Summary: The New Divide

The New Divide
Introduction: When change happens, does the change happen immediately or does it take generations for people to notice a difference? The change happening in the southern United States after the Civil War was one that would take a time no one expected. Many citizens thought the end of the Civil War would bring people together but the separation of people was still the same. In this paper, I will conclude that the divide of former slaves and slave owners was still strong and the slave owners did not want to change their ways of life and used anything in their power to get back to older times. The paper will be divided in three parts. The start will discuss the end of the Civil War and the difficulties the former slaves still faced,
the middle will talk about all the new injustices the former slaves faced, and the end will talk about how justice should’ve been served.
Part 1 (End of War) First, the end of the Civil War brought the Union back together as one country.
But, the views of both the north and the south were drastically different. It was a new life for former slave owners as now they have lost lots of their property. Also, it was a whole new experience for former slaves who now were free for the first time ever. Many former slaves had no idea what to do now because they were used to the forced labor they had to do every day. The racism in the south still lived so it was not easy for the former slaves to find new jobs. Some of the new free slaves migrated up north to find better opportunities to support themselves. Theothers still had to face hardships they faced while being property. The new practice the former slave owners used was called peonage. This new way of slavery was a way for former slave owners to try to achieve the former way of life they
had.
Part 2 (Injustices): This new peonage in the south was one of the many injustices the former slaves still faced. The other injustices they still experienced included no right to vote, no income or job opportunities, and no chances for education. Peonage was a practice of debt servitude where in most cases a former slave owner would say the former slave owed him money and had to work to pay it off. Usually, the former slave had no money to give to the former owner who claimed that money was owed. So, the former slave would have to practically go back into slavery to work off his debt. This injustice was allowed for a couple of years until it was outlawed in 1867 (“Slavery by another Name”). But, peonage was still going on after it was made illegal. Even after 1867, many of the former slave owners were not convicted of the crime of peonage. Another way the former slave owners tried to keep their slaves was by having very strict laws on African Americans that would get them arrested. Then, their punishment for the crime can be slavery. This led to many African Americans being arrested in the south for crimes they often didn’t commit. Next, when the slaves were released into freedom they had no education, no income, and had no representation in government. The public schools in the south were not willing to allow African Americans to join. The former slaves had no chance at income because the job opportunities in the south went down as did the economy. Finally, the former slaves did not have the right to vote when the war was over. They had no chance to have a say in their government which they were a part of now. All these injustices should have been solved when they were freed and there are many solutions to which could have solved these injustices.Part 3 (Justice): Justice should’ve been given to the former slaves the moment they were freed. They worked illegally and suffered for years just to go back into the cycle of slavery. One thing I think would’ve brought justice would be a way to repay the former slaves in either money or land. There should have been a way to compensate them for the work they did and their past generations did. Second, I think a way for the voice of the former slaves to be heard in the government. They should have been treated like any other citizen when they were freed after the war. I believe this is in fact just because the former slaves would have a way to change the people that represent them in the government. An example of “false justice” would be giving them jobs they couldn’t handle or can’t succeed in. For example, if the former slave owners gave the newly freed slaves a job that required reading or writing, they would fail because they never were taught how to read or write. The freed slaves should have had a chance to become wealthy and chase their dreams in life.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the freed slaves and the former slave owners were still at odds with one another at the end of the war.
The slave owners tried everything they could to keep their slaves. They tried peonage, discriminatory laws, and gave them no education to succeed in life. The former slaves should’ve been given their freedom and justice when the war was over. Some basic justices they should’ve gotten include a chance at education and a type of compensation. This discrimination in the south lasted for about fifty more years until Martin Luther King Jr. saw the differences between whites and blacks. The justice for freed slaves took a long time to obtain and we should be aware of the difficulties the former slaves went
through.