History of African Americans in America 1865-1960’s
History of African Americans in America 1865-1960’s
Georgia Root
HIS204: American History since 1865
Mark D. Bowles
March 18, 2013
History of African Americans in America 1865-1960’s
African Americans in America in history have gone through many hard times trying to just progress out of slavery and obtain freedom and have equal rights. In this paper I will attempt to explain what some of the important events of the time revealed about the role of African Americans in broader American society in, respectively, the 1920s and the late 1960s. I will explain how and why the roles of African Americans in the 1920s differed from their roles in the late 1960s, and explain how events in the 1920s may have contributed to developments in the latter decade.
Reconstruction
The Reconstruction Period from 1865-1877 was a time of great turmoil between blacks and the slave owners of the plantations. The blacks were trying to achieve their freedom from slavery and obtain their right to citizenship. The 13th Amendment passed in 1865 had abolished slavery but the slave owners who felt they had a right to own the slaves as their property and work them as they wish. The blacks in the South would endure much suffering before the deeply racist plantation owners would conform to the laws. They felt the government had no right to change what was working for them to provide an income for their families. They were accustomed to the use of free labor from property they rightfully owned. The North was much more likely to conform to the new law than the South.
Former slaves did receive the right of citizenship and equal protection of the Constitution when the 14th Amendment passed in 1868. They even received the right to vote in with the passing of the 15th Amendment in 1870, but the provisions of the Constitution were often ignored or violated, and it was difficult for former slaves to gain a foothold in the post-war economy due to restrictive black codes and
Georgia Root
HIS204: American History since 1865
Mark D. Bowles
March 18, 2013
History of African Americans in America 1865-1960’s
African Americans in America in history have gone through many hard times trying to just progress out of slavery and obtain freedom and have equal rights. In this paper I will attempt to explain what some of the important events of the time revealed about the role of African Americans in broader American society in, respectively, the 1920s and the late 1960s. I will explain how and why the roles of African Americans in the 1920s differed from their roles in the late 1960s, and explain how events in the 1920s may have contributed to developments in the latter decade.
Reconstruction
The Reconstruction Period from 1865-1877 was a time of great turmoil between blacks and the slave owners of the plantations. The blacks were trying to achieve their freedom from slavery and obtain their right to citizenship. The 13th Amendment passed in 1865 had abolished slavery but the slave owners who felt they had a right to own the slaves as their property and work them as they wish. The blacks in the South would endure much suffering before the deeply racist plantation owners would conform to the laws. They felt the government had no right to change what was working for them to provide an income for their families. They were accustomed to the use of free labor from property they rightfully owned. The North was much more likely to conform to the new law than the South.
Former slaves did receive the right of citizenship and equal protection of the Constitution when the 14th Amendment passed in 1868. They even received the right to vote in with the passing of the 15th Amendment in 1870, but the provisions of the Constitution were often ignored or violated, and it was difficult for former slaves to gain a foothold in the post-war economy due to restrictive black codes and
References: Johnson, J. R. (1865, Aug. 4). Northern teacher to the Freedmen’s Bureau commissioner Land and Labor, 1865, pp. 699-700. Retrieved from http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/J%20Johnson.htm The Ku-Klux (1871, April 1).Harper’s Weekly, p. 281. Retrieved from http://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/Article23.htm United States Congress. (1866, April 9). Civil Rights Act. Retrieved from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/section4/section4_civrightsact1. html Pollard, S. (Producer & Director). (2012). Slavery by another name [Documentary]. United States: Twin Cities Public Television, Inc Kunhardt, P., Kunhardt, P., III, and Steiner, N. (Producers). (2002). What is freedom?. [Series Episode] from P Kurtis, B.(1999).L.A. riots revisited [Documentary]. United States: Kurtis Productions, Ltd. Retrieved from the Films On Demand database. Slavery in America. (2013). The History Channel website. Retrieved 8:40, March 18, 2013, from http://www.history.com/topics/slavery. History Channel. (1996). Lincoln speaks out against slavery. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-speaks-out-against-slavery Harding publicly condemns lynching