African American Social Standings Essay

This research paper will discuss the African American br early(a)ly standing in America throughout history. It will discuss the highs and lows and the pros an cons of the progression and also the different occlusions that African Americans lived through since they were brought to America. The progression of African Americans in America began with a practice called slavery. Slavery is the state of a somebody who is the chattel of another. It began in 1441 when Portuguese men kidnapped 12 black Africans from Cabo Blanco and travel them to Portugal. This candid the door to slavery in the Americas.A British solon stated that Slavery is a weed that grows on every soil. The first base African Americans slaves in America were brought to Jamestown, Virginia as servants and or slaves in idealistic 1619. In order for slavery to work Africans had to made to seem inferior, matchless and merely(a) of the main an most common modes to show this was through phantasmal racialism ( Aretha , David pg. 21 ) The practice of slavery was then direct to the to the south were they were put on plantations. Plantations consisted of a large mansion comparable blank space surrounded by a large farm where slaves planted and harvested crops and performed other jobs which they werent paid for.While on the plantation the slaves called the owner pass over or Mistress, they provided the slaves with food housing and clothing. ( David Brion Davis, origination give online Slavery) While on these plantations some of the slaves faced severe consequence for disobedience. They received consequences for not functional hard or fast enough, they would also be used as an example in order to realise the others. Their harsh punishment would implicate branding, whipping, mutilation, chaining and sometimes the harshest punishment of all cold blooded murder.Slavery was one of the worst periods in American history. During this period of slavery there were hardly a(prenominal) revolts exc lusively some(prenominal) runa ways. While slavery continued to penetrate and nettle more brutal in the south-central, the North disagreed with the idea of free labor. Their inequality fueled the emancipationist movement end. The Abolitionist grounds was the first movement that triad to the African Americans political and physical freedoms from slavery. Antislavery activity began in colonial days. During the 1680s, Quakers in Pennsylvania condemned slavery on moral grounds. In the late 1700s, some(prenominal) leaders of the American revolutionary movement, including Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, spoke out against slavery. (David Herbert Donald, World Book Online?Abolitionist exertion). During the sound of the movement there were almost no humankind composition that publicized the abolishment of slavery. William Lloyd place, an American journalist and abolitionist who became famous in the 1830 for denouncing slavery, published the first issue of his abolitionist newspaper The Liberator January 1st 1831, which was at that time the first Abolitionist newspaper.The reason William fortress published the newspaper was because he was tired of the other methods that many abolitionists had tried. Garrison said slavery should be ended immediately. Another front counterbalance during the Abolitionist Movement was Sojourner Truth. She was an ex-slave and also one of the main figures in the controvert for womens rights and equality. On January 1, 1863, the Abolitionist goals were reached when Pre grimacent Abraham Lincoln the 16th electric chair issued his independence Proclamation. It read that all persons held as slaves in rebellious states be and henceforward shall be free (McPherson, James M.World Book Online? Emancipation Proclamation. ) . Around the alike time Congress passed the 25th Amendment into Constitution which hence abolished slavery. Months later it was ratified. Following the Emancipation Proclamation, The North (union) and the South (confederate) began a accomplished war which lasted from 1861 to 1865. The war ended with many of the major cities in the South in ruins and most of the Northern cities left untouched. The Reconstruction period in the U. S followed the Unions victory over the Confederate Army in the civilised war .The period was used to rebuild the south and patch-up the relationship betwixt the North and South. Along with rebuilding and patching up relationships, the North sent teachers to the south to educated the African American ex slaves who had became newly members of the society. The teachers taught ex slaves reading, writing an arithmetic. The Reconstruction Act called for a new Constitution to be established in each state. It also gave Freedmen the right to participate in voting. The 14th Amendment was also passed and ratified during the Reconstruction period.The 14th Amendment granted replete citizenship to all people born or naturalized In the unite States of America . Many of the laws passed during this period were tack together in place to treasure the rights of former slaves, such as allowing blacks to vote an giving them many of the same rights as whites and protecting things dear to them such as property and money. During this period many advancements in society were made by African Americans, such as the Self-Leveling Table created by Charles William Allen , the corn planter check oarsman by Ralph W.Alexander and the spark plug by Edmond Berger these are only three of the more than 200 inventions/advancements made by African Americans during the reconstructive memory period. These African Americans, lead professions even when high limitations were placed upon them. (Aretha, David pg. 61) Advancements like these opened the door and let people know that African Americans were not incapable but could actually make a difference in the world. plane though laws were set in place many southern whites unbosom did not want to think an ex-slaves as an ything close to equals. This lead to much(prenominal) military group and death of both whites and former slaves.In time, southern whites regained control of their state governments and took away many of the rights that blacks had won during reconstruction. ( Stephen V. Ash, Work book online? Reconstruction). afterwards the Reconstruction period ended and the North soldiers returned back home, which left ex slaves with no form of protection lead to extreme backlash against the African American community by whites. Following the Reconstruction period Jim triumph laws came into effect. Jim Crow laws resulted from the support southern whites and their effort to maintain segregation of blacks.These typewrite of laws plagued the United States during the 19th century. The first type of Jim Crow law was set in place in Tennessee which called for the separation of African-American and white laborrs on the railway. This practice was soon adopted by other southern states. The spread of s egregation laws through the South was supported by a many dogmatic Court decisions. ( Joe R. Freagin, World Book online? Segregation) The part but equate Doctrine arose during the period in which Jim Crow laws were on a rise. The Separate but Equal Doctrine stated that African Americans were equal to whites but should be kept separate from whites.The separate but equal article of faith was totally incorrect. For example Blacks and whites were separated in schools but the white schools had busing an the go around books and teachers on the other hand the black schools had run down classrooms and unaccepted books. Blacks and whites were also separated in eateries, the White restaurants had the best locations and best accommodations on the contrary the black restaurants were small and modest. Most of these Jim Crow laws were declared hinder by several Supreme Court decisions in the 1950s and 1960s and by the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968. ( Alton Hornsby, World Book Online? Jim crow) During the 1950s the Civil Rights Movement took flight along with desegregation. The Civil Rights Movement was just that a movement towards civil rights which were stated to be The freedoms and rights that a person may provoke as a member of a community, state, or nation. (Bruce Allen Murphy, World Book Online? Civil Rights) The first major event of the civil rights movement was the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education, which desegregated public schools across the nation.Schools in the south were very slow in changing their ways and violence usually erupted when black students tried to register. Then, in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, a hatter named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. After she was arrested for breaking the law, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began, For 382 days, from Dec. 5, 1955, to Dec. 20, 1956 blacks refused to ride Buses and carpooled to destinations. It ended Dec 20, 1956 with the Supreme-Court-ordering deseg regation of Montgomery buses. The boycott brought fame to a lofty named Dr. Martin Luther male monarch.During the Civil Rights Movement the most effective way to get things through many debated was through non violence. Non violence was not just a way of acting but a state of mind and doctrine which Martin Luther King Jr. took from Mahatma Gandhi he stated that with non violence you can move mountains. some(prenominal) methods they used to get their point across were sit ins, boycotts, marches and public speeches. Although many activist call upd in non violence there was another side to the Civil Rights Movement and that was the Black Power Movement. The Black Power Movement was a more radical movement than the Non Violent Movement.Front runners like Malcolm X and other influential faces such as Huey P. Newton and bud Siegel who together formed the Black Panthers all believed that the white man was the worry and that in order to win equal rights that African Americans needed t o start fighting fire with fire and bullets with bullets instead of the more passive ways of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. ( Aretha, Chronicles pr. 261-300) In conclusion I believe that the law has provided African Americans with equal rights as whites but I believe that they may restrained appear not to be equal.In the twenty-first century I believe and know that there are many laws that seem to make African Americans and white equals but there is still much discrimination in the world. I also believe that the racism is not as bad but still exist, it just isnt as blatant and in your face as it was in the past. African Americans still have trouble getting jobs, being accepted into organizations and colleges or university, But I do believe that we have made a 900 degree turn from the time where Colored and White signs decorated the front of every doorway, restroom and waterfountian in the southern U. S.