Abraham L.
... poorly (“Black Resistance”). My father explains to me that these revolts and the resulting oppression were not even the worst of our suffrage. Around 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted which allowed the government to help capture runaway slaves. This was a tumultuous time for African Americans; however, this was also one of the main causes of the Civil War. Southern support of slavery and Northern opposition to it collided more violently than ever before over the case of Dred Scott, a black slave from Missouri who claimed his freedom on the basis of seven years of residence in a free state and a free territory. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Dred Scott was not a free man, and therefore declared that no black – free or slave – could claim U.S. citizenship. It also declared that Congress could not prohibit slavery in United States territories. The decision by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott paved the way for the fourteenth amendment, but also brought the nation one step closer to civil war by raising tensions on slavery between the north and the south. (“Political Compromises”) My father then explained how the abolishment of slavery happened around my birth. The Civil War was in progress, and the Union (the north) was physically outnumbered by the Confederacy (the south) due to the number of African Americans as slaves. The war wasn’t entirely about slavery and the abolishment of it, but after a year in war, the Union led by Abraham Lincoln realized that they needed the African Americans of the South on their side in order to win the war. In the first couple of years the north tried to enact several confiscation acts designed to prevent the confederacy from using slaves in its war effort. When the north realized this wasn’t entirely affective, Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free slaves in the south, but it did allow for slaves to be freed as the north progressed further south. Not only did the north free the slaves but asked the slaves of the south to help in the mission of freeing the slaves. This caused a force to be reckoned with as slaves were freed and then were given the opportunity to free others. The Union won the war due to the aid of the African American forces. After the war was over it was hard to change the ideals of the south but congress enacted the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment, which legally abolished slavery throughout the United States and made African Americans citizens. The Fourteenth amendment also allowed many African Americans many privileges that their predecessors could only dream of such as holding office or attending school. (Medley). Despite these major improvements, life for Southern blacks was far from perfect. "Black Codes," designed to limit the opportunities of blacks, were passed in the South during Reconstruction. The Black Codes placed taxes on free blacks who tried to pursue nonagricultural professions, restricted the abilities of blacks to rent land or own guns, and even allowed the children of "unfit" parents to be apprenticed to the old slave masters (Encarta). This was when I was born, around the time that slavery was abolished and we were given liberties much like any other person, in fact we were even given the right to vote, when the fifteenth amendment was enacted in 1870. My father explained to me that the fight of the African American to abolish slavery was long and arduous. He also taught me because the body is free does not mean the mind and soul are free. This was his allusion to me that my generation would be the fight to end segregation, similar to his generation’s fight to abolish slavery. As I was growing up there was not much I could due, the fire of racial injustice was still burning bright. Even though we had gained many rights including the ability to vote, the United States did not welcome African Americans into the mix of society whole-heartedly. Within six years of the war ending federal troops were removed from the south abandoning African Americans. Not until the turn of the 20th century were African Americans beginning to fight for their freedom of mind and soul. This of course was spurred by the historic decision in the trial of Plessy v. Fergusson, where the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional. This outraged many African Americans including W.E.B. Dubois and other intellectuals who organized a movement to promote civil rights for African Americans. Dubois wasn’t the only one promoting civil rights for African Americans, in 1910 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was organized, in 1911 the National Urban League, and in 1914 Marcus Garvey organized the Universal Negro Improvement Association. These were only but a few of the organizations that pooped up over time; however, these organizations were some of the most influential. So influential that several years after these organizations were formed riots started occurring, in which many African Americans lost their lives. On occasion there was a loss of life in the White communities, but normally African Americans took the brunt of the assaults. The riots scared many people so much that for a period of time no progress occurred, but in the year of 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was inherently unequal in Brown v. Board of Education. This court decision gave hope to many African Americans; we were affirmed that “segregated but equal” was no longer acceptable. Although this decision by the Supreme Court proved that desegregation was necessary, there was not any action to resolve the situation. There were still many stores, restaurants, and other public facilities that were totally segregated. This is where my generation of African Americans stepped in. Just like my father told me long ago that I would be fighting for my mental freedom I sat there fighting for my freedom from more than just slavery. Like the great Gandhi, we enacted non-violent means to change the situation at hand. The first main successful fight for civil rights was in the Montgomery Bus boycott of 1956, where African Americans organized a boycott of the public bus system until desegregation occurred. The African American Organization was very swift in action; they developed a taxi service for Blacks so that they could get to and from work without difficulty. Due to the great organization of the African American community the bus system was desegregated. Out of this example many African American’s began a “sit-in” program to desegregate other areas of the public facilities. One such example is in Nashville were students like myself would go to the lunch counters and ask for food. If they were served they would go to the next lunch counter; however, if they were not served, they would remain until they were served. Many times we were forced to leave due to the closing of the counter, or we were arrested. Even though one of us may have been arrested, we always had someone there to keep the “sit-in” program alive. Not only was this very influential, the manner in which way it was carried out grabbed a lot of attention. The students and I would remind each other to be very polite, dress nice, keep good posture, and would make sure that we never impeded on movement of other people. After a few weeks of the “sit-in” program Nashville’s lunch counters were desegregated. This “sit-in” policy was used very efficiently in desegregating many other facilities such as movie theatres. A...