The Progress of African Americans from Slavery to Modern times The history of African Americans in the United States began with a very disappointing and disgraceful moment in American history. African Americans were brought by the millions to become involuntary servants to wealthy white farmers. This unfortunate title that was pressed onto the African American people created a struggle to progress greater than that of any other ethnicity coming to the United States. Many slave owners would even refuse to their slaves the very basics of education due to the belief that an educated slave is a rebellious slave and thus delaying progress even more. This inhumane method of labor lasted for around 200 years from 1620 to 1865. Theoretically ending
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Reconstruction lasted for around 12 years from 1865-1877 and this was the time period of restructuring the south to enforcing the freedom of African Americans with assistance from the Northern Army. However, the rights that were believed to be gained by the African Americans were very short lived considering the loop hole in the 13th amendment. The 13th amendment abolished slavery but allowed convict leasing which caused a spike in the incarceration rate of predominantly African American males in the United States. This created a stereotype that is undoubtedly false and assisted by the media. Although convict leasing was the predominant form of slave like labor, it was not the only oppressive form of involuntary servitude used to keep African Americans in a slave like situation. Another abusive and slave like form of labor was sharecropping. Sharecropping was an agreement between a land owner and a farmer to allow the farmer to use the land as long as the land owner receives a percent of the yield. However, the land owner would abuse their power to keep the tenant in debt and keep them on the land working …show more content…
Segregation was a long and viciously fought battle between activists such as Martin Luther king Jr. and an oppressive majority white government. Martin Luther King was the prominent face of equality and practically considered one of the greatest equal rights activists in history right besides Gandhi. Dr. King was highly influenced by Gandhi’s methods of freeing India from British imperialism by using nonviolent protests. Dr. King even adopted the methods of Gandhi himself and used peaceful loving methods to fight racism and segregation. A prime example of Martin Luther King’s protests would have to be one of the greatest protests of all time, the march on Washington. The march on Washington was a 250,000-man march demanding equality for all people regardless of that persons race. During the protest Dr. King gave his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” which echoed through the United States and created much needed awareness for the negative effects of
Reconstruction lasted for around 12 years from 1865-1877 and this was the time period of restructuring the south to enforcing the freedom of African Americans with assistance from the Northern Army. However, the rights that were believed to be gained by the African Americans were very short lived considering the loop hole in the 13th amendment. The 13th amendment abolished slavery but allowed convict leasing which caused a spike in the incarceration rate of predominantly African American males in the United States. This created a stereotype that is undoubtedly false and assisted by the media. Although convict leasing was the predominant form of slave like labor, it was not the only oppressive form of involuntary servitude used to keep African Americans in a slave like situation. Another abusive and slave like form of labor was sharecropping. Sharecropping was an agreement between a land owner and a farmer to allow the farmer to use the land as long as the land owner receives a percent of the yield. However, the land owner would abuse their power to keep the tenant in debt and keep them on the land working …show more content…
Segregation was a long and viciously fought battle between activists such as Martin Luther king Jr. and an oppressive majority white government. Martin Luther King was the prominent face of equality and practically considered one of the greatest equal rights activists in history right besides Gandhi. Dr. King was highly influenced by Gandhi’s methods of freeing India from British imperialism by using nonviolent protests. Dr. King even adopted the methods of Gandhi himself and used peaceful loving methods to fight racism and segregation. A prime example of Martin Luther King’s protests would have to be one of the greatest protests of all time, the march on Washington. The march on Washington was a 250,000-man march demanding equality for all people regardless of that persons race. During the protest Dr. King gave his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” which echoed through the United States and created much needed awareness for the negative effects of