Were Black Americans Made Free and Equal by the Abolition of Slavery, 1865-1915?

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While the formal abolition of slavery, on the 6th of December 1865 freed black Americans from their slave labour, they were still unequal to and discriminated by white Americans for the next century. This ‘freedom’, meant that black Americans ‘felt like a bird out of a cage’ , but this freedom from slavery did not equate to their complete liberty, rather they were kept in destitute through their economic, social, and political state. After the black Americans were freed from their slave masters they did not have ‘a cent in their pockets’ and ‘without a hut to shelter them’ . This obvious lack a home, and the monetary funds needed to support them [the freed slaves] and their families, together with the lack of widespread Government support meant that many slaves continued to live in poverty, and in many ways, they could have been better off (economically), had they been left in bondage . For this reason, many Southern slaves ‘had little choice but to remain as paid labourers or to become sharecroppers working on the land as before’ . Sharecropping, which generally involved the ex-slaves renting land, tools, and a house from a white landlord, working the land that is given to them, and then providing the landlord with one-half to two-thirds of the produce . ‘This system kept the black cotton producers in an inferior position’ , which means that while they were ‘officially free’; they were still stuck in the previous cycle of working for their previous masters, without hope of escape for a better life. While this is what most ex-slaves did, some, like Jourdan Anderson, who left the farm on which he, was prior to being freed, with his family, ‘would rather stay here and starve - and die’ than to have his girls ‘brought to shame by... ... middle of paper ... ...lack American’s were further discriminated and their equality was not achieved. Works Cited The date that the 13th Ammendement (prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude) was adopted. It was subsequently declared on the 19th of December 1865 Houston H. Holloway, 20 year old slave free in 1985 Thaddeus Stevens, Radical Republican 18th December 1865 Thaddeus Stevens, Radical Republican 18th December 1865 Thaddeus Stevens, Radical Republican 18th December 1865 Page 10 of the Workbook Page 10 of the Workbook Page 10 of the Workbook Jourdan Anderson, former slave, 1865 Jourdan Anderson, former slave, 1865 Page 14 of the Workbook Page 11 of the Workbook Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), according to Page 17 of the Workbook Page 15 of the Workbook Page 10 of the Workbook Page 13 of the Workbook Page 11 of the Workbook

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