Free African Americans Dbq

One might think that if a man is free, then he has all the rights a free man can possess. But blacks who were free in the 1800s were not completely free because they lacked several rights. Between 1800 and 1860, black Americans had a tough time living and gaining their basic rights. The first black Americans, who arrived in Jamestown in 1619, resided mainly in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey - the Mid-Atlantic states. Between then and the end of the Civil War, many blacks were enslaved. Although most blacks were slaves, there were some blacks in the North who were free and by 1800, most blacks that lived in the North were freed from slavery. Free blacks in the North, although free, were limited to their freedom. According to the novel …show more content…
They were given freedom, but weren’t allowed to use it. They were given a life, but didn’t want to live in it. Most importantly, they were given an education, but didn’t know what to do with it. “...Why should I strive hard and acquire all the constituents of a man if the prevailing genius of the land admit me not as such, or but in an inferior degree!” (Doc C). Free blacks needed to work hard to get their education and more importantly, to keep it, but when they have it, they can’t use it. Free blacks in the North weren’t allowed to have highly qualified jobs like the whites were, and were left to do drudgery and servitude with a great education, which was wasted. They were told that they were free, but weren’t able to be as free as the white people. There was no point in continuing their education or keeping it if they were never recognized for it. Why should a black man strive so hard in life and in his education if he won’t be accepted for any jobs or society as a whole? The free blacks wanted the white community to realize that they can do just as well, if not better as them and demanded their educational …show more content…
Being freed from slavery was a wish come true for the blacks, but this wish was not fulfilled by the Americans. From not being allowed to vote in many states and having restrictions on voting, to being banned from integrating with the whites, and to give up on one’s education, blacks in the North were not free as they should have been. They were ripped away from several basic rights, such as acquiring a job or even to integrating with a white person. By stating that these blacks were “free” just sugarcoated the fact that they were simply being more and more discriminated against by society. Even though blacks were free men just like the white men, they did not get the same rights as they deserved. For instance, they were only allowed to partake in a jury duty in one state in the North and in most states, they were not even allowed to vote. A black man mingling with a white would be seen against the social standards as that time since they were looked down as if they were inferior. A free black, who had the right to an education, felt that they wasted their life in pursuing a job that they knew they were not going to be able to get, just because of their race. In conclusion, free blacks in the north were primarily not free because they lacked political, social, and educational rights and freedom that a free man should