The Impact Of African Americans In The Civil War

Register to read the introduction… Initially, no one really was in favor of the idea but as the war wore on and more soldiers died, people became more interested in the idea. Abraham Lincoln eventually supported it, understanding that they were willing to fight and taking advantage of that fact. Despite how unpopular the idea was in general, he went ahead and allowed the creation of all-black regiments because he knew that whites were, at this point, uninterested in fighting to free the slaves while the African Americans were ready to go fight and possibly even die for the sake of their brethren and the preservation of the Union (Doc. C). Once it became a major war aim of the Union to end slavery, African Americans in the north were subject to random acts of violence, especially once a draft began for the Union army. Draft riots began, the most violent occurring in New York City. But when African American troops marched off to fight, they were cheered and praised, displaying the huge change of attitude developing in the entire nation (Doc. F.). Unfortunately, following the war, while African Americans had gained many rights, namely freedom from slavery and suffrage, they were still not treated equally. They had been promised much but in reality were often cheated out of what they had earned, especially the veterans. These veterans had suffered greatly, many of them often dying, like the …show more content…
They could now legally learn how to read and write and schools were created for this purpose, with teachers coming from the north to teach them. What impressed teachers such as Charlotte Forten was the eagerness of not only the children but also the adults to learn and better their education as well as their ability to learn (Doc. E). White people resented their eagerness and ability to learn and tried restricting them any way they could, using “black codes” that strongly resembled slave codes and later using Jim Crow laws to control them, as well as fear tactics. They also took advantage of the already disadvantaged African Americans by making them pay for land and tools, and in some cases, family members. Families had been split up numerous times by the slave trade and following the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the war, family members often went in search of each other. In some cases, when slaves would leave after the Emancipation Proclamation took place, they would be forced to leave their family members, including children behind, as Rebecca Parsons had to. But the unfair treatment didn’t stop there – when she went back to her former master to get her children, she was forced to leave them behind because her former master demanded she pay four thousand dollars because by his logic, they belonged to him and were his