The African-American Odyssey Essay

The e objet dartcipation of the African slave who was now disconnected from their traditions and way of biography after nearly 300 years, is seemingly a swell rosiness from the dam to the ebbs and flows of the struggle. The end of slavery as we know it, presented a thud of mixed emotions among the nation North and SOUTH. Some slaves were grossly ecstatic to be free. For example, when a slave girl named Caddy, from Goodman, Mississippi found she was free, went to her mistress, flipped up her line up and told her Kiss my ass On the contrary, some slaves were apprehensive of being free. For example, star elderly slave woman reportedly said, I ain no free nigger I is got a marster and mistiss Dee right dar in de great house. Ef you don believe me, you go dar an see. Though most slaves were detached from their families, galore(postnominal) managed to regroup and find their love ones after their emancipation and constructed close ruffle families. Land was an viable agency of surv ival in the minds of pertly freed workforce and the presidential term was eager to deem contributes to the ex-slaves .On January 16, 1865, General William T. Sherman told the freedmen that they will receive the land they were in search of. They were granted the head of each family would receive possessory surname to forty acres of land. Sherman also gave the use of Army mules, thus openhanded rise to the slogan, Forty acres and a mule. Similarly in 1862 the sum total military set aside land in Port Royal, southern Carolina, which became kn ingest as the Port Royal experiment. The freedmen bureau was created to aid newly freed slaves in the transition from bondage to freedom in 1865.After capital of Nebraskas assassination the succession of his Vice president, Andrew Johnson, to the presidency meant that the livid owners of the lands, that were precondition to the freedmen, would be returned. Sharecropping became a sort of ebb in the river of the African-American advance a s far as freedom was concerned. Presented as labor contracts by bloodless land owners, the institution of slavery was extended under a cloud of debt. In which, the b leave out family, oft times became debtors due to the lack of honesty on the account of their white lender. Aside from family, among African-Americans, the mysterious church building became the most important institution.Not only did it fill deep sacred and inspirational needs, it offered enriching music, provided charity and compassion to those in need, developed community and policy-making leaders, and was free of white supervision. With the end of slavery, blacks who then had to expect services with white parishioners who treated them as second class Christians, could now organize and attend their own churches. The advent of the black church definitely brought closely a flow in the river of struggle for African-Americans. Education was a nonher flow in the river of struggle and a critical means of survival amo ngst people of color.It coincided on base freedom. All who were versed in education of of alone timey(prenominal) sorts were summoned to teach the freedmen and their children. Teachers from all walks showed. Classes were held in churches, old slave markets, stables, taverns, homes, and habituser slave cabins. Funding came from ming direct religious and political organizations and the Freedmens Bureau. Although white teachers helped a bit, black teachers were praised end-to-end the negro community because, as Rev. Richard H. Cain said , We must take into our own custody the education of our raceHonest, dignified whites may teach perpetually so well, but it has not the effect to exalt the black mans opinion of his own race, because they have always been in the costume of seeing white men in honored positions, and respected. Most colleges and universities for blacks taught principal(a) and secondary level curriculum. The introduction of the historically black colleges and universities was formed from the estimate of a higher education for people of color. In the midst of the newfound freedom, religious organization, and education of Negroes which was an obvious flow, a reoccurring ebb presented itself in the form of violence.Justice for the black man was never considered in those times. Thousands of innocent(p) African-Americans were heinously murdered without a single conviction of a white perpetrator whom committed the acts. Atop the murders, black towns, businesses, churches, and schools were destroyed at the hands of the angry white southerners. The Failure of reconstruction For the first time ever in history, a group of black men had concurrently became politicians. They were united by the carpetbaggers of the north and the scalawags of the south in the republican constituency.Of the 1,000 men choose as delegates to the ten state conventions, 265 were black. Collectively, they drafted new, striking constitutions that, unlike the previous c onstitutions, allowed all men to vote even the ex-Confederates. Although, the republicans displayed compassion upon their dealings with their opponents, the unruly southerly ego rose once more against the ratification of the new constitutions. In due course, the majority did manage to ratify and in each state, black men were elected to offices. As time progressed, nearly 1,500 black men were in office around the passim the south.Among those were the likes of Blanche K. Bruce, Hiram R. Revels, Joseph Rainey, Jonathan J. Wright, Francis L. Cardozo, Robert Smalls, and Ferdinand Havis. This was a flow that led to inevitable ebb in the river of fight for African-Americans. That ebb presented itself in the form of the gradual failure of reconstruction. Issues such as education, social welfare, urbane rights, land, and businesses plagued the Republican frame of thought daily. The black leaders efforts to facilitate education throughout the black and poor white communities failed overall. Lack of funds is the greatest appoint for the inconsistency. At the time, there were no segregation laws, but whites refused to let their children go to school with blacks. Though a valid effort amongst African-Americans was given toward civil rights, they did not receive the respect that every other law permanent citizen received. For example, they were not accommodated at hotels and on public transportation, nor were they served as remunerationing customers at various businesses. The blacks who worked for the white landowners were being cheated daily as if they were still in captivity.White employers would either fire the worker before the harvest or make up outlandish fees and debts. Some just didnt pay at all inexorable leaders grew tired of the robbery and do laws to eliminate such happenings. The distribution of land amongst landless, yeomen, farmers didnt happen in any other state but South Carolina. Over 14 thousand black families and a few white families, received lan d. Black businesses, unfortunately, did not and could not flourish due to the lack of funds during the expanding of the railway system. separate businesses made handsome amounts of profit but the African-American business owners could not cash in.Black politicians laid the foundation for public assistance, education, criminal umpire reform but, could not do anything that directly dealt with their people. Reason being, was that they were the minority in the Republican party and in fact, were not allowed to ratify their own agenda. Besides, they couldnt agree on most things because they came from different walks of life. Bickering throughout the Republican party sparked a high turnover in political lead and the loss of that very economic security? This made for inexperienced leadership and added to Republican woes. Opposition came to the party in various ways such(prenominal) as, the conservative Democrats who continued to heckle blacks who in any way participated in the politic al process and the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan, was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866, by ex-confederate soldiers who were hell-bent on eradicating and/ or terrorizing anyone who didnt submit to southern culture. They used any means necessary to remove blacks from politics. The Enforcement good turn of 1870 was passed to prohibit Klansmen from wearing their regalia in public and treasureed the civil rights of black citizens.The following year the Ku Klux Klan typify was passed and it made the interference of a persons right to vote, hold office, jury certificate of indebtedness and equal protection a federal offense. The fifteenth amendment was passed in 1869, and posterior ratified in 1870. It clearly expressed the right to vote to all citizens but failed to address the literacy tests, property possession rule, or the poll taxation that continued to plague voters. Radical Republicans and northern whites alike grew exhausted with the dependance of blacks, (as they saw it) and looked upon them as unfit to be involved in the political system.They thought that reconstruction had been a mistake. The Freedmens Bank was founded in 1865 and do well until the white board of directors foolishly invested in Washington, D. C. real estate. The little terror of 1873 brought about a significant loss in unsecured railroad loans. As a result, the bank closed in 1874. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was an act of good intentions, yet it was ruled unconstitutional by U. S. autonomous Court Justice Joseph Bradley who, wrote that the Fourteenth Amendment protected black people from variation by states but not by private businesses. The end of Reconstruction was as brutal and contentious as the beginning. Blacks refused to vote in solvent to the terrorism inflicted upon them by the southern Democrats. The withdrawal of the federal troops that were to protect the rights of colored people left the black citizens with no means of defense reaction and they therefore had to b ow down to the numerous massacres that were to occur. The compromise of 1877, in which, Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Haynes, ran for the presidency, brought about more violence towards blacks and grew worse as time passed.