African American Final - Essay Example

African American Final Colonial period composes most of the time that slavery existed in the UnitedStates. People of African American decency present in the colonial era served as an induced early mechanism of correction to the imbalance created by the history of black people in prior the Civil War. The history operated in institutions in the Cotton South in the years between 1830 and 1860. Slavery, otherwise known as forced as labor, was a form of human power that existed legally from the early colonial period. Slavery became illegal in the Northwest Territory following a declaration set forth by the Congressi. Following these struggles towards freeing the black people from the York of their masters, whites, many scholars, and researchers put down into writing many scholarly articles explaining in chronology what really happened back in those days. Present in the list of these scholars are Donald Wright, Deborah Gray White, and John Hope Franklin among others. Apart from these acclaimed writers, there were great fictional works presented in form of images and ideas in the Jubilee, Amistad, and Glory. Their main feature focuses on slavery in America and gives a clear understanding about its end. Introduction Once more, slavery gained its grip in 1800 despite its illegality due to the rise of cotton industry. However, in 1807, it became illegal and punishable. At this point, cases abolishing slavery and its expansion were rampant whereby a small number of abolitionists from the North denounced the act as sinful. These sentiments faced great opposition from anti-slavery forces who rejected the move claiming that it was detrimental and inflicted the rights of free men. In spite of rising attempts to comprise slave abolishment, eleven states that broke away in 1861 joined forces and formed the Confederate States of America. This indicated that, all the attempted compromises failedii. To give slavery a natural death, the 1862 Union vowed to make slave abolition a war to win and in 1865, all the slaves within the Untied States of America were free and their owners received no compensation. In this essay, I will seek to organize and develop a thoughtful writing on the end of slavery in the United States. African Americans and the end of slavery in the United States Documented evidence asserts that, people of African American decency played a major role towards the abolishment of slavery in America. All this was because of a mistake committed in the 1619 when the first African slaves set foot on the American soil in Virginia. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 gave rise to increased demand for more slaves. However, seeing what they were undergoing, some enslaved African Americans such as Gabriel Prosser who was a blacksmith, planned to organize a slave revolt aimed at marching on Richmond, Virginia. Upon uncovering their conspiracy, the state federal fugitive law authorized hanging of Prosser in conjunction with a number of the rebels. African Americans, in addition to the whites, acted figuratively in view of ending slavery in Americaniii. Great people like Denmark Vesey who was an African American carpenter, purchased his freedom to become a slave abolishment activist. He planned a slave revolt intending to lay siege in a place on Charleston, South Carolina. The most significant role was that of the enslaved African American Preacher, Nat Turner since he led the most intuitive uprising of slavery in the American History. Together with his band of followers, Turner launched a short but bloody rebellion in the county of Southampton in Virginia. Additionally, the publishing of the weekly paper, Liberator, by William Lloyd Garrison advocated and led to full abolition of slavery upon creating complete awareness of freedom. The Liberator gave rise to the publishing of the Uncle Tom’s Cabin Novel by Harriet Stowe. This novel sparked a great deal of anti-slavery sentiments, which were highly influential. President Lincoln tops the list of all the white people who fought towards the abolishment of slavery when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 that declared immediate and future freedom of slaves all in Americaiv. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that not every black in America was a slave. There were “free blacks” who worked and lived in big cities but had limited rights. Upon winning the Civil War in 1865, the northern states began sending soldiers to the southern states to protect the blacks from inhumane acts committed against them by white hooded gangs who terrorized and killed them at night. When the Civil War spear headed by the whites ended, the 19th day of June in 1865 witnessed the release of 250,000 slaves in Texas. This tremendous news and achievements added to the thirteenth Amendment that also led to abolishment of slavery all over the Untied States of America. George Fox in his visit to North America spearheaded influential agitation towards release of all societal slaves when he spoke against slavery, an act that earned him the founder of the Religious Society of Friends commonly referred as the Quakers. In 1808, the government of the United States outlawed any act of participation or contribution towards slave trade in America. Philadelphia community leader as well as a black businessperson, James Forten resolved to publish his pamphlet by the name “A series of Letters by a man of color” that protested a proposed law that required those blacks coming into America to undergo registrationv. Due to increased assertion geared by African American persons, the most States of America gave in to freeing slaves. Series of social activism towards ending slavery continued where in 1794, there emerged the first American independent black churches that included the Bethel Church and the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church which established in the state of German town, today know as Philadelphia by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones respectively. These churches aimed at putting an end to slavery and segregation that black people suffered due to slavery. Consequently, their sentiments led to the foundation of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in the same yearvi. Their efforts played a big role in joining a number of states as well as regional antislavery societies into a countrywide organization that promoted abolition of slave trade. This conference took place in Philadelphia. The argument Many argue that the oppression of slavery made the system unsustainable, particularly within the context of the United States because of the facts that slave owners mistreated their slaves. There were many inhumane acts committed against African American slaves that called for massive actions against these atrocities that the faced. Slaves underwent hard and infringing tribulations that included wearing of bells around their ankles or necks that acted as tracking devices. Furthermore, slave masters subjected them to hard labor, caned them in spite of their service in cotton plantations as well as other places, and above all misused them physically via instances like rapevii. Numbers of slaves who died while in the hands of the colonies were uncountable and that which accounted for undocumented length went unrecorded. To sum up the situation, the colonialists held Africans far from being human beings. It is also arguable that, oppressions directed towards enslaved African Americans were far beyond recognition. This is because, prior the establishment of the broadly spread Chattel slavery where a slave master could own not only a human being but also his or her descendants, planners organized work under a bonded system of labor commonly referred to as indentured servitude. Although most scholars dispute claims regarding the extent of slave masters hiring out their slaves in agricultural sector, their largest number concur that the hired slaves worked in the mining, construction, manufacturing, and domestic serviceviii. This oppression where slaves encountered possible hire, acted as a catalyst towards refuting against these unsustainable crimes against fellow humans. Resistance Following persistent instances of oppression against their presence in the American land, both the enslaved and free African Americans resolved to carry series of revolts against segregation and discrimination among other inhumane acts carried out against them. Due to oppression, the enslaved men and women rose up to resist it in different ways. For instance, one of the successful escapes made by slaves took place in the beginning of May 1861 where three slaves escaped from their masters in Virginiaix. They ran away from the Union held territory somewhere across Potomac a few kilometers from Washington, around Fort Monroe from a plantation located at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula in Hampton Roads. Their successful getaway from their masters circulated a sense of hope for freedom. Ideally, slaves used escape as a means of resisting oppression. Moreover, free as well as enslaved blacks started publishing articles and magazines that created awareness towards oppression and the need to revolt. Among them was William Lloyd who used his published Liberator to advocate for complete abolition of slavery in 1831. Enslaved African Americans resisted oppression through written word where people such as Harriet Beecher Stowe published a novel entitled Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which acted as a highly influential art of work. Additionally, enslaved Africans Americans such as Denmark Vesey purchased their freedom warranting his actions worth recognition as a mechanism used by slaves to free themselves. In 1847, Fredrick Douglas passed speeches and published newspapers that encouraged others to join in the fight against slaveryx. In 1849, Harriet Tubman initiated another mechanism where he helped more than 300 slaves rush their way to freedom by escaping through the Underground Railroad. The role of free black people in ending slavery The free blacks played a significant role towards the abolishment of slavery in America. To begin with, the free black people aided in playing a central role by launching movements aimed at freeing the enslaved black men and women from their bonds people. They also acted centrally in protecting the recently freed blacks from being kidnapped and sold back to slave traders in the South. In the Northern part of America, the free black people formed Vigilance Committees that held meetings with the common goal of freeing their fellow black brothers and sisters from the whites’ oppression. Apart from these roles, they also went ahead to assume and fill positions of officers along the Northern cities. In the Midwest, the black free people provided refuge to the freed slaves. Levi Coffin, a descendant of antislavery Quaker family, celebrated as the core leader of the Underground Railroad, migrated from North Carolina and established himself in Newport Indiana in 1826. Upon settling there, he started offering refuge for slaves after noting that they passed there upon their escapexi. The role of rebellion and resistance Rebellion was a system in which armed black people resolved to up rise against white oppression. Since rebellions occurred in almost every society that practiced slavery, America experienced the fiercest events of rebellion. In 1791, there occurred one of the most successful rebellions commonly referred to as the Haitian Revolution. After, another slave uprising took place in Panama creating an extensive history of rebellions where the freed black people lived and organized guerilla bands in mountains and forests. These guerilla bands otherwise known as Cimarron revolted against their captors. On the other hand, resistance assumed many forms where slaves faked illness, refused working, performed their duties poorly, destroyed farm equipments, set buildings on fire, and stole food. All these took place individually apart from revolt that assumed the role of an organized groupxii. However, they all aimed at upsetting the routines of plantations using any possible means. The role of political and activists, black and white Political activists, both white and black advocated for abolishment of slavery in America. They formed anti-slavery movements and committees, which later led to gradual emancipation that distinguished abolitionists from advocators for more moderate treatment for slaves. They also fought to stop slavery in places where it existed and restrict it from growing further to the west. Activists fueled activities whose goal was to abolish slavery by initiating fervors such as the Second Great Awakening. This fervor prompted many Americans to advocate for emancipations using religious grounds. Moreover, these activists led to increased ideas that became prominent in Northern churches as well as in politicians during the start of 1830s. Contradictions that still exist today about the notion of blacks as American citizens and Conclusion Today, cases of discrimination of black American citizens still exist. This means that the notion of slavery is prevalent despite changes in time. In some states such as Kentucky, blacks people cannot marry a white person leave alone get in a white people’s church. This is an illustration showing presence of neo colonialism and discrimination. In conclusion, slavery was an inhumane act as black people lost their lives in the process. They also faced mistreatments, human crimes, hard labor, and lived in harsh conditions among other atrocities. The above-mentioned examples depict the nature of hardships that took place back in those days. This essay recommends that those who happen to discriminate against the black African Americans should think rigorously about what their ancestors went through in order to free them from oppression. Read More