Obtaining Civil Rights - Essay Example

Obtaining Civil Rights Obtaining civil Rights It was in the year 1916 when a North American colony in Virginia ly the Jamestown welcomed the African slaves and this event marked the beginning of slavery in the United States of America. These African slaves were brought to America to facilitate the production of lucrative crops that can make the country wealthy. It was due to the untiring efforts of the African-American slaves that lead to the foundation of an entirely new nation with a solid economy. It would certainly not be wrong to say that the American history owns a very influential legacy of slavery that continues to inspire the American nation. Establishment of slavery in America: The early 17th century marks the start of slavery in the US. North America was pretty heavily populated with the European settlers who had migrated to America to earn their living. These Europeans settlers preferred to transform themselves into the African slaves in order to adopt a source of living that is not only cheaper, but a plentiful way of doing labor. This evoked the desire in the hearts of many able men and women to migrate to America and indulge in slavery. Many historians claim that nearly 6 million highly competent slaves were brought from abroad especially from Africa to America in the 18th century (Griffin, 2009, 605). During the 18th century, most of the black slaves worked on the tobacco and rice plants, located near the southern coast. Many colonists claim that after the American Revolution, the black slaves in America were overpowered by the British in order to abolish slavery in the Unites States. However, as the war ended, the new American constitution counted every slave in the country as three-fifths of a person with the intention of taxation and ensuring the right to seize ‘any person who is acquired for labor or other services’. Role of cotton gin: The number of slaves in America began to reduce in the late 18th century due to shortage of lands required for growth of tobacco. Due to this terrible exhaustion of tobacco plants, an economic crisis hit the South. During this period, textile industries were rapidly growing in the Britain and the demand for cotton reached its zenith. The textile industries in the Britain demanded the American cotton for speedy growth of these industries. Unfortunately, growth of American cotton was restricted in America due to difficulty of elimination of seeds from raw fibers of cotton by hand. This problem was sorted out in 1793 by a young school teacher, Eli Whitney, who invented a machine known as cotton gin for easy removal of seeds (Griffin, 2009, 598). This device brought a revolution not only in America, but in South Asia too as a rapid transition from production of tobacco to production of cotton was witnessed. A great number of businessmen benefitted by investing on cotton plants and grew filthy rich. Almost all northern states put an end to slavery between the years 1774 to 1804 and the US Congress excluded the African slave trade from the benefit of the law, but these actions never really affected the growth of slaves in America. The population of slaves in the United States of America grew so rapidly that it had tripled over the next 45 years. By the year 1860, the population of slaves rose to 4 million, with most of the slaves dwelling in the cotton-producing southern states. Brutal behavior of slaveholders and the slave revolts: One-third of the southern population comprised of slaves in the antebellum South. A good number of these slaves subsisted on either huge farms or plantations with most of the masters owning only less than 50 slaves. A strict method of restrictive codes regulated the lives of these slaves as the slave owners wanted the slaves to be entirely dependent upon their masters. The slaves were strictly interdicted by their masters from educating themselves. The behavior as well as the movement of the slaves were also governed by the slave owners and were restricted. Slave owners took sexual privileges with slave women and those who resisted, were sexually harassed. The slaves had to experience a biased treatment from their masters as a result of which many slaves exhibited rebellion. The mutinous slaves were punished brutally by the cruel slave owners and the obedient ones were rewarded with favors. This promoted division between slaves and restricted them from being an organized group of slaves working for a common objective. Slaves were forced to marry and these marriages were deprived of any legal basis. So, slaves at that time did marry and breed large families, but the cruel slave owners continued to divide the slave families through sale. The slave men, women and children were forced to work as long as 16 hours during summers and 10 hours during winters. The slaves had six days in a week and they were granted half day on Saturdays. The slaves were treated with merciless attitude upon damage of equipments. Slaves were deprived of food rations ad given extra work upon poor performance. Slave quarters were in a terrible condition that was extremely hot in summers and cold in winters with dirty floors and cabins. Slave revolts were also witnessed within the hierarchy of the American slaves. It was in the year 1800 when Gabriel Prosser from Richmond renounced allegiance against the slave owners and ended up triumphant. Two years later, in the year 1882, Denmark Vesey from Charleston raised another slave revolt and won it through his dexterous tactics. Douglass published his own newspaper to battle against slavery and wrote his experiences as a slave in which he focused on the odds of slavery. One of the most terrifying revolts took place in the year 1931 in Virginia which was led by Nat Turner and greatly horrified the white slave holders. The Turner’s army consisted of approximately 75 blacks who had killed around 60 whites within 2 days. However, resistance from the some of the powerful white slave holders who attained the assistance of military forces subdued Turner’s army. These revolts evoked fears in the minds of the slave holders and the southern states and together they started to ponder over designing some new slave codes. On the other hand, the increased restraint of the southern blacks further contributed in giving rise to abolition movement. Ascent of the powerful abolition movement: During 1830s to 1860s, a movement began in America which strived to abolish slavery. The movement gained rapid popularity in the northern part of United States and continued to gain strength with the addition of free blacks and white supporters (Griffin, 2009, 600). The movement was mainly led by the free blacks and white supporters with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Lloyd Garrison being the most eminent faces to rebel against slavery and lead a strong army driven with an ardent passion to abolish slavery. Most of the members of the abolition movement and other slave revolts that took place in America were of the view that slavery should be considered a sin. Some other supported the idea that slavery is regressive and cannot in any way contribute in developing a nation’s economy. During the early 1780s, the fugitive slaves were made to escape to the North from the southern plants with the assistance of free blacks and the avid antislavery northerners. This practice, which successfully eradicated many slaves from the southern plants, was given the name of Underground Railroad. This practice reached its zenith in the 1830s and helped around 40,000 to 100,000 slaves acquire freedom from their malicious masters. Harriet Tubman was one of the most daring slave women who fought for the freedom of the slaves bravely after escaping from slavery under the Underground Railway mission. She successfully led many slave women and children to freedom. The unexpected and revolutionary triumph of the Underground Railroad stimulated the anti-slavery thoughts in the slaves of the North and they also developed the strong desire of rebellion against the slaveholders. Western expansion and the dispute of slavery in United States of America: The United States of America made progress by leaps and bounds during the early 19th century. This explosive growth of the country triggered the debate over the status of slaves in America and conflicts grew to rise over slavery. Missouri territory was made a part of America and an application was presented to restrict slavery in the state (Jalata, 2002, 90). Later Missouri was made the part of America as a slave state while Maine was admitted as a free state. Missouri compromise was designed to strike balance between Free states and the slave which helped to crush sectionalism on temporary basis. Civil war and the freedom deliverance in America: With Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, winning the elections and becoming president of America, civil war broke in seven southern states of America. Abraham Lincoln was a person with antislavery views, but the civil war (1861-1865) was mainly directed towards achieving the aim of securing United States as a nation. However, the growing anti-slavery views in the northerners became a reason for the Protestants of the civil war to fight against slavery. A fierce bloodshed was witnessed during the civil war as the African-American slaves demanded freedom. On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation which was known as emancipation proclamation (Hall, 2005, 1235). Mr. Abraham Lincoln clearly mentioned in it that slaves, dwelling in any state of the United States of America, have been granted freedom forever. The civil war successfully achieved its aim as around 3 million slaves were freed. Around 186,000 black soldiers were admitted in the Union army as the war came to an end in 1865. It is estimated that a total of 620,000 people died during the war, making the civil war the costliest war in the history of America. The bequeathal of slavery: In the year 1865, 13th amendment was adopted to authoritatively abolish slavery in America (Stainback, 2012, p.130). The former slaves succeeded in achieving their citizenship rights and were also granted the right to cast vote. However, difficulties continued to hinder the ways of former slaves as constitution was not fully practiced. The end of civil war marked the beginning of the Reconstruction era. A series of laws, known as ‘black codes’ were made to restrict the activities of the freed blacks and the states were directed to sign labor contracts with blacks every year. From reconstruction era to attainment of civil rights; With the end of Reconstruction era, some laws were passed to limit the rights and freedom of the blacks dwelling in America. During this time many blacks rose to fight against the discrimination and opened segregate schools for the blacks (Behnken, 2011, p.230). The African-American slaves continued to struggle during the World War I and II. During first World War, blacks began to move towards North of America to educate themselves and lead an independent life. However, they were greatly disappointed due to the behavior of the whites who tried to crush them. The World War II gave great chances to the blacks to become independent as millions of blacks joined the army with the desire to serve their nation. In the year 1954, the separate schools for the blacks were shut down as they were declared unconstitutional. In the year 1955, a black woman, Rosa Parks was arrested upon resisting against a white man while travelling in a bus. As a result, the blacks boycotted the buses. These events led to the start of civil rights movement started by Martin Luther King. Nonviolent protests were carried out across the South of United States, demanding rights for the blacks in America and to bring an end to all kinds of discrimination. The struggle continued with the spark of more movements such as that of Malcolm X’s movement. He urged the blacks to indulge in violent protests to safeguard their rights. Blacks started to protest violently against unequal treatment. In the year 1968, the most powerful leader of the blacks in America, Martin Luther King, was assassinated by a white man in Memphis. However, this incident did not halt the struggle of the blacks and they continued to fight for their rights by representing America in different fields of life. References Behnken, B. (2011). Fighting Their Own Battles: African Americans, Mexican Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Griffin, L. J., & Bollen, K. A. (August 01, 2009). What Do These Memories Do? Civil Rights Remembrance and Racial Attitudes. American Sociological Review, 74, 4, 594-614. Hall, J. D. (March 01, 2005). The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past. Journal of American History, 91, 4, 1233-1263. Jalata, A. (September 01, 2002). Revisiting the Black Struggle: Lessons for the 21st Century. Journal of Black Studies, 33, 1, 86-116. Stainback, K., & Tomaskovic-Devey, D. (2012). Documenting desegregation: Racial and gender segregation in private sector employment since the Civil Rights Act. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Read More