African Americans are
“Blacks have no rights that which Whites are bound to respect” These were the words the words of Chief Justice Roger Tanry. These words that have been believed and honored for centuries. Blacks have attempted to change these discriminative views of White Americans for many years.
As an African American born in the United States I have witnessed and experienced several instances of racism and discrimination. White Americans have always wanted to control and manipulate the minds Black America. I know first hand that African Americans are still enslaved in America today.
Slavery marked the beginning the tribulations they have encountered from the moment they arrived in America.
Africans were captured and brought to America against their wills. Once they were loaded of the ships they were handcuffed and displayed like commodities. He was cut off from hi African past, with no hope for the future. With no rights to protect him. Americans were free to treat them how they saw fit. This usually included physical punishment. Slavery required docility. Punishment was carefully planned out to instill terror and break the Africans’ spirit. They had to be fit for hard work. Inflicting the slaves with brutal beatings would provide so much more than just punishment. Dehumanization, submission, rigid discipline, inferiority and dependence were just some of the wanted effects. Who would ever guess that it would come back to haunt them later?
White Americans owned slaves for over two hundred years. Although some of these slaves tried to revolt and runaway, it didn’t have much impact on the situation. On January 1,1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all the slaves that were in states that supported the Confederacy. Contrary to what we were educated with in grammar school, his major goal was to save the union. August 22, 1862 Lincoln wrote,
“My Paramount objective is to save the Union?. If I could
save the Union without freeing the slaves, I would
do it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would
do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving
the others alone I would also do it?.. ” (Hutchinson, pg. 52)
It wasn’t until May 1865 that President Andrew Johnson called for abolition of slavery. Slavery in the United States has been called “the most awful the world has known” (Banks/Banks pg. 52)
The Civil War began April 12,1862 and ended 1865. In the beginning African Americans were not allowed to fight in the war, but the Proclamation It didn’t matter that most Blacks were born in this counrty. They continued to live without the rights that the other American born citizens had. This country was built on the labor of these Blacks parents and grandparents and it was continuing.