...After many long years of brutal slavery, many African Americans were beginning to gain freedom from slavery, specifically from 1775 to 1830. However, while slavery was shrinking in some states, it was also growing in others. Along with this growth of slavery, and possibility of being re-sold into slavery, free slaves often faced very tough challenges. These challenges included, the lack of rights for African Americans, and their nationality. Free slaves were not the only ones with problems, on top of the many obvious inhumane challenges faced by slaves, they were now beginning to think of what life is like outside the control of their masters. The Northern states were beginning to free slaves. In the north slavery was less common due to the lack of farms, and because of this, those states found having free African Americans as a good thing. As shown in the map of document C, many places who in 1790 had under 10 percent of their population as slaves now either reduced those numbers, or have no slaves at all. Some people even discussed the idea of sending African Americans back to Africa so they could truly be free (Doc. H)....
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...Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves in the United States. The Proclamation only applied to slaves that were in the south and not occupied by federal military forces. The slaves in the South were freed so that they could join the army. The Border States including Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and Kentucky were not included in the Emancipation Proclamation. The Civil War was not a war to end slavery it was a war to get the South to join the Union once again. “That aim remained the restoration of the Union, but the Emancipation Proclamation meant that it would be a transformed Union, one without slavery” (Crowther, Edward R.”Emancipation Proclamation”.14 Mar.2012) Many believe that even if the Emancipation was not signed that slavery would of come to an end. But the question is was the Emancipation Proclamation needed to win the Civil war? The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in states rebelling against the Union, but the slaves in the Union and Border States were not at all affected by the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation was a war strategy that Lincoln hoped would help him win the war. As Lincoln stated many times, he was not trying to abolish slavery in the beginning of the war but he would do anything to put the country back together with or without slavery. The Emancipations Proclamation did not actually free any slaves but it freed slaves for a short term period until the war was over. To actually free slaves Lincoln would need to...
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...the civil liberties of African Americans. In 1857, the Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford raised the questions, “Is a slave a citizen?”, “Can a slave sue in court?”, “Is a slave free if transported to a free territory?”. The Supreme Court ruled no to all of these questions. In 1896, the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson ruled “separate but equal” is constitutional. These decisions have had a significant impact on the nation. The years leading up to the Dred Scott v. Sanford case consisted of tensions over the issue of slavery and slave rights. There are many compromises and documents established that helped to prevent the extension of slavery. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was one of the first of many documents that banned slavery in the territories. It was established to allow for the administering of new territories and forbade the expansion of slavery into...
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...After the American Revolution, the North and South developed different views of life. The North developed busy cities, embraced technology and industry, and built factories run by paid workers. The South had remained an agricultural society. The Southern economy and way of life was based on the cotton crop. The South relied on the work of enslaved African Americans to do the work out in the fields. When it came to Americas expansion you had to decide if the new territories were going to be slave or free states. Many northerners wanted to end slavery all together, but the south relied on them, and wanted to keep them. The Compromise of 1850 was s series of compromises to help relieve tensions in the states. It made it so that California would be admitted as a free state. The people of the territories of New Mexico and Utah would decide the slavery question by popular sovereignty. The slave trade, but not slavery, would be ended in Washington D.C. Congress would pass new a strict new fugitive slave law. Texas would give up its claims in New Mexico for $10 million. The Fugitive Slave Act allowed people from the South to go up into the Northern free states, and take back fugitive slaves. The Southern slave owners could now go up north and get the escaped slaves back from the North. It also allowed for them to take some free African Americans, and save they were escaped. Free African Americans had to worry about people from the south coming up, and claiming that they were escaped...
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...125 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...
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...what the National Anti-Slavery Society called southerners that had authority over slaves in 1834. They argued that all slaves instantly be set free (Doc B). This is how hard anti-slavery groups fought for the rights of African Americans. But they were not the only ones fighting, Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner with a cane after Charles gave a speech about the rights of African Americans. This attack was a sign from the southerners saying we will fight back (Doc C). So both northerners and southerners were up for a fight to get their way about slavery, but even though there were people ready to fight; many people wanted America to stick together and have both sides compromise and work it out. States coming into the Union came...
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...Black Experience in America: Slavery to Emancipation AAAS 106 Professor Shawn Alexander KU 2011 Final Exam Study Guide Some important dates and events - Remember that this guide only gives you a chronology of important events. It is not sufficient for the exam - you must fill in the details from your lecture notes and readings. All the reading is compulsory, do not leave out any portion of the texts or articles. Slavery and the Slave Trade African Slave Trade: Conventional Dates – 1450 – 1867 Early controllers of the Trade: 1494 the Spanish turned to the Portuguese to supply slaves for their colonies. By the 17th C Northern European countries began to dominate the trade. 1621 Dutch West Indies Trading Company 1672 British Royal African Company (by the end of the 17th England dominated the trade.) The Scale of the Trade: Between 1492 and the end of the trade in 1867 Europeans transported a minimum of 10 million people in some 27,000 slaving expeditions – or some 170 slave ships per year. 50% mortality rate (rough estimate) About 95% of the captives were sent to the brutal tropical sugar growing regions of Brazil and the Caribbean. 40% Brazil 5-6% North America Before the trade picked up (1700) 2.2 million Africans had already been shipped to the Americas. The trade climaxed in the 1780s, when 80,000 Africans were shipped a year. 5/4 of all those shipped came in the 18th and 19th centuries. Three major areas in Africa supplied...
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...In general, I do not believe the African Americans who were not enslaved were truly freed because they constantly lived in fear of their lives or being sold back into slavery. In discussions, I will give in details to support my opinion. First, the black opportunities in Antebellum were a struggle as blacks faced obstacles; they encountered white suspicion, competition, and hostility (Robin, Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p. 204). Therefore, it was recorded as their freedom was restricted. Furthermore, the views on free Africans were mixed as some whites viewed free blacks as dangerous and threatened the existing order of slavery because they contradicted the pro-slavery argument that Negroes could not survive without white supervision (Robin, Kelley...
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...During the American Revolution, slavery was in the process of being abolished in Europe and in the Northern states of America. Even though parts of the world were willing to free slaves, the Southern states found ways to defend slavery. In Paul Finkelman’s book Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South, Finkelman provides the writings of many white leaders from the South who believed that slavery was essential to America’s society. The white leaders who spoke about proslavery included a broad range of defenses to justify themselves because they wanted Americans to believe that slavery had a lasting impact economically, religiously, legally, and racially. One of the defenders in Finkelman’s book was Thomas R.R. Cobb. He justified slavery by arguing the effects of abolition in the United States. Cobb said, “The emancipated negroes do not enjoy full and equal civil and political rights in any State in the union, except the State of Vermont” (Finkelman, 79). He was convinced that those who became free of slavery did not live a better life. He believed that any African American slave who is free is not capable of living successfully and “His moral condition compares unfavorably with that of the slave of the South” (Finkleman, 79). This argument states that African Americans who are enslaved are in better hands with the slave owners and therefore they should remain as slaves. Cobb’s defense was justifiable because he believed that keeping African American’s...
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...Korematsu: The Japanese-American Cases (pp. 231-270) Complete ONE of these tasks: (1a; 1b; 1c) 1a) After the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to live in detention camps and leave the west coast.There are four constitutional cases that connect: Yasui B U.S, Hirabayashi V. United States, Korematsu V United States and Ex parte Endo. When examining these cases the judges did not examine separation but rather examined: curfew, exclusion, detention and indefinite incarceration. In Hirabayashi V. United States Hirabayashi was convicted of violating curfew and not reporting to an...
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...Rise Up Tiffany R. Sims African American Art Dr. Akua McDaniel 11/20/12 Struggle. Hope. Change. Since the colonial period, and even many years before this time period, African-American people struggled with inequality, lack of rights, and racial injustice. This struggle came to a historical high during The Civil War in the 1860’s. With much effort and persistence, the war ended and slavery was abolished in the nation. The result brought hope to black people in the United States. This newfound faith amongst black people was captured in many different forms, such as propaganda, literature, and most importantly, art. Two black, female artists portrayed this spirit in the forms of sculptures. During the Post-Civil War era, Edmonia Lewis and Meta Warrick Fuller created works that symbolized the struggle for freedom, hope for the future, and a need for change for African-American people. The American Civil War was arguably one of the most deadliest and important events in the nation’s history. Political tensions came to an all-time high and caused a split and war amongst the States from 1861-1865. Slavery was a root cause of the war. The North, also known as the Union, was fighting for the abolishment of slavery while the South, also known as the Confederacy, was fighting to preserve slavery laws in the nation. In the end, the North prevailed and laws were made to end slavery and give black people the rights and privileges they deserved. The...
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...Throughout American history, the ideal of freedom has been a perpetual belief held as a cornerstone of the country. Despite this assertion, many within the nation have been chasing freedom since the 1600s. African Americans have an especially unique relationship with the pursuit for liberation, due to their roots in slavery. Within the renown alternative historical novel, The Underground Railroad, author Colson Whitehead chronicles the life of the slave Cora, and her pursuit for freedom and complete liberation from slavery within the south during the 1800s. For the duration of the story, the changing concept of freedom is depicted through the adversity and difficult decisions Cora has to make to chase freedom. Throughout the novel, Colson Whitehead...
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...was a supporter of slavery, but Madison had several internal conflicts dealing with whether or not he accepted it or disagreed with the whole situation. “Madison knew his beliefs were completely contradicting since America is about equality and liberty yet America was solely built on the backs of enslaved people” (“Montpelier: The People, The Place, The Idea”). He spoke against slavery multiple times, but knew every word he spoke contradicted everything else he spoke. Each one of Madison’s peers all had different viewpoints on the situation, which then made all decisions dealing with the abolition of slavery that much harder. Madison believed that white...
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...During the American Civil War, Louisiana, alone, boasted 28,000 troops to fight for the Confederacy. While the number itself appears incredibly small for the total amount of soldiers the Confederacy had, it is important to note that all of these troops were free african-american men. The New Orleans Picayune, in February 1862, stated that, “the companies of free colored men [were] all very well drilled and comfortably equipped.” Initially, the idea that these men fought for the preservation of slavery and the splitting of the union is baffling, however, the growing mentality on slavery in the North and the South are completely different. In summary, many slaves and free blacks in the South supported the Confederacy, due to the general belief of slavery...
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...protagonist, Linda Brent, experienced many events that showed the North negatively embodying slavery. When Linda experienced racist comments, when there was still opportunities for Linda’s daughter to be put back into slavery, and when there was free African Americans still working as slaves in the North were all events that demonstrated how the North negatively embodied slavery. The times when she visited the north and expected to see all of the good things happening in the North, but she is proven wrong and is actually shown how the North deals with slavery negatively. The North negatively embodied slavery when Linda visited the North and slave owners made racist comments. When Linda was in the North, visiting and saw Luke talking about a slave he said,” So I taught dis nigger had a right to bring him to the free state.” (74) Luke was referring to a freed slave being brought to the North. Freed slaves still had to face the challenges of being verbally abused at the hand of their masters. Mr.Pike, a slave owner in the North, had African-Americans at his house and he treated them wrong by saying, “ Hearken, ye servants! Give strict heed unto my words.”(27) In this quote he’s being mean to the slaves. This also demonstrates him not treating them...
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