African Americans In The 1800s

#3.The critics that were chosen, both wrote their reviews in 1855. A lot of changes have happened during the early 1850's, especially for African Americans. Social practices in that day were also drastically different from the ones of modern-day America. Those social practices regard the roles in society of people based on class, gender, age, and race.

In the 1850's several historical events served as a stepping stone for African Americans. Everything started when in 1850's The Fugitive Slave Law was passed which honored the rights of slave owners to their own property (slaves) as well as runways (1). This angered many progressives who were anti-slavery, as well as many African Americans who were afraid their freedom is being limited once
This and other progressive movements in this area were largely due to the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which was released in 1851 (1). It was a heartbreaking story about the struggle of African American slaves which encouraged many Americans to act in the direction of peace. The signs of things getting better came as early as 1853 when the first ever black novel was published in London by the name of Clotes (2). Later, 1854 marked the year of the first ever Black College which is known as Lincoln University (3).

The culture of the 1850’s was vastly different from the one we have today. This means that the roles of people in society were also quite dissimilar to our own. For example, most immigrants, not including those coming from Germany, were subjected to filthy living conditions, low-paying jobs, as well as having to deal with the high crime rate in the ghettos (4). Meanwhile, most Germans would come to America strictly for political reasons and would often represent a well educated middle class (4). The majority of African Americans still served as slaves despite all the progression regarding their movement. However, more and more states were willing to acknowledge their rights as did the government which could be
Matthews, for example, referred to the two feuding families as well as to the shooting of Boggs as a relic of the old western life. He said that unrestricted violence in that manner is more controlled in his present. This was his way of mentioning the industrialization of America as well as the fact that most modern men in their time would focus more on work to provide for their families instead of shooting each other out. This is because life in the 1850's was difficult and everybody would work hard to keep their jobs. Matthews also attributed characteristics such as honesty, bravery, and sincerity to the practice of Christianity which shows how even in the most progressive at that time period in America, most Americans were still deeply religious and had positive opinions regarding the subject. Matthews is also influenced by the beliefs of his time when he says that Huck's superstition trait is something borrowed from the African Americans who are uneducated and therefore needed to create superstitious beliefs to control their imagination. This part of the analysis shows the critic's bias towards African Americans despite their movement having some progress during the 1850's. However, he does say that Jim is a well-portrayed African American and that there were not many of those in American literature. This reflects the social belief back in the day that