Some might argue that the right to free speech or the right to purchase whatever you choose with your own money is what makes you a true American citizen. In Wilbert L. Jenkins’s book, Climbing Up to Glory: A Short History of African Americans During the Civil War and Reconstruction, the right to vote is considered a major accomplishment when obtaining the rights of the common American citizen. These rights are so important in fact that African Americans never stopped fighting to obtain them. Even as whites built barricades to stop the newly freed slaves from voting, they fought back to claim their rights of voting.
Ever since the founding of the United States of America, slavery of human beings with a darker complexion by a white American citizen was considered a common household occurrence. Along with intense days of labor, abuse, and malnutrition, these slaves simply had no rights. This was because people of African descent were not considered a citizen of the United States of America, but rather a tool for the whites. This all changed in 1863 when all slaves were freed due to the passing of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln gave African Americans the right to be freed citizens of the United States no matter what the color of one’s skin might be. Yet, as newly minted citizens of the United States, …show more content…
Even though African Americans should have legally been able to vote right to vote since 1870 by the Fifteen Amendment, they eventually were able to be true American citizens and exercise their right to vote. In present day America, African Americans have to right to vote and are able to freely hold positions in the government but many feel like there is still a strong sense of discrimination due to their ancestry. Will America face another uprising due to discrimination
Ever since the founding of the United States of America, slavery of human beings with a darker complexion by a white American citizen was considered a common household occurrence. Along with intense days of labor, abuse, and malnutrition, these slaves simply had no rights. This was because people of African descent were not considered a citizen of the United States of America, but rather a tool for the whites. This all changed in 1863 when all slaves were freed due to the passing of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln gave African Americans the right to be freed citizens of the United States no matter what the color of one’s skin might be. Yet, as newly minted citizens of the United States, …show more content…
Even though African Americans should have legally been able to vote right to vote since 1870 by the Fifteen Amendment, they eventually were able to be true American citizens and exercise their right to vote. In present day America, African Americans have to right to vote and are able to freely hold positions in the government but many feel like there is still a strong sense of discrimination due to their ancestry. Will America face another uprising due to discrimination