans, blacks served honorably alongside British troops in countless battles which helped to establish the United States. This is perhaps the most notable throughout the American Revolution where in some areas many free blacks were said to have voluntarily joined Patriot armies at higher rates than whites.4 Unfortunately, what would result for those helping to pave the way for an American victory would be additional generations of injustice and slavery for them and their descendants based upon the color of their skin

Do we really need reparation? Since Blacks first came to the Americas, they have endure many hurdles. Two hundred fifty years of slavery, ninety years of Jim Crow, sixty years of separated but equal and thirty five more years of racist housing policy. Would compensation for wrongs that have been done make us forget about the wicked past? American law and policy have worked to diminish the Black race and raise all White men to the level of citizen and wealth.

African American after the Civil War enjoyed many privileges that their predecessors could only dream of. They could vote, hold office and attend school. New Orleans, Louisiana, was one of the more integrated cities in the South. It desegregated its streetcars in 1867, began experimenting with integrated public schools in 1869, legalized interracial marriage between 1868 and 1896, elected a total of 32 black state senators and 95 state representatives, and had integrated juries, public boards, and police departments. But after the war things began to get good for African American, and the south thought they needed to do something, after war, which severely limited the rights of black and segregated African American from White American.