African Americans and the Ending of Segregation - Essay Example

? Outline A. African Americans and the Ending of Segregation A Beginning of Desegregation a. Blacks were recruited into the military. 2. Continuing the Battle\ a. Blacks continued to join the military with their free will. 3. New Leaders Have Emerged a. Many black leaders have left their mark on society and continue to rise in society. History and Political Science October 17, 2011 African Americans and the Ending of Segregation A Beginning of Desegregation Around the time of the Civil War the countries’ economy was in such terrible shape that we were in need of some kind of help with the situation. Now this is about the same time that African Americans also first started making their appearance in the military. To maintain unity and to help stop aggression black were beginning to be recruited. Still at this time the racial tension between the blacks and whites was very critical. The battle to end slavery was supposed to have ended, but in reality had just begun. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation to allow blacks to join the military. However the American society still largely discouraged any social relations with people of different color. So, although the process of integration had already started there was still a huge battle to be bought for everyone involved (Massey, Douglas S., p.110). During the Civil War, the South literally depended on black labor to help them maintain their present economy. Without the black at this time, the south would not have had enough people to produce the grain in which the completely relied upon. The Confederated authorities also used their slaves to construct forts, and some states such as Virginia even required slave owners to lease their slaves out for labor. The south was also very hard and cruel to their slaves. The Confederate leaders treated the blacks as if they were animals and forced them to do as much hard work as they could. The south still basically believed that blacks were meant to be slaves and should remain under complete control of their masters. Now the North, at the same time was now employing about 200,000 of approximately one half million blacks that escaped slavery into the Union territory. As the first steps in the desegregation of the nation the North was letting the former slave come into their land and was employing them as teamster, carpenters, cooks, nurses, and scouts. Many of the escaped blacks even worked for the Union army as informants to explain many of the Confederated armies’ plans and information (Godsil, Rachel D., p 1110). The blacks eventually became a very important part of the military service in the Union military forces. Even though most of the leaders were still white, the African American people had finally started making real progress with the integration into the white society. This first major step into society was basically seen as a trial by blood. It was simply known that whenever someone was willing to give his life in the line of battle for the same cause as his military force, it was considered the ultimate sacrifice and was now completely accepted in on the battle lines. However, even though the blacks were now helping with the labor and even the fighting by their own free will now, there was still much hatred and conflict between certain groups of people who still wanted racial segregation in their land. Even though it was considered illegal to act in violence just because of the race of a person, there were still many groups even in the North country who just could not completely accept the colored people among them, and this also lead to much bloodshed in their own territory. There were 38 African American people lynched by the Klu Klux Klan in 1917, and 58 more lynching the following year. After the civil war 70 black veterans were also killed in cold blood because of all of the hatred still within the general society as a whole (Payne, Richard J.,p. 91). The Klu Klux Klan was a racial hatred group that was responsible for many murders of the blacks at that time, and even still exist in our society today along with many other groups that are still motivated by racial hatred. However, there was still much progress being made for the black community as they continued to become smarter and learn many different ways to defend themselves against their naturally enemies who still wished to enslave them. The African American people of that time also still had some natural hatred of their enslavers, and naturally were very anxious to join forces with an army to take revenge on the people who had hurt so many of their people. The blacks had been treated so badly by some of their slave holders at times that they were really ready to kill them as soon as they had a chance to do so. However, some of the slave also had large families that they also had to think about constantly, and no matter how bad they wanted to start the killing themselves, they first still had to think of what kind of situation that it would put the rest of their families in. Although some of the slaves did occasionally try to fight their way to freedom or even to kill one of their masters, there was always an immediate reaction which started many different lynching parties against the slave. This kind of action would also be dealt with through the use of torture or even killing the slaves close friends or family members as well. It was basically a very ruthless system of capture which many people were not willing to give up even after the war had finished. Continuing the Battle During World War 1 and World War 2 blacks were still being accepted into the military under an act of law. The tension was still very high between the white and black soldiers but they were still able to join forces in battle against larger enemies whom they had to battle together. At this same time more Americans were also starting to reject racism in the nation. Although this voice of anti-racism still had not completely carried out across the entire country yet. There was still a great need for many important leaders who could put their lives at risk in front of the world to simply get their message across the all of the people who were still refusing to listen to any of the new ways (Hudson J. Blaine, p. 16). Some people were just so stuck in their old ways in which they had grown up that there was nothing that anyone could ever say to convince them of a better way of life. A large majority of these people were involved in the racial hatred groups which continue to grow at a very alarming rate. Although there were still some people who were did not want to get involved in any of the actual fighting and politics, but also still had many beliefs of the old ways as well, and were not willing to listen to anything other than what they had already been taught by their immediate family. These racial hate groups and natural racial people were accepted by many at first. However most of these groups have now become the targets of some of the black leaders and all of their associates who have risen in our country. Some of these black leaders who have been strong enough to make a stand in a world which was surely to condemn them upon first sight, slowly began to make their mark on the world in which they had to endure torture and constantly battle for their freedom since the day they were born. As these brave African American people began finally began to find enough room to shout at the entire nation for their voice and beliefs to be heard, there were also still the racial hatred groups who were constantly opposing them and were beginning to become even more threatened by all of the forceful new voices that were being born. As more and more new young black leaders still began to arise, still yet even more bloodshed was also occurring as well. For every time a black leader was brave enough to try to continue progress for his family and his people, the older racial groups were still becoming more threated by any new opposition which came before them. So obviously there were more and more murders of both sides now. New Leaders Have Emerged Through all of the new voices and even the violence, there were still more black leaders stepping into the place of the former leaders who were being killed on a regular basis. One such leader happened to be a man by the name of James Meredith, a student at the University of Michigan, who in 1962 bravely lead a huge civil rights march for his people. James was a very strong man who made a very large amount of progress for his people. Other leaders such as James Farmer, a leader of a group called CORE, and Medgar Evers, a martyr leader who was head of the NCAAP, were also very prominent people of their time. Even though many of these young black rebel leaders were killed at a very young age, it can still be said that the entire African American culture might not have made it as far as it has today without any of these leaders who have died for their cause and their beliefs. Since then, many other black leaders and heroes have also risen in sight of the entire world such as Reginald Herald, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, and even now in this present day President Obama is now the ruler of our entire country. So, this now goes to show how much progress certain men that are brave enough to stand Alone in a world full of opposition which will never subside, can make to an entire world that are still out there and waiting to listen to anyone that is loud enough for them to hear. No matter how much these leaders have put at risk when they first made up their mind to put their voice into the firing lines of the entire world, it must have been important enough for them to try helping a large majority of the people that were standing behind them, even if it did still put some of their loved ones at risk as well (Motley, Constance, Baker, p. 47). If these leaders are willing to risk their entire families as well as their own personal lives as well, there is always going to be some people out there that are going to listen with open minds and hearts as well. So, as some of these leaders still continued to make their statement and demands known to the world, there were many changes taking place in the homes of everyone. Even some of the people who had been refusing to listen to anyone for so long were also reached by some of these words that were shouted so loudly across the entire planet. So weather all of them were completely right about everything they were trying to do, or even if they were making mistakes as well, these black heroes will always be remembered for exactly who they were. Although many of the African leaders were politicians and speakers for their own communities which they had grown up with, there were also many military leaders who also died in battle fighting by the sides of the entire military force in which they belonged to. Some of these military leaders, who have gone on for so long without even being mentioned, have helped our country to win many battles which were fought against any enemy that every came before our nation. The black leaders and fighters have earned their respect through the shedding of blood in the days of old, all the way up into the present day society we all now live in. All of these leaders, weather politician, military, social leaders, or just family members do still deserve our respect for their brave efforts in everything they have accomplished. References Godsil, Rachel D., Environmental Justice and the Integration Ideal, New York Law School Law Review, 2004/2005, Volume 49, Issue 4, p. 1109-1143 Hudson, J. Blaine, Simple Justice: Affirmative Action and American Racism I Historical Perspective, Black Scholar, summer 95, Volume 25, Issue 3, p. 16 Massey, Douglas S.; Denton, Nancy A., Chapter 9: Segregation and the making of the Underclass, Inequality, Classic Reading in Race, Class, and Gender, 2006, p. 103-118. Motley, Constance, Baker, The continuing evolution of ‘equal justice under law’, Education Week, March 24, 1999, Volume 18, Issue 28, p. 47 Payne, Richard J., Chapter 4: The Military, Getting Beyond Race, Changing American Culture, 1998, p. 81-105 Read More