Antebellum and Civil War America (1793-1865)
William Dedman
Eastern Kentucky University
African/African-American Studies Program
GE Essay Assignment
Dr. Norma Threadgill-Goldson
Margaret Walker said, “Handicapped as we have been by a racist system of dehumanizing slavery and segregation, our American history of nearly five hundred years reveals that our cultural and spiritual gifts brought from our African past are still intact.” By making this statement, Mrs. Walker was reflecting on the discrimination, segregation and isolation African Americans endured in the American society; however, they were able to hold on to their culture and beliefs throughout and never gave up fighting for their rights. The worst treatment of African Americans occurred from 1793 until the end of the American Civil War. Following the Revolutionary War, during the Antebellum Period, Southern plantations began to shift production to cotton, an extremely labor-intense but profitable crop. Demand for cotton had risen during the war when textiles from Europe were cut …show more content…
Free blacks, like Frederick Douglass and two important black women in history, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, joined with whites who believed that slavery was wrong. “Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 and supported herself by working in Philadelphia hotels before relocating to Canada and, later, New York. Tubman, in 1850, helped a niece escape from Baltimore, and over the next ten years, she frequently risked her life to liberate family members and other slaves in the area.” (Bradford, 1886) Abolitionists campaigned for the end of slavery and helped escaped slaves to freedom using the Underground Railroad, a network of safe routes and safe houses. The often violent opposition between the Abolitionists and slave owners and the economic divisions between the North and South ultimately led to the Civil War in
William Dedman
Eastern Kentucky University
African/African-American Studies Program
GE Essay Assignment
Dr. Norma Threadgill-Goldson
Margaret Walker said, “Handicapped as we have been by a racist system of dehumanizing slavery and segregation, our American history of nearly five hundred years reveals that our cultural and spiritual gifts brought from our African past are still intact.” By making this statement, Mrs. Walker was reflecting on the discrimination, segregation and isolation African Americans endured in the American society; however, they were able to hold on to their culture and beliefs throughout and never gave up fighting for their rights. The worst treatment of African Americans occurred from 1793 until the end of the American Civil War. Following the Revolutionary War, during the Antebellum Period, Southern plantations began to shift production to cotton, an extremely labor-intense but profitable crop. Demand for cotton had risen during the war when textiles from Europe were cut …show more content…
Free blacks, like Frederick Douglass and two important black women in history, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, joined with whites who believed that slavery was wrong. “Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 and supported herself by working in Philadelphia hotels before relocating to Canada and, later, New York. Tubman, in 1850, helped a niece escape from Baltimore, and over the next ten years, she frequently risked her life to liberate family members and other slaves in the area.” (Bradford, 1886) Abolitionists campaigned for the end of slavery and helped escaped slaves to freedom using the Underground Railroad, a network of safe routes and safe houses. The often violent opposition between the Abolitionists and slave owners and the economic divisions between the North and South ultimately led to the Civil War in