African Americans in the United States comprise the second largest ethnic group in the United States. The African American history stretches as far back as the 16th century when Africans were captured and sold to the American plantations in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. After the United States of America became independent, African Americans continued to be enslaved. They were mistreated economically, socially and politically. The constitution of United States at independence stated that an African American was three fifths of a person. Anti-miscegenation rules were enacted in various states to prohibit interracial marriages. Interracial sex was also criminalized with harsh penalties for the parties. After two centuries of struggle against racial discrimination, Barrack Obama became the first African American to be elected as the president of the United States of America.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation. The executive order freed all slaves in the rebelling states and gave them freedom to enroll in public service including the army. Lincoln instructed the executive to respect the rights of former slaves and treat them with dignity and respect. The slave owners were not compensated by the government. The emancipation proclamation freed more than three million slaves in the southern states . In 1865 the thirteen amendments to the United States constitution made slavery and forced servitude a crime in the United States of America.
Radical republicans took over the government and used the congress to advocate for more rights to the African Americans. This led to a period popularly known as the reconstruction period. The freed slaves voted overwhelmingly for the Republican Party in the 1867 elections. Consequently, the Republican Party came to power in almost all the southern states. President Ulysses Grant used the military to suppress riots from the whites who opposed the equality with the whites. Southern democrats fought hard to gain power in the southern states. After regaining power, they counter attacked al the efforts made in the reconstruction of the southern states. President Rutherford Hayes blocked efforts to scrap of reconstruction statutes. Reconstruction statutes enabled African Americans to vote and run for political offices .
The goals for reconstruction were to ensure that black minorities in the southern states were given equal rights with the majority whites. The reconstruction act divided the conquered states into five military districts .The districts were ruled by a coalition of blacks and northerners who had travelled to the south. For the states to be admitted into the Union, ten percent of its voters had to pledge allegiance to the Union. In addition, the states had to agree to the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the United States constitution which made slavery and forced servitude illegal.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated because of his policies on slavery. Andrew Johnson, a racist, succeeded Lincoln and sought to reverse the gains made by the previous administration. He supported the white supremacy in the north and southern leaders who had supported the confederacy once the war had started. There was a struggle between the congress and the president for the control of the southern leaders. Johnson wanted the Reconstruction Act repealed and slavery reinstated back to the society. The congress voted overwhelmingly against President Johnson. Northern legislators provided more than three thirds of the votes cast .
The whites in the Southern states rallied behind the Democratic Party, which supported the white supremacy. Terrorist organizations and criminal gangs were formed to terrorize the blacks who tried to exercise their political rights to vote and social rights of access to education. The Klux Klux Klan, a terrorist organization that murdered blacks who tried to exercise their political rights, helped the Democratic Party to regain control of the southern governments. Through fraud and violence propagated by the Klux Klux Klan, the southern states regained control of the governments. By 1877 when the Union troops left the south, the state governments in the south were under the Democratic Party .
A gradual approach to Reconstruction of the southern states would have gone better. It would have saved the southern states from the violence and bloodshed that followed. A gradual approach would have allowed African Americans to secure their economic rights of owning land. The radical approach secured political rights for African American. However, without meaningful employment or a steady source of income, it would be virtually impossible to enjoy political rights .
The blacks eventually returned to the plantation for employment. The white people who were their masters became their new employers. Former slave owners exploited them economically to create wealth. There was increased oppression of the black people through the denial of employment opportunities. The post reconstruction period was characterized by racial discrimination and disenfranchisement of the blacks . Their right to vote was restricted by rigorous voter registration procedures. African Americans chose to settle their grievances in the courts and also by forming organizations to redress their political issues.
In conclusion, civil rights activists like Martin Luther King led a nonviolent movement that gave the African American community their civil rights. The society would later develop and accept the African American community as their equals. The triumph against racial discrimination in the United States was seen when Barrack Obama voted in as the president of the United States of America.
References
Franklin, J. H. (2003). The Emancipation Proclamation. The Journal of Negro History, 298-300.
McVeigh, R. (2009). The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan: Right-wing Movements and National Politics. New York: U of Minnesota Press.
The book captures the rise and consequent activities by the Ku Klux Klan. In addition, it gives a unique dimension to the struggle for freedom and equality cast against an environment that is overwhelmingly against freedom of the minority.
Richard Wormser. (2009, December 12). Reconstruction (1865-77). Retrieved February 1, 2014, from Educational Broadcasting Corporation.org: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_reconstruct.html
Wagner, H. L. (2007). The History of the Republican Party. New York: Infobase Publishing.
Woodrow Wilson. (2012, November 23). Woodrow Wilson's First Inaugural Address. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from American Experience 25 years.com: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/tr-woodrow/
This website captures the inaugural address by Woodrow. It equally shows the belief of a possibility of a new America by Woodrow. It shows Woodrow's conviction for public service against political brinkmanship.
Woodrow, W. (2005). The New Freedom: A call for the emancipation of the generous energies of the people. New York: Project Gutenberg.
The book captures the conviction in Woodrow for the emancipation of the people of America. It further underscores Woodrow's subscription to a free people.
