Thomas Jefferson penned one of the most famous documents in United States History: the Declaration of Independence. Separation from the oppression caused by Great Britain was definitely a relief to the new inhabitants of the New World. Within that document lied a phrase that liberated many people when it came to how the New World was ran: all men are created equal. However, even before the Declaration of Independence was drafted in 1776, that statement failed to be upheld. In 1619, a Dutch man brought twenty Africans to the New World, beginning slavery. Although there were not many Africans working as slaves, Native Americans were still being subjected to the captivity and labor. What was not seen as such a grand issue then began to escalate,
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Although they did not work on plantations, they still found work doing the same laborious tasks. What was once free labor for whites was now a job with low hourly wage that barely kept food on the table. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 1987, which is long after the Civil Rights Act and Movement, black men had a wage of $6.25 while white men had a wage of $7.69 (Sigelman 32). Black men were getting paid about twenty percent less than white men. But all men were created equal, right? As a people, African Americans were not considered people. They were considered to be animals, savages, things, “negroes,” “niggers,” or “niggas”; Everything but human, and they were treated as such. The beatings, hazing, and insults continued no matter who the person was. If their skin was not the color of porcelain or ivory with light Reddish pink undertones, correction. If their skin contained any amount of melanin they were subjected to this abuse. “Now I was eight and very small, and he was no whit bigger, and so I smiled, but he poked out his tongue, and called me ‘Nigger’” (Turner 52). This stanza from “Incident” by Countee Cullen in Turners’ We, Too, Belong, discusses just that, an incident. An African American boy was riding through Baltimore and a white boy of approximately the same age, due to his action of sticking out his tongue, calls him a “nigger.” The issue of oppression and abuse of African Americans is not only exhibited through adults, but children as well. In this case, this child was taught that African Americans were not created equal to the people of his
Although they did not work on plantations, they still found work doing the same laborious tasks. What was once free labor for whites was now a job with low hourly wage that barely kept food on the table. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 1987, which is long after the Civil Rights Act and Movement, black men had a wage of $6.25 while white men had a wage of $7.69 (Sigelman 32). Black men were getting paid about twenty percent less than white men. But all men were created equal, right? As a people, African Americans were not considered people. They were considered to be animals, savages, things, “negroes,” “niggers,” or “niggas”; Everything but human, and they were treated as such. The beatings, hazing, and insults continued no matter who the person was. If their skin was not the color of porcelain or ivory with light Reddish pink undertones, correction. If their skin contained any amount of melanin they were subjected to this abuse. “Now I was eight and very small, and he was no whit bigger, and so I smiled, but he poked out his tongue, and called me ‘Nigger’” (Turner 52). This stanza from “Incident” by Countee Cullen in Turners’ We, Too, Belong, discusses just that, an incident. An African American boy was riding through Baltimore and a white boy of approximately the same age, due to his action of sticking out his tongue, calls him a “nigger.” The issue of oppression and abuse of African Americans is not only exhibited through adults, but children as well. In this case, this child was taught that African Americans were not created equal to the people of his