African American Freedom

Throughout the history, people are always seeking for their freedom, but what exactly is the word means to each individual. Its definition changes along with the variety of race, class, gender and religion. However, for many of them, freedom is not only the rights to act or think without any restraint, but also a symbol of equality as everyone else. The idea of freedom is one main component in the formation of United States of America and how people value the dynamics of freedom also varies with the progress of society. Since the end of the Civil War, people started to change their perspectives towards liberty of African Americans. Their role is like the mirror that illustrates the society’s understanding of freedom. The view of communities …show more content…
There were lots of free blacks after the victory of the Union, but the social classes and the locations for these huge population became a problem for the entire race. As Foner stated in his book, “African Americans’ understanding of freedom was shaped by their experiences as slaves and their observation of free society around them.” (p.443) After the years of fighting, people might simply consider the ideal freedom was no more slavery. The shift in the definition of freedom provided the right to ownership and privilege of making the life decisions to all the African Americans. All these years of slavery created the desire of free will among all the African Americans. It was not only to be not punish, but also be considered as equal as every white citizen in America. Along with more stabilize family life and more institutions like churches and schools were formed, there were also stronger focus on the values in families, educations, religions and political status among the Negro race. These institutions also helped to indicate how part of their believes should not to be control by others and sense of forming communities with their own powers. On the other hand, even with the ratification of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth Amendment, there were still series of laws like the black codes, which limited the progressive of African Americans. Their struggles during these period also boarder the …show more content…
After the increase of political dominations, more of the southern states began to authorize segregation laws toward African Americans. The Jim Crow law, poll tax, and the Grandfather clause were all typical laws that limited the rights of the color race. Their disenfranchisement created the reshape of freedom among the society and the idea of “separate but equal” was established. On 1896, the famous Supreme Court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson gave the right of the state laws to separate facilities between whites and colors. The case was originally about how Homer Plessy who was a mixed race citizen boarded the “white only” train and asked to leave the seat because he had one eighth of African American lineage. As the decision of the Supreme Court mandating more of the radical segregation among the life of African Americans, the meaning of freedom transferred from equality more into how the different treatments could still create the “same opportunities.” People started to believe even if the people of colors were required to be separated from whites, the reasonably same protection and conditions would not violate the ideal freedom for both groups. However, the life of African Americans became more difficult with the low quality institutions and those who challenged the decision were violent