The United States population in 1850 was 31,000,000. Fourteen percent of that was African American. And then ten percent of the African American population was free. But what exactly does freedom mean in terms of what they could do? The north is commonly viewed as being anti-slavery and keeping blacks free. Three regions make up the North - New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Midwest. In total, these states had a free black population of 221 thousand, which is surprisingly a smaller number than the number of free blacks in the south - 250 thousand. But just how free were free blacks, especially in the anti-slavery north? It depends on what "free" means. All people supposedly had access to three general freedoms - there's political …show more content…
This is especially true when it comes to political freedoms. "...but he shall not be free to dine and drink at our board [table] – to share with us the deliberations of the jury box – to attend us in our courts – to represent us in the legislature –...(Document B)" Yes, black people could probably attend a court hearing to see a ruling, but they won't be able to serve on a jury. They would also not be able to be in Congress or any other high (or low) political seats. The North does not want black people representing them. They also do not want black people to have any say in important political decisions. Essentially, the North doesn't care about black people's opinions and wants them to be oppressed. Only 5 out of the 16 states in the North region allowed free blacks to vote, and 1 of the 16 gave them the right to be on a jury. (Document A) How are you supposed to say free blacks in the North had political freedom when they can't even vote in most places? It's clear that the Northerners are trying to oppress any opinions free blacks would have. They don't have a say in criminal trials since they can't serve on a jury. They can't even choose the people that they want to govern them. This would lead to leaders who also would not care what the free blacks …show more content…
These restrictions are clearly seen in their economic freedom. A young black student writes, "...Why should I strive hard and acquire all the constituents of a man if the prevailing genius of the land admit me not as such, or but in an inferior degree!(Document C)" This free black student graduated top of his class. It should be fairly easy for him to get a very high-society job, right? No! He thinks he'll struggle to find a job, not because he's stupid, but because he's African American. He wouldn't be treated with the same prestige as white people in his same field of work. An unnamed specimen writes, "but he shall not be free to... to attend us at the bed of sickness and pain.(Document D)" Attending someone at the bed of sickness and pain describes the day to day responsibilities of a doctor. This quote clearly exhibits that Northerners did not trust free African Americans very proclaimed jobs like a doctor. They must've thought that black people were inneficient compared the white
Even though Blacks were granted independence, laws were set up to limit this accomplishment. Jim Crow Laws, enforced in 1877 in the south, were still being imposed during the 1930s and throughout. These laws created segregation between the two races and created a barrier for the Blacks. For example, even though African Americans were allowed to vote, southern states created a literary test exclusively for them that was quite difficult to pass, since most Blacks were uneducated. However, if they passed the reading test, they were threatened death. Also, they had to pay a special tax to vote, which many African Americans could not afford. This obstacle caused Blacks to not have a voice in the USA’s political decisions. Furthermore, they were left with the worst jobs in town and had the poorest schools because of segregation (The Change in Attitudes…). In the southern states, compared to White schooling education, the Blacks received one-third of school funding. The White people dominated the states and local government with their decisions and made sure that the Blacks were weak. They weren’t being treated in hospitals because the doctors refused to do treatment on them. Also, because of the laws and segregation, people claim that there was a ‘visible colored line’ in publi...
Reconstruction(1865-1877) was the time period in which the US rebuilt after the Civil War. During this time, the question the rights of freed slaves in the United States were highly debated. Freedom, in my terms, is the privilege of doing as you please without restriction as long as it stays within the law. However, in this sense, black Americans during the Reconstruction period were not truly free despite Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. While legally free, black Americans were still viewed through the lens of racism and deeply-rooted social biases/stigmas that prevented them from exercising their legal rights as citizens of the United States. For example, black Americans were unable to wholly participate in the government as a
Generally speaking, blacks in the north were somewhat free in the area of political and judicial rights. Most of the northern states in the year 1860 allowed or restricted voting. This might seem great, but, New England was the region that had the most states that black males could vote. Out of 221,000 blacks in the north, only 25,000 African-Americans lived in New England. Furthermore, only males were permitted to vote. Any women, regardless of race was prohibited from voting until many years after the Civil War. Five of the 16 northern states allowed restricted black male voting. Of 11,000 blacks in New York CIty only 100 could vote. The reason behind this is that you had to pay a $250 property requirement in order to vote. This kept most blacks in New York from voting. Jury Duty is also another activity that nearly no blacks could partake in. Out of the 16 northern states, Massachusetts was the only state in 1860 that allowed black males to serve in the jury. These limitations of freedoms are important because blacks got hardly any say in their government. A voice in the government is important for anyone is because anyone who lives there needs to also be taken into consideration when making or chang...
Free blacks from the south were facing many situations from the whites from the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were to prevent free blacks and other non-whites from being able to vote and have a voice within the government. Laws and statements were established such as the Grandfather Clause, which would prevent anyone whose grandfather could not vote from voting. Since the majority of blacks grandfathers did not vote and was not even free, free blacks in the south were denied the right to vote. Free blacks were now being denied any privilege that non slaves (whites) already had. Their "freedom" was only from slavery, now they realized that they were still a slave to the world. Also during this time blacks were being discriminated against and the lynchings of blacks were occurring. Blacks were becoming endangered and feared for their lives.
Have you ever wondered if there was a middle ground between being free and being a slave? The arrival of the first Black Americans to the USA in 1619 triggered a dark period of slavery that lasted until the end of the Civil War. The nation began to divide itself into two groups; free states and slave states. Though the black people who lived in the free states weren't slaves, they were denied certain rights. Free blacks in the North had many restrictions in their life, but they were given few freedoms in the areas of political, social, and economic rights.
The social conditions throughout the era were extremely poor. Legal discrimination was around and African Americans were denied democratic rights and freedoms. The southern states would pass strict laws to normalize interactions between white people and African Americans. For example, Jim Crow signs were placed above regularly visited places by everyone, such as water fountains, public facilities, door entrances and exits, etc. Even the most basic rights such as drinking from a water fountain was taken away from African Americans. They would also have separate buildings for African
The abolition of slavery started in 1777. In the North the abolition of slavery was the first to start. But, in the South it started during the 1800’s. The Northern states gave blacks some freedom, unlike the Southern states. The national population was 31,000,000 and four and one-half, were African American. Free african males had some limits with their freedom. There were many political, social, or economic restrictions placed on the freedom of free blacks in the North, but the three most important are, Political and Judicial Rights, Social Freedom, and Economic.
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 ones that did work had hours, duties, and types of jobs dictated to them. Codes were also developed to restrict blacks from becoming successful. They discouraged owning and selling property, and raising and selling their own crops. Blacks were often prohibited from entering town without written permission from a white employer. A black man found after 10 p.m. without a note could be arrested.
During the reconstruction period, African Americans benefited from the civil rights act of March 1866 and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment. However, for African Americans in the former confederacy, opportunities were limited as in1865 and 1866 the former confederacy states passed black codes’ a replacement of the former slave codes, which once again forcibly cemented the second-class status of African Americans. The most oppressive of the codes was against vagrancy, ...
Many strides in the African American journey towards freedom and equality came about in the mid-nineteenth century. The domestic slave trade separated families and created an even greater hatred toward slave owners by blacks. African Americans gained some semblance of freedoms through the task-based labor systems in some Southern regions and freemen fought for equal pay while serving admirably as Union soldiers during the Civil War. Freemen in the North experienced racial discrimination and segregation, but established Free Societies which were crucial in advancing the rights for equality with prominent whites. Although not completely equal to whites by the end of the century, African Americans, as a whole, were headed in the right direction.
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.
All African Americans thought with the creation of civil rights, they would be free to do what all Americans could do. In the context of civil rights, emancipation means to be free from slavery. The process took much longer than they expected. Many fled to the North to gain their freedom, which was rightfully theirs. Legal slavery was removed from the North, but the population of slaves between the first emancipation and the end of the Civil war doubled, from roughly 1.8 million in 1827 to over four million in 1865. It was very difficult for southern farmers and those who owned slaves to immediately give up a lifestyle they were accustomed to and remove their slaves. White southerners viewed African Americans as their workers. They have lived with this mindset for so long, causing their transition to be challenging compared to the transition of the slaves in the north.
In the colonial era slavery was permissible by law in every colony. Blacks were 20% of the overall population of the 13 colonies and only 8% of them were free blacks (www.history.org). Colonists commonly used African slave labor despite the question of whether slavery was morally right. Life for blacks in the revolutionary period was one of slavery and discrimination. Only 8 percent of blacks were free [Edgar A Toppin. “Blacks in the American Revolution” (published essay, Virginia State University, 1976), p 1] and this so-called freedom merely meant that they could own and defend property. They weren’t allowed to mingle with whites and were wholly segregated.
The newly freed slaves still faced extreme prejudice and continued to be consigned to a lower tier of society than whites. With the introduction of the 15th Amendment and black suffrage the freed slaves, in the eyes of the constitution, were equal to whites. However that did not guarantee them the right to vote. A series unfair and unjust local and state laws that targeted blacks, were established in many southern states. These included the Jim Crow laws, which were intended to exclude blacks from voting, by instituting literacy tests or creating other obstacles to voting. Racism and discrimination also excluded blacks from many jobs, from entering into contracts or opening businesses or purchasing