...African American's Journey Essay Below is a free essay on "African American's Journey" from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples. “African American’s Journey to Freedom” Charity Johnson HIS204: American History since 1865 Instructor: Leslie Ruff February 11, 2013 “African American’s Journey to Freedom” To some African Americans it may seem ironic that The United States of America is known as “the land of the free” considering that majority of their ancestors entered the US as slaves. African Americans were brought to North America via the middle passage which originated during the fifteenth century. They were enslaved for approximately 400 hundred years until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Although African Americans were enslaved in America, they were determine to survive and one day be freed in this great country. During The African American’s journey to freedom several significant events took place which was inclusive of but not limited to: The Civil Rights Movement of 1865-1877, Separate but Equal Legislation (Plessy vs. Ferguson court case) in 1896, The Harlem Renaissance of 1920, Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, The March on Washington Movement of 1963, and The Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and 1970. I will discuss the significance of these events in relation to the African American journey to freedom and how they have help shape American society today. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OF 1865-1877 Frequently when...
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...A Tireless Road1 A Tireless Road HIS204: American History Since 1865 February 10, 2014 A Tireless Road2 It was long and tiring for African Americans on the road to freedom. Slavery was abolished in 1865 but not as they had hoped. It took many decades for it to come full circle and be properly finished. There were so many people and events that finally led to the complete freedom and equality for African Americans. I believe that the most significant events that led to a final resolution were the Amendments and Civil Rights Acts passed and signed by our government. Although, it was hard for proper implementation of the laws at first, I believe that they were all extremely important building blocks for the movement to finally get to where it is today. The first event that started the Civil Rights Movement was the abolishment of slavery. Ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment did just this, it restricted state power federally and outlawed involuntary servitude. What this meant is that nationwide, it was illegal to claim ownership over another person. “Although its full effect was not achieved for nearly a century, it began the process of dismantling involuntary servitude as a widespread form of labor relations” (Rutherglen, 2012). With that being said, this was the first real law of its kind, so its implementation was crudely regulated. Yes, slaves were free to now go about and live as they see fit, however, even with freedom they could not regulate their own...
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...Many historians and scholars in the field of African American studies know about the ambitious rivalry between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBouis. This rivalry between two great leaders of the black community in the late 19th and 20th century gave birth to many debates and dissension about which leader actually offered a better way for black people to advance in American society back then. I personally viewed Booker T. Washington’s beliefs about racial equality as somewhat…“colonized”. I believe his ideas were too ground in the white agenda that was going on in that era. I believe W.E.B DuBois ideas were better for the improvement of African American people in American society. Of these two great men, the first to come along was Booker T. Washington. He was a reformer, an educator and one of the most influential black leaders of his time. He preached the philosophy of racial solidarity, self-help and accommodation. He pushed for black people to accept the vicious discrimination that they were going through for the time being and instead concentrate on advancing themselves through material prosperity and hard work....
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...poet—not a Negro poet” (Hughes 348). In his essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Langston Hughes covers many important points but his hook is one to mention. This hook focuses a lot on the main issue of the essay itself. The issue is that the negro poets want to write like the white poets implying that colored artists want to be white. This then leads to the fact that the white audiences turned to the artists of color and saw them as stereotypical entertainment mainly because these black artists were afraid of being themselves. Langston Hughes’s poem, “The Weary Blues” engages with themes of the Harlem Renaissance and the content of the poem expresses various issues Hughes discussed in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” The poem, “The Weary Blues” is a powerful poem because it highlights the cultural traditions of the African American descent during a time of the Harlem Renaissance. The audience is able to...
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...The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 Leonard Stinson HIS204: American History Since 1865 Instructor John Durr December 5th, 2011 The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 This was a time when America was trying to find herself. These were the years known as the Reconstruction Period from 1865-1877. During this time period, the African-American people became free from slavery but one can only imagine what free really is. While the nation search for ways to establish true meaning of equality, African-American people continued to struggle to find out just what equality means and to have the same rights and freedom as the white people in the nation. Whether as slaves or free people, the political and social status of African Americans has always been to obtain the ability to participate in the nation’s economy. While many historians believe that slavery and politics can be attributed to the Civil War, more than 600,000 Americans died and with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation to start the motion to free the slaves, America became even more a divided country in 1865 than the previous earlier years (Bowles, 2011). Although freedom in the post-Civil War years did not guarantee equality, African Americans continued to struggle from racism, segregation and discrimination for many years, but the birth of equality is beginning to grow and show that all men and women are created equal. The effort to integrate...
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...memory of history. However, sometimes not only can memorials remind civics of past history but also they can be used as a tactic for certain people to pursuit their political appeals. In the article A Marble House Divided, Scott Sandage mainly talked about two great history events—Marian Aderson’s emancipation concert and the big march on Washington. By elaborating these two events, Scott Sandage try to demonstrate what role did Lincoln memorial play in the African American civil rights movement and how did the Lincoln memorial helped blacks to strive for equality and freedom. Begin with explaining the origins of Lincoln memorial Scott gradually described the process that Lincoln memorials became a locale for African...
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...RACIAL EQUALITY James Shahan University of Phoenix February 15th, 2014 Racial Equality There exist different ideas and ideologies that surround the subject of race and racism. Opinions vary as to what racism is and what it is not. Racial equality is one such ideology. By definition, racial equality denotes the uniform or equal treatment of members from different races. The term loosely applies to both biological and social equality (Painter, 2006). Racial equality differs markedly from racial equity which denotes an ideal situation where markets and other systems work equally for all racial and ethnic groups. This essay centers on racial equality as a tool for social justice looking at the activities of various organizations and groups in promoting racial equality. There are many organizations and groups that serve to ensure social justice. These groups and organizations push for racial equality among different racial groups. They target a specific marginalized community or race and fight all aspects of institutional racism that might affect these groups. Most of these groups serve as civil right agents that advocate for the rights of these minority groups. National Urban League (NUL) is a good paradigm of a civil right group that fights for the rights of the minority. National Urban League as a civil right group fights against racial inequality for the African-Americans. This group advocates for equal rights for the African-Americans and...
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...Analysis of James Baldwin’s Letter to My Nephew: The Unity of Races in the United States of America, a Common Jailer Near the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his namesake nephew, who had been imprisoned for defying his racial ranking. He declared his primary dispute with his country as the inhibition that accompanies the existence of being an African American. However, contrary to the popular tactic of most protestors, Baldwin did not label white people as the enemy for victimizing African Americans. Instead, he considered the white people to be the victims and deemed it a responsibility of the black community to accept their white countrymen for this crutch. In the heart of his letter, Baldwin wanted to convey to his nephew that he should never give into the standards of the white folk; instead, he should help the whites come into the acknowledgment of their primitive and unjust beliefs. And in the pursuit of a better America, he should lovingly accept his countrymen into the new era. The contents of his letter served to remove his nephew from the immediate danger of losing himself and to advise his nephew by outlining the reason white people oppose integration. Baldwin believed that his nephew was in crucial danger and made references to his predecessors in order to highlight how tolling the white folk’s standards could be on a black man’s spirit. The grandfather’s life represented the most degradative effect...
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...Bryant, and compare them to the reflection of boxer Joe Louis. Joe Louis began his credible journey on June 19, 1936 during the times when America was struggling with racial equality he won his first of 27 fights. However, having a black heavyweight champion meant the black community would move upward and be successful and just as productive as white America. Although Joe Louis was not the first black heavyweight champ, he was still highly favored amongst his people and intended to execute the necessary duties to deliver a message demanding equal opportunity to whites from the black community. Louis did not doubt that he could win. To be a contender for a heavyweight title Louis had to first defeat Max Schmeling. People paraded and praised Louis months before the actual fight. They truly believed in this man of color and when in the boxing ring Joe Louis would always represent the African American fighting the whites for equality. The pressure was thick but maybe the community and Louis were over-confident. No one assumed he would have difficulty in the bout but with his lack of training Joe Louis experienced the greatest upset after being defeated in 12 rounds. Joe Louis’ defeat represented African American defeat entirely. When he went down “all of the hopes, the dreams, the desires and the beliefs of equality went out in one single evening with one single fight,” says Louis’ son, Joe Louis Barrow Jr. A year later after properly training with the same weight of the black community...
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...Student Name Student ID XXXXXX Date History “Emergence of Racial Equality in America” In his short essay, “The Preconditions for Racial Change,” author Harvard Sitkoff argues that economic, political and ideological considerations played a major role in bringing about racial equality for African-Americans in the United States during the middle of the 20th century. Sitkoff maintains that the introduction of televisions into American homes, a booming postwar economy, the decolonization of many African nations from white rule and the emergence of the United States as the leader of the Free World were the driving forces behind bringing racial equality to the forefront for many Americans, both black and white. The arguments offered by Sitkoff regarding this awakening in many Americans are both compelling and convincing. While his viewpoints are based on nothing more than perception and opinion, his logic is sound and his line of reasoning is very persuasive. Sitkoff begins his essay by discussing the opportunities afforded to blacks as a direct result of positive changes in the American economy. With the explosive growth of our Gross National Product (GNP) after the 1940’s, many blacks saw a sharp increase in their income, the availability of jobs in industries that had previously been off-limits to them and advancement opportunities that ranked them alongside their white counterparts. In the past, the fear...
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...Worldview Analysis Essay Alton Dawson Liberty University Worldview Analysis Essay This essay will examine the world view analysis and prospective on race and racism. Race over the last century has evolved as a worldview, the body of prejudgments and of human differences and group behaviors that has distorted our way of thinking about the issues of race and race relations. Racism begins as myths or beliefs about diversity of human species and the abilities and behaviors of placing these people into homogenized categories. Race has always been a pervasive component of thoughts and experiences shared by Americans and the rest of the world. (Fredrickson, 2005). It has been intrinsic of how Americans and the rest of the world see and try to find explanations the overall functioning of the world, while the meaning or reality of racism has not been explained. The issue of race throughout the United States and the world has been used as placing a classification of social identity that has effected how we were influenced by others through interactions. Race can be determined as being a part of the so called “ natural order “ of things that we as humans think as mere variations ( physical ) often used as evidence of the human existence , that is justified in the mistreatment of the human family. Race and racism in the United States and the world is about inequality of worth and status. Racism is the ideas that are based on human inequality due to differences that becomes phenotypic...
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...The Road To Ending Segregation Barbara Pritchard HIS 204: Historical Awareness Professor Kimberly Hornback September 26, 2011 The road to ending Segregation The road to ending segregation was a long and hard move for the South. In the 1800s-1900’s segregation was enforced to keep African Americans separated from whites. During this time African Americans had to deal with the symbols of what was called Jim Crow’s, (Whites Only and Colored Only) signs; which are found today in museums, old photographs, and documentaries. Now since an African American has been elected President of the United States, a person could say segregation seems as old-fashioned and distant as watching an old black and white television. Although, the major challenge is to explain the reasons for the legacy of segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights, that African Americans worked to end. The best way to describe the shape of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, “according to eminent historian Robert Wiebe, the answer was isolated island communities,” (Bowles, 2011, Section 1.1, Para 1). Wiebe used the symbol of the island because cities were very much separated and isolated from each other and had a weak system of communication between them. The time came, after the divisiveness and devastation of the Civil War, when the nation searched for order economically, politically, geographically, and racially. Although, emancipation came during...
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...Ethnic groups and Discrimination Eth 125 This was a difficult choice for me since I belong to multiple ethnic groups. Since I have to choose one I have decided to pick the African American side to further discuss as a topic for this essay. After much research I was able to learn so much about my ethnic group, some of which I already was aware of and some information was enlightening. The history of what is now considered to be an African American goes back to that of the seventeenth century. Most African American lineage is traced back to various different parts of Africa thus helping with name title of African American. Africans’ at this time in history were brought over to America as slaves immigrated not colonized. Slavery brought many Africans’ to America not by choice. Once a slave arrived they were bought and sold to an owner or master with intentions to make profit for their owner most not seeing any profit of their own. Slavery went on to exist for many years until the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. Even many years after the Emancipation Proclamation African Americans were still slaves. It was not until 1865 that congress took action and signed the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands to help the slaves totaling about four million at that time to learn how to transition from slavery into freedom. Although they were about to overcome being enslaved and now would have freedom the fight was just beginning...
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...African American The African American did not arrive in America through the traditional ways of immigration, but instead were forced to leave their homeland by African slave traders. African Slave traders sold African American to American Southerners to work as slave on their plantations. After hundreds of years of being owned by white Americans, the African American was finally given their freedom. Unfortunately, after being released from human slavery and bondage, African Americans had to endure many years of poor treatment and discrimination by members of the American public. After the legislation that was enacted forbidding and punishing discriminatory behavior in society, African Americans were finally able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Although human equality is still a tremendous work in progress in our society today, after years of decrementing struggles and tribulations, the African American is finally treated like an equal citizen in society. The adverse reality that African Americans did not have the equal right and opportunity to live their lives as free men and women, has set a staggering mark in American history. African Americans were bought and sold like cattle and never looked at as humans but rather property. The laws were designed to benefit the White American and the slave owner and did not recognize the slave as a citizen. Although slavery was made illegal in the Northern regions in 1787, it was not until 1808 before slavery was outlawed...
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...2013 Harlem Renaissance Poets The Harlem Renaissance was the time period that immediately followed the First World War. During the great migration a vast number of African Americans left the southern states to relocate to northern states such as Chicago, New York, and Washington DC. They were in search of new employment and artistic opportunities. This was the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance era where African American artist (musicians and poets) called themselves the “New Negro”. The two Poets I chose to discuss throughout this essay are Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. I will be discussing their roles during the Harlem Renaissance, The elements of double consciousness within their poetry, and the primary themes seen in poetry during this time period. Langston Hughes Langston Hughes was one of the most influential writers during the Harlem Renaissance. His unique style of writing incorporated Jazz and Blues music into poetry. Langston Hughes played a significant role during the Harlem Renaissance period, his work became the voice for the average African American struggling to deal with the stress / pressures of being racially discriminated against. His poems encouraged them to love their brown skin and accept who they are and not how they are seen by their white counterparts. Instead of African Americans sacrificing their identity (culture) to blend into the white society he encouraged Negroes to have a sense of pride in their ancestry and celebrate their spirituality...
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