The North and South both felt that to allow slavery or to abolish slavery is a state issue and not a federal issue, so one major cause known for war was the issue of slavery. In December of 1865 the 13th amendment was added to the constitution, which ended slavery.
One of the major aspects of African American history is going from slavery to freedom. African Americans have come a long way since 865, even though along the way fighting against racial prejudice, and fighting to become equal to white Americans, there were several acts/amendments giving them the freedom they have today and the ability of doing something extraordinary, such as becoming President.
During the reconstruction era slaves were let free, but in reality they had nowhere to go, nothing to eat, so African American’s struggled with their freedom and wanted the right to these things as white people. Johnson (1865) wrote, “We feel it to be very important that we obtain HOMES-owning our shelters, and the ground, that we may raise fruit trees, concerning which our hillier can are ours. This comes out of a letter from a Northern teacher to the Freedman’s Bureau commissioner looking for help with what African Americans needed after emancipation. When slavery ended African Americans were free, but they did not have anything or anywhere to go and thought they should have the same equal rights as white Americans. The Freedman’s Bureau according to Bowels (201 1) is “a government agency formed in March 1865 that sought to bring aid with food, clothing, and medical care to poor whites and blacks in the South” (section 1. ). Although he Freedman’s Bureau is very significant to the helping of the freed slaves, it is not noted as one of the most significant events in African American history. Think the Freedman’s Bureau was one of the first steps in helping slaves feel free. According to Donald (1 956), “The creation of a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned lands, was designed to ‘help the Negroes make the difficult transition from slavery’ to freedom’ was an administration’s answer” (peg. 267).
Besides food, clothing and medical care, the Bureau helped encourage blacks to gain employment, encouraged farmers who did eve plantations to rebuild their plantations, for whites and blacks to work together and employers and employees, help African Americans get in touch with family they lost, or find family for those who were lost, as well as teach them how to read and write to better themselves to help with their advancement in education. By the sass’s the Bureau started to vanish, but in 1869 a new step for equality was granted for African Americans.
African Americans were fighting for suffrage, which the Black suffrage was the right for blacks to vote. The 15th amendment, which was ratified in 1870 as a new beginning and recognized African Americans as U. S. Citizens. The 15th amendment to the LLC S. Constitution forbids the state and federal governments from refusing a citizen the right to vote based on the citizen’s “color, race, or previous condition of servitude. ” This being a step for equality for African Americans later on from about 1890 to 1910 a lot of black voters in the south were being disfranchised.
According to Franklin (1957), “In 1890 some southern whites were celebrating what may well be described as an uneasy victory over the individuals and groups that favored the enfranchisement of the Negro” (peg. 241). Disfranchisement was an attempt by the southern states to prevent black citizens from registering to vote such as poll taxes, or literary tests even though the 15th amendment was put in places to protect suffrage or the freedmen after the Civil War. Disfranchisement lasted pretty much up until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Act of 1965, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
Segregation was a very important part Of African American History because African American’s dealt with being segregated from almost everything, but ad to fight to overcome that. A very important event in African American history and the step to ending segregation was the 1954 Brown Decision. In the Brown vs.. Board of Education case in 1 954 the Supreme Court declared the segregation of blacks and whites in public school is unconstitutional. The case was made up of 5 separate cases put into one, of people who were courageous enough to stand up for what they believed in and against the segregated system.
These cases were also fought for/handled by Thorough Marshall, and the NAACP legal defense and education. The Brown case had o be heard a second time before declaring segregation in school is unconstitutional. Brown Decision came at a perfect time because it was a time of racial inequality, the struggle for freedom, and that it represented a great period in history where racial inequality will not be tolerated anymore. It gave much hope and courage to African Americans. An extraordinary and groundbreaking case, Brown not only got the precedent of Peoples v.
Ferguson of 1896(which declared “separate but equal facilities constitutional”) overturned, but the winning of this case also provided the legal foundation of he Civil Rights Movement in the 1 9605. The Civil Rights Act Of 1 964 Was known “to end all segregation. ” The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 is an act that ended unequal voter registration requirements, racial segregation in the work place, schools, and by facilities that served the general public, and outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Bowels, 2011, section 4. 6).
There was Civil Rights Act prior to this one, which according to United States Congress (1866), “An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil Rights ND furnish the Means of their Vindication. ” This first Civil Rights Act was for African Americans to have the same right to things as white people such as sue, inherit, lease, or buy property as whites does, as well as receive save punishment as whites in criminal acts. In 1964 it changed and was a huge Step for equal rights and to stop segregation for black people. This was a major step in U.
S as well as being very significant for African American History. The main focuses of the Civil Rights Act was voting rights, public accommodations, desegregation of public facilities, desegregation of public education, civil rights commission, nondiscrimination in Federally assisted programs, equal employment opportunity, registration and voting statistics, intervention and removal of cases, community relations services, and miscellaneous (The Drinker Congressional Center, 2014). These are all very important to African Americans gaining their freedom, and a means of coming a long ways since 1865.
African Americans struggled for their freedom for a very long time and before the Brown Decision and The Civil Rights Act African Americans tried to overcome segregation and racial discrimination through other means. African Americans during the sass’s were able to enjoy and bring racial uplift and pride to their communities and Harlem Artist wanted to get respect from those who still partake in racist ideas resulting in the Harlem Renaissance (Bowels, 2011 Harlem Renaissance from about the 1 ass’s lasting to about the sass’s was a cultural movement known as the New Negro Movement.
During this period in time Harlem was a center for cultural talents, drawing black artists, musicians, writers, poets, photographers, and scholars. Many of them fleeing in from the South in order to find a place where they could freely express heir talents. Harlem Renaissance writers were extremely mobile, they felt joined, not alienated by their wondering, and they were a part of a huge migration of black people to the urban Northeast (Bremen, 1 990, peg. 48). Harlem was their home away from home, and they could always feel Harlem in their artistic endeavors.
The Harlem Renaissance was a means for blacks to express themselves as well as racial pride, and the New Negro and its demand for political and civil rights. Jazz and Blues music incorporated in the Renaissance drew whites in and there was interracial dancing. People who re known or represented the Harlem Renaissance would be Longs Hughes, Jessie Redmond Faucet, Counted Culled, Zorn Neal Hurst, Richard Bruce Nugent, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay, Jean Toomey, Charlotte Mason, Carl Van Bechtel, Amy Spinning, Joel Spinning, Arthur Spinning, Annie Nathan Meyer, Walter Jewell, Louise Bryant, Fannies Hurst, Elaine LeRoy Locke, W.
E. B Dubos, James Weldon, Johnson, Charles Spurge Johnson, Walter Francis White, Arthur Schoenberg, and Marcus Graver. The Harlem Renaissance was very important to African American’s heritage and racial pride. Years after The Harlem Renaissance is where African Americans really aimed much of their freedom, which is due to the Civil Rights Act. It is not until the turn of the century where we can see how far African Americans have actually come. From 1 981 to 2009 is where it’s a turn of the century for African Americans.
Throughout the years there has been African Americans who have been a part of the Federal System, but during the recent years we have had a few firsts for African Americans including: Colon Powell becomes the first African American U. S. Secretary of State in 2001 , Condolences Rice becomes the first black female U. S. Secretary of State in 2005, and Barrack Obama because the iris African American President in 2009. During the ass’s and ass’s there were several first African Americans mayors for several states. Other things that happened in this turn of the century would be in 1 983 Guenon Bluffed Jar. As the first African-American in space, and in 2002 Whale Berry becomes the first African American woman to win the Best Actress Oscar. As I have researched have noticed from the ass’s until now there is a lot of firsts for African Americans. They have truly fought for their rights to be equal, and today with all the firsts for African Americans you can see how hard they fought for hat they believe in, and what should have always been. Looking back to 1865, these events are events that would not have been possible until now and truly show how far in Freedom that African Americans have come.
Although in the world today I still think that there is a lot of racism, it is not nearly as much as it was after the reconstruction era. African Americans from 1865 until now have advance so much and truly fought for their freedom to get to where they are today. The events discussed in this paper are just a few out of tons of events that occurred in African American History. The most amazing thing is that they have come so far and that it was made possible for there to be the first African American President.
That says a lot about the history of African Americans, what they had to fight for, and how much America has changed. African Americans went from Slavery to Freedom. It took years to see any kind of break thru for black people, but they accomplished a lot along the way and won in many things they fought for. America is still a country that people feed off of racism, but reading about years ago the racism has slowly disappeared. I have never been racist and to dead and hear about what they had to go through to get to where they are today makes me appreciate history even more.
African Americans have come a long way since 1865, even though along the way fighting against racial prejudice, and fighting to become equal to white Americans, there were several acts/amendments giving them the freedom they have today and the ability of doing something extraordinary, such as becoming President.
