Black Americans Post-Civil War

They were extremely aggravated and demanded that the Fugitive Slave Laws be strengthened. This eventually led to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which stated that all citizens were required to apprehend runaway slaves and return them to their owners. This law angered many people in the North, especially free African Americans. Even people who were not abolitionists were angered because they felt forced to support the slave system. Some states expressed their dissatisfaction by passing the personal liberty laws which enabled them to act against the Fugitive Slave Act and arrest slave catchers for kidnapping slaves.

The whites feared mixing of the race which is the Mongrel Race; because they were afraid the white race would be diluted. So, they did everything keep blacks at the bottom. The Southern states reacted by creating and enforcing Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow was a system created as a segregation of colored people and white people, but mainly focusing on blacks. These laws existed because of the idea of being superior (Ferris State University, 2012).

These slave codes placed harsh restrictions on slaves, depriving them of their rights and turning them into properties. However, slavery has been abolished in the United States of America thanks to many abolitionists. Many slaves are now free men and women. Nothing can be done to repair the wrongs of slavery, for it will always remain in the past. Now, Americans need to look to the future where slavery does not exist, where black and whites are found equal, and where racist is not a factor.

The 13th Amendment allowed the African Americans to be released from the institutionalized oppression of slavery, at the same time allowing them to achieve political and civil rights. It did not protect them from the violence that they will experience on a physical and physiological level, the newly freed African Americans that were victimized by different factors such as political regulations. Many African Americans attempted to exercise their newly acquired rights, but as a result, white southerners saw this as problematic and resorted to taking violent actions. Violence became one of the primary acts which caused the African American community’s rights to become void and it puts their black lives and black livelihood at stake.

Whites were able to maintain their power by keeping their slaves as uneducated as possible. Slaves were dehumanized by being sold next to livestock and split from their families like animals. By retaining basic information, such as the identity of the slave’s parents or their birthdays, the whites were able to deprive the slaves of any sense of identity or individuality. Once slaves had this knowledge they might begin to fight more diligently for their natural rights. Slave owners feared that if slaves became educated and “waken to a sense of their rights, and of the injustice done them” (Douglass 14), they would eventually revolt and want to simply be treated like a human being.

For instance, in Virginia, the set slave prices and frenzied racial fears made liberalization a farfetched dream. During his time as the legislator, Jefferson did more than affirm his commitment to abolitionist resolves. However, his revision of the Virginian slave’s code had little effect on easing the burden that slavery had on the African American. This did very little in addressing the plight of black slaves and their freedom . For instance, Jefferson banished a white lad who sired a black baby to leave the state of Virginia lest she is placed out of the protection laws.

“Beginning in the late 1870s, Southern state lawmakers passed laws that required Whites and Blacks to attend separate schools and to sit in different areas on public transportation.” (“Jim Crow Laws” 1). People thought these laws were needed because “The Jim Crow system was undergirded by the following beliefs or rationalizations: whites were superior to blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; sexual relations between blacks and whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America;” (“

“I had never seen among people such instances of brutal cruelty (Equaino 56).” Cruelty was not only shown towards blacks but also among whites. The British were people of such noble and high standards, but they were seeking to low levels by enslaving humans just as the rest of the world. The horrors that occurred during the middle passage are detailed as gruesome and appalling. Inhumanity was a major issue during the middle passage. Slaves were treated as property with little value.

The culture and practices of their time avoided them any critical analysis of their status in the society. In fact, even when slaves started revolts and violent riots, there actions where only confined to that single occasion. Overall, there was no bigger picture in their eyes on the brutality of slavery. The conditions and the cultural understanding of that time were so clear-cut and strong on the idea of blackness and slavery, that most slaves probably even believed that they were racially inferior to the white master and that their role in the society was to serve. Mostly because the wonderful ideas of civil disobedience brought by Rosa Parks in 1955 where far from the slaves in the plantations, who lived centuries before the declaration of human rights and the abolition of slavery.

Uproar and protest bubbled over in the states after Scott’s failure to obtain his freedom. His case also fueled the North in their battle with the South, since the big topic of the century was “slavery”. They wanted justice for Dred Scott, to rightfully place his ownership in his own hands, to grant him the freedom to live however he pleased and to not have to walk in shackles. Any human should have that basic right, as it says in the constitution. This landmark of a case stood as a breaking point for social reform; motivation to stop the discrimination that ran throughout the country.

After the awareness of the slaves’ capabilities and the living in communities with slaves, white people in the North that still supported slavery changed their stance after seeing first hand that black people, not just the few free blacks, were similar to everyone else. After the Underground Railroad, moral code came into question, and with the Constitution demanding all people be equal, the people in the North could no longer bear to uphold slavery. The Underground Railroad was risky and dangerous, but it furthered racial equality by creating a coalition against slavery and by freeing African

Pertaining to the rights of African Americans a new south did not appear after the reconstruction. While they were “free” they were often treated harshly and kept in a version of economic slavery by either their former masters or other white people in power. Sharecropping and the crop-lien system often had a negative impact on both the black and white tenants keeping them in debt with the owner. Jim Crow laws, vigilantes and various means of disfranchisement became the normal way of life in the South. It was believed that white people were superior to black people and when they moved up in politics or socially they were harassed and threatened.

The north wanted to to abolish slavery they felt like it was wrong although the argument the south had was the north didn’t need to worry about slaves due to the profit they were making off factories and manufacturing. Slavery was the backbone of the South’s economy. Although, money wasn’t the only reason whites restricted blacks for equal opportunities. Enforcing Jim Crow laws and Black codes simply was a result of hate and animosity most whites in the south had towards blacks.

Although the Radical Republicans tried to protect the rights of blacks, but the Reconstruction plans failed due to many reasons. For example due to “Sharecropping”: the white landowners attempted to force freed Blacks to sign contracts to work the fields. These contracts set terms that nearly bound the signer to permanent and unrestricted labor, which was slavery, but with different name (DOC 4). Also the “KKK” had a huge effect to end Reconstruction.As it was a whites organized secret societies to prevent blacks from

A group called the Ku Klux Klan was formed, the members of the KKK waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed towards white and black Republican leaders. The Southern people are not so welcoming towards African Americans, they wish that they would either return to being slaves or go back to Africa or where they were taken from. These laws affected both the north and the south. The North had a big hand in helping the South