According to the United States Constitution, one of the main aspects of America is that “all men are created equal”. Throughout history, this statement has proved to be controversial and hypocritical. Two groups that have faced discrimination and unequal opportunities have been women and African Americans. During the antebellum period, free African Americans and white women did not receive the same treatment as white men in America. White Women had to fulfill the roles that were assigned to them by men during this period. Catherine Beecher stated that, “heaven had designated man “the superior” and women “the subordinate””. Many people had this common belief that the differences and roles of men and women were natural and predetermined. It prevented women from having equal opportunities and rights. Free African Americans had a chance to express themselves, more than others, depending whether they lived in the North over the South. Even though there were some restrictions for free African Americans, many of them, especially in the North, were active in American society. They had opportunities to take part in activities and have influences in society unlike women did. Free African Americans experienced more liberty than white women did in pre-Civil War America because they did not have clear separated roles from white men like women did, free African Americans had more opportunities to voice their opinions and have an influence on society, and they could engage in achieving freedom for other free Africans easier than women could for themselves. Free African Americans were not required to have certain roles in society like white women did during the pre-Civil War Era. They actually in many cases were able to experience a decent life... ... middle of paper ... ...om and therefore did not experience as much liberty in pre-civil war America as free-African Americans did. Even though there were still problems in the South, overall free-African Americans experienced more liberty than white women during pre-civil war America. Free-blacks did not have set roles and obligations that prevented them from having liberty like women did. White men prevented women from doing so much and eventually caused them to lose confidence in themselves. This made it even harder for them to fight for their rights, rally groups together and experience liberty. Also, women did not have as much of a chance to voice their opinions like free-African Americans did. They therefore lacked a lasting impact on society for a long time. Women lacked a lot of the opportunities that some free-Africans had and this prevented them from experiencing greater liberty.
“There must be the position of superior and inferior” was a statement by Lincoln which formed the basis of discrimination towards black Americans as it highlighted the attitudes of white Americans. Although civil rights for black people eventually improved through the years both socially and politically, it was difficult to change the white American view that black people are inferior to white people as the view was always enforced by the favour of having “the superior position assigned to the white race”. The period between 1880 and 1990 can be seen as a period of civil strife. The civil rights movement had little impact, with few significant improvements towards the overall goal of equality. Despite the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteen amendments had been set up acting as a baseline of change as it liberated black Americans from slavery and made them freedmen.
On the other hand, women in the U.S., the land of the free, experienced a severe limitation of rights in comparison. Unlike the Haudenosaunee, white women were considered completely subordinate to men, and had to rely completely on their husbands for economic support and political influence. Not only were these women not in positions of political power, but they could not vote, control their own property, make decisions about their own body, or claim their own children.
In the late 19th century African Americans were no longer slaves, but they were definitely not free. When we think of freedom today, we think of something totally different than what they endured in the late 19th century and early 20th century. For about 80 years, black southerners had to deal with these changes and hard times. Most would say that for those 80 years, it was worse than blacks being actual slaves. There are so many things that held down African Americans during this time. Some examples of this would be the involvement of the Jim Crow laws, not having the right to vote, and the lynching and peonage among African Americans.
Up north all blacks were free. The population of blacks in the north was about 1% in 1860 after the American Revolution. The blacks up north had minimal rights. The blacks could not vote, because of stipulations or they were just told that they could not vote by laws of their area. The New York Convention created one stipulation that was created to exclude blacks from voting in 1821; the law stated that blacks could not vote if they did not own property. Most blacks were having a tough time getting jobs in the south. So if a black person could not generate income how were they supposed to buy a home?
The Reconstruction-era was an extremely rough period for the African-Americans as well as many white settlers. The African-Americans endured numerous hardships and losses as a result of the white settlers' frustrations. Although the African-Americans' losses were great during this time, the progress made throughout that period is amazing. Many of them were sent off with nothing, to live on their own and a number of them managed to meet success. Their largest success came when the Reconstruction-era ended. African-Americans fought and struggled for their freedom, rights, and equality, for years, and although it took them a long time, they accomplished what they set out to do.
The Union won the Civil War and after the Civil War, the African Americans got their freedom. Even though this may be known as the bloodiest battles of the U.S., it got the African Americans its freedom and the U.S. to remember how they got it.
After the emancipation of slaves in 1862, the status of African-Americans in post civil war America up until the beginning of the twentieth century did not go through a great deal of change. Much legislation was passed to help blacks in this period. The Civil Rights act of 1875 prohibited segregation in public facilities and various government amendments gave African-Americans even more guaranteed rights. Even with this government legislation, the newly dubbed 'freedmen' were still discriminated against by most people and, ironically, they were soon to be restricted and segregated once again under government rulings in important court cases of the era.
The image that is usually placed with feminism is that of a rabid, bra-burning, lesbian running around disclaiming the patriarchy. It could be that of a mid-century housewife complaining about how her only career choices are between teacher and secretary, or even of a woman with a sash and banner walking in front of the White House; preaching about her right to vote. However, this isn't necessarily the case. Ever since the rise of the internet, in the late 20th Century, feminism has had a revival causing it to grow in popularity and spread across forums everywhere. Women are joining this “third wave” movement to bring an end to the societal injustices that still plague the gender today (qtd. in Haslanger et al.). Feminism currently represents much more than it did in its infantile stage, having evolved to include relevant issues that affect every woman in today’s subordinating world. Issues such as rape culture, slut shaming, abortion and the wage gap have all been adapted into the feminist agenda with the hope that, as a united force, women could bring change to a misogynist society. The bra burning days are over, and feminism is on a rise, bringing light to issues that need to be addressed.
...Black people continued to fight for what they thought was right which was true freedom.
In the 1860’s there were about 4,441,830 African American living the the United States. Many were living in the southern states of the United States. During this time period, there were many white men who owned an African American, as a slave. Slavery was caused because of the white men believing that they were superior towards other races, especially the African people. About 3,953,760 were slaves, and only about 488,070 African Americans were free. “In nothing was slavery so savage and relentless as in its attempted destruction of the family instincts of the Negro race in America. Individuals, not families; shelters, not homes; herding, not marriages, were the cardinal sins in that system of horrors”(Fannie Barrier Williams). Slavery destroyed many families, African American were being sold and treated as merchandise, not as a human. During the time of slavery there were some white men that did not believe in racism. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Those who deny freedom for others deserve it not for themselves” (Abraham Lincoln). Lincoln believed African Americans should not be slaves if others races were not treated as slaves themselves. Though some African Americans were living in the south, there were also a small amount of African Americans living in the north of the United States.
African Americans continued to struggle for freedom and equality during the years following the Great Depression. They have made many economic, political, and social initiatives to seek equality to white Americans. Many of their attempts failed and many were successful, but all of their endeavors proved that African Americans will not stand to be considered inferior to any race that they live with.
Freedom was knowledge, education and family, but “The root of oppression decided as a “tangle of pathology” created by the absence of male authority among Black people” (Davis, 15). Therefore, they enjoyed “as much autonomy as they could seize, slave men and women manifested irrepressible talent in humanizing an environment designed to convert them into a herd of subhuman labor units” (Davis). Instead of being the head of the “household”, he and the women treated each other as an equal. This thought would soon become a historical turning point that initiated the fight for gender
The United States rests upon a foundation of freedom, where its citizens can enjoy many civil liberties as the result of decades of colonial struggles. However, African Americans did not achieve freedom concurrently with whites, revealing a contradiction within the “nation of liberty”. It has been stated that "For whites, freedom, no matter how defined, was a given, a birthright to be defended. For African Americans, it was an open-ended process, a transformation of every aspect of their lives and of the society and culture that had sustained slavery in the first place." African Americans gained freedom through the changing economic nature of slavery and historical events like the Haitian Revolution policies, whereas whites received freedom
Even though African Americans were considered free, white elites in the South came up with new systems of oppression to keep them as second class citizens. These systems included Black
It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s. During the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place, it was the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools....