African American Struggle
The Long Road Still Traveled: The African American Struggle Toward Equality
Cecil Cousins
HIS204: American History Since 1865
Professor Gregory Lawson
September 24, 2012 United States history was made on January 20, 2009 when Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th resident of the United States of America. It was a very chilly day in Washington D.C., but a day that many would travel from around the world to witness. Some estimates say that there were over a million people in attendance and countless millions watched on television from around the globe. Regardless of your race, creed, color or political affiliation, it was likely hard not to feel somewhat moved watching American swear in its first black president. However, there were some that felt this was the worst day in our country’s history. There were those who, because of President Obama’s race felt that we had hit rock bottom. It is this deep rooted prejudice that has made the African American struggle for equality just that, a struggle. Black people in America have done everything from demand their rights peacefully and politically to proving themselves on the battlefield. This is a journey without a real ending. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, millions of Africans were brought out of Africa and sold into slavery. In what is now America, there were approximately 4 million slaves according to the 1860 United States Census (Behrendt, 1999). Africans tended to be proud people and now they had been stripped from their culture and their way of life. Treated more like property than human beings, families were forcibly separated. They were sold just like animals or other possessions. Men were sold as “bucks” and women as “wenches”. Wives were separated from husbands and minor aged children were separated from their parents. On plantations, many slaves were whipped or tortured for standing up or just to be made an example of. It was one hell of an introduction
Cecil Cousins
HIS204: American History Since 1865
Professor Gregory Lawson
September 24, 2012 United States history was made on January 20, 2009 when Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th resident of the United States of America. It was a very chilly day in Washington D.C., but a day that many would travel from around the world to witness. Some estimates say that there were over a million people in attendance and countless millions watched on television from around the globe. Regardless of your race, creed, color or political affiliation, it was likely hard not to feel somewhat moved watching American swear in its first black president. However, there were some that felt this was the worst day in our country’s history. There were those who, because of President Obama’s race felt that we had hit rock bottom. It is this deep rooted prejudice that has made the African American struggle for equality just that, a struggle. Black people in America have done everything from demand their rights peacefully and politically to proving themselves on the battlefield. This is a journey without a real ending. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, millions of Africans were brought out of Africa and sold into slavery. In what is now America, there were approximately 4 million slaves according to the 1860 United States Census (Behrendt, 1999). Africans tended to be proud people and now they had been stripped from their culture and their way of life. Treated more like property than human beings, families were forcibly separated. They were sold just like animals or other possessions. Men were sold as “bucks” and women as “wenches”. Wives were separated from husbands and minor aged children were separated from their parents. On plantations, many slaves were whipped or tortured for standing up or just to be made an example of. It was one hell of an introduction
References: Behrendt, Stephen (1999). "Transatlantic Slave Trade". Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. New York Bowles, M. (2011). A History of the United States since .San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. Rancis, Cahrles E. 2002, The Tuskegee Airmen The Men Who Changed a Nation, Brandon Publishing Company, Boston Van Cleve, George William (2010), A Slave Holders’Union: Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the early American Republic, University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL