...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...
Words: 1203 - Pages: 5
...In the book, Death or Liberty, Douglas R. Egerton main focus is on how the American Revolution affected the African American/Slaves in their struggle for freedom between 1763 and 1800, which was not just between the north and the south. African Americans had gained the most freedom during this time but were also the ones who had suffered the most. Egerton argues that, slavery could have ended earlier on, if the founding fathers had taken more action and that they lacked courage. Egerton writes about the experiences of black slaves and those who were free, for example Equiano. For most of his life, Equiano had to lie about where he came from, his age, and anything else he could get away with. For many Africans Americans the revolution was a...
Words: 531 - Pages: 3
...African American History: "Heritage, not Hate" When exploring African-American history, the most important things to focus on are that because of the times, black people were enslaved and treated poorly. They endured it all and worked hard to rise above the boundaries of slavery and prejudice. However, the most portentous aspect of African-American history is that it's heritage; it's history; and it's over. Jane Minor was born as Gensey Snow around the late 1700's or early 1800's. She was born into slavery and freed around 1825 when she changed her name. During her slavery, she faced the hardships of being a black female slave in the 1800's. Despite that, she earned a living after her emancipation by caring for the sick. With what money she had, she bought the freedoms of other women and children. She was an admirable woman. Sally Hemmings was born in 1773 as a slave of Thomas Jefferson. However, historians found that she was much more than that. Later, it was discovered that she bore one of Jefferson's children. This perhaps could have been the reason she was given special treatment and was allowed to go to Paris with Mary Jefferson. Although, it has not been proven so. Sally's accomplishments included learning French and playing the harpsichord. Her freedom came in 1826 when Jefferson died. Nat Turner was born on October 2, 1800 in Southampton County, VA to enslaved parents. He ran away from his master at 21 years old for religious reasons. Then, he traveled...
Words: 418 - Pages: 2
...African American History: "Heritage, not Hate" When exploring African-American history, the most important things to focus on are that because of the times, black people were enslaved and treated poorly. They endured it all and worked hard to rise above the boundaries of slavery and prejudice. However, the most portentous aspect of African-American history is that it's heritage; it's history; and it's over. Jane Minor was born as Gensey Snow around the late 1700's or early 1800's. She was born into slavery and freed around 1825 when she changed her name. During her slavery, she faced the hardships of being a black female slave in the 1800's. Despite that, she earned a living after her emancipation by caring for the sick. With what money she had, she bought the freedoms of other women and children. She was an admirable woman. Sally Hemmings was born in 1773 as a slave of Thomas Jefferson. However, historians found that she was much more than that. Later, it was discovered that she bore one of Jefferson's children. This perhaps could have been the reason she was given special treatment and was allowed to go to Paris with Mary Jefferson. Although, it has not been proven so. Sally's accomplishments included learning French and playing the harpsichord. Her freedom came in 1826 when Jefferson died. Nat Turner was born on October 2, 1800 in Southampton County, VA to enslaved parents. He ran away from his master at 21 years old for religious reasons. Then, he traveled as a...
Words: 418 - Pages: 2
...Question 1: This political cartoon was made in 1800, the artist is unknown. During 1800, America had recently declared independence. The people of America were struggling to form a strong central government and often found themselves in a dispute about disagreements regarding the decisions made on taxes, slavery, and innovations in America. The political cartoon shows two scenarios of the same white man with an African American woman. In one of the scenarios, the white man is about to beat the African American women with what looks like a lash. The other scenario with the African American women, the white man is kissing the women. At the bottom of the political cartoon, it reads, “Virginian Luxuries.” These type of events were occurring in Virginia. During 1800 in the United States, Virginia was a slave state, the white man that appears on both of these scenarios is the master and African American women, the slave. The author of this cartoon printed the words “Virginia Luxuries” to make a statement about the masters and the way they could be cruel to their slaves and other days take advantage of them to please their needs. The author called it luxuries because the masters were living the best of both worlds. They could treat the slave with astonishing cruelty one day and the next make love to them. During this time period, this kind of actions with masters and their slave women was no surprise. The power that the master had over the slaves, which were simply seen as property...
Words: 2046 - Pages: 9
...by new ideas of self-achievement and individualism (A.237). Women wanted to join the workforce, vote and be able to insert their opinions. Several things led to women’s issues becoming more prominent in American culture. One must acknowledge Religion, the 2nd Great Awakening, and education as the fundamental reasons why women’s issues became so prominent. Religion was...
Words: 1215 - Pages: 5
...Frederick Douglass, a black man who changed America's history with being one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement, which fought to end slavery within the United States in the decades prior to the Civil War. A slave in America until the age of 20, wrote three of the most highly regarded autobiographies of the 19th century, yet he only began learning to read and write when he turned 12 years old. After an early life of hardship and pain, Douglass escaped to the North to began his soul changing and spiritual beliefs of all men and women should be created equal. The institution of slavery scarred him so deeply that he decided to dedicate his powers of speech and prose to fighting it. In this paper it will include discussions on Frederick Douglass's early life childhood, the struggles he overcame to became a successor his motives and morals, the impact he had on the civil war, his achievements, and the legacy that went on within his name. Frederick Douglass was born as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey and was a slave from Talbot County, Maryland. His date of birth varied because slaves couldn't keep records, in result Frederick adopted February 14 as his birthday because his mother Harriet Bailey used to call him her "little valentine".(Douglass, (1885). When he was only an infant, he was separated from his mother, and she subsequently died when he was about seven years old. He then lived with his grandmother, Betty Bailey. His father remains unknown...
Words: 4005 - Pages: 17
...Fruit of the Human Eye Throughout the United States of America, during the 1800’s slavery reigned as a form of control whites exerted over blacks. This form of control was brutal and inhuman, as African Americans were forced from their home lands in Africa onto a boat, where many of them would die, only to be brought to a foreign land to be sold as servants for the white man. This time in American history is one of the most brutal and inmoral portions of American history, and although the great American Civil War, brought an end to slavery, it failed to end the pretentious, and discrimination placed on African Americans. In fact following the slavery of the 1800’s many African Americans faced harsher lives, as they were thrown into an American society, unable to read, or write; making...
Words: 1137 - Pages: 5
...RUNNING HEAD: US Constitution and Slavery Cardinal Stritch University Instructor: Judge David Bastianelli American Government and Politics – ASB 118 DLU 08 0893 May 22, 2012 US Constitution and Slavery The U.S. Constitution established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, by George Washington. Under America's first governing document, the Articles of Confederation, the national government was weak and states operated like independent countries. At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a plan for a stronger federal government with three branches--executive, legislative and judicial along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power. The Bill of Rights is 10 amendments guaranteeing basic individual protections such as freedom of speech and religion which became part of the Constitution in 1791. America's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was approved in 1781, a time when the nation was a confederation of states that each operated like independent countries. The debate of the constitution focused on contentious issues like the question of state representation in the national legislature and slavery. Slavery The American Civil War approximately 4 million enslaved African Americans lived in the southern region of the United States...
Words: 1361 - Pages: 6
...Segregation and Discrimination During the time of 1880-1920 there were many issues with racism for African-Americans who lived in the United States. Some of these issues raised many different events to occur. Events such as the Jim Crow Laws, or the Separate but Equal Laws, the Plessy vs. Ferguson trial, poll taxes, literacy tests, and the Grandfather Clauses. These events impacted the United States’ history in different ways, but they mostly impacted one thing: racism. The Jim Crow Laws legalized segregation in the United States in the 1800’s and 1900’s. This in turn made it legal to discriminate against African Americans in this time period. These laws showed just how much of an alteration there was between African Americans and the white man. For instance, there was a major difference in education, welfare, and health at these times. The Jim Crow Laws also deprived the black man of their right to vote. Some peopled have come to call the Jim Crows Laws the Separate but Equal Laws for their discrimination against the black man....
Words: 566 - Pages: 3
...leaders have come and gone but of course all of them have different objectives and plans for the future. One of the movements that has come to an end would be reconstruction. Reconstruction was a time period in American which had many leaders, goals, and accomplishments. But like everything it came to an end, the results were not so good but they weren’t bad either. The U.S experienced political, economic, geographic, and social change in the first half of the 1800’s, The dispute between the North and south about expanding slavery to new territory and the election of Abraham Lincoln, Civil war lasted approximately four years and it cost 620,000 lives far most destructive war, also, after the...
Words: 1065 - Pages: 5
...In the 1800’s, slavery was a crucial dispute in the United States. It was the hopes and dreams of many that the Civil War would completely abolish slavery. Even though slavery was made illegal in 1865 after the Civil War ended, African Americans did not acquire freedom during the era of Reconstruction. African Americans did not attain independence partially because of disenfranchisement. For example, it was obligatory to pay a poll tax if they had the desire to register to vote. In innumerable cases, the tax was not affordable for African Americans anyhow. Additionally, African Americans would have had to take a literacy test. This discriminatory examination was made to purposely fail African Americans, generating the idea that they couldn’t vote. According to document J, “she had to take a literacy test and pay a poll tax of $1.50, a sum worth about $25 today.” Lastly, the Grandfather Clause exempted voters from those registrations if their grandfathers had voted, undoubtedly eradicating blacks. Disenfranchisement during the era of Reconstruction was one considerable justification why African Americans...
Words: 458 - Pages: 2
...Slavery has been a social norm for thousands of centuries, so when the English settlers created America, they also brought over that social inherent ideal. Slaves in every culture were considered a substandard version of their special elite race. Slaves were commonly abused by all societies who owned them to show power and control. Slavery began prior to and after the development of colonization, but international trade of slaves was not ban until the early 1800’s. The ban resulted in the domestic and illegal trade of slaves which proved to be extremely profitable. Life was dismal for a slave. They endured many tragedies, abuse, disease, death and anxiety of their fate. Slavery in the United States was a social and moral crime, and a tragedy in the 18th and 19th century because it affected many demographics, used human lives for profit, and separated families at against their will. A common misconception is that slave were not only from African descent, but in reality many came from different races from around the world. When American settlers came to America, many battles occurred with the Native Indians. After taking their land, the natives were one of the first slaves in America. The African slave was popular in Europe and soon thousands of African slaves were sold in America. Out of 11,800,000 African slaves shipped across the Atlantic, 20% of them did not survive, and only 6% were sold in the America; the slave trade increased by natural reproduction. (1) Many peasant Europeans’...
Words: 720 - Pages: 3
...In the mid-1800s of the United States issues in society aroused. Problems from the fields to the Congress became unbearable. Eventually all these issues lead to advisement of social and political reforms all over America. In result of those reforms changes to the United States of America came drastically. First, Women’s Rights became a major issue for the Congress. After the writing of the Declaration of Sentiments a new point of view of women was seen. The idea was to show people (specifically women) that females had no real equality in America. “He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice” (Document1). It had proved to women that they were controlled and followed by the laws, and could not have any rights...
Words: 520 - Pages: 3
... Historical Report on Race Throughout history, the African American community dealt with much discrimination. In 1619, Europeans shipped African Americans as slaves to Jamestown colony to harvest tobacco and that was the start of discrimination (Slavery in America, 2012. Sugar, rice and wheat are some of the crops that slaves tend to under the control of their slave owners. From dusk until dawn, enslaved African Americans worked to tend crops (Slavery in America, 2012). African Americans were enlisted and were forced to join the Army when Civil War came but refused to because of a law that was being upheld to keep them from enlisting. This was changed when President Lincoln submitted the Final Proclamation. There were still discrimination and segregation even though African Americans were already allowed to enlist in the army (The Civil War and Emancipation, 2012). There have been many concerns regarding African Americans participating in political causes throughout the years. There was an instance that a literacy test was done in the State of Mississippi to prevent Blacks from voting. The result was the state adopted a grandpa clause because the test caused whites from being able to vote as well. Before 1870, regardless of literacy or tax qualifications, everyone has the right to vote. The Black community was stopped to vote while whites were able to vote under grandpa clause. Several laws that supported slavery were made in the 1700s and 1800s. It is illegal to teach slaves about reading...
Words: 695 - Pages: 3
