Redemption for Whom?

The economic condition of ex-slaves after the Civil War was just as uncertain; many had left former masters and roamed thehighways.2 Amid the post Civil War chaos, various political groups were scrambling to further their agendas. First, Southern Democrats, a party comprised of leaders of the confederacy and other wealthy Southern whites, sought to end what they perceived as Northern domination of the South. They also sought to institute Black Codes, by limiting the rights of Blacks to move, vote, travel, and change jobs,3 which like slavery, would provide an adequate and cheap labor supply for plantations. Second, Moderate Republicans wanted to pursue a policy of reconciliation between North and South, but at the same time ensure slavery was abolished.

The Civil War was a fight against slavery in the mid to late 1800s. When the North won and abolished slavery, the South still had the mindset of slavery; they thought that black people or previous slaves were below them like they had always been. Different black people had different responses to this heinous behavior by the white Southerners. Some accepted the discriminatory treatment by the whites while others wanted vengeance for the belittling treatment as slaves. In the book The Marrow of Tradition, there are multiple black characters who exhibit different responses to the racism shown in different events throughout the novel.

The South then began to gain political power and things began to go their way again, blacks were discriminated against and their lives became difficult again even though they were free. It was not difficult to notice the issues of slavery from before the war, during the war, and after the war. Slavery formed two opposing societies, and slavery could never be abolished, the Civil War was inevitable. The Civil War was very painful for America, it brought social and economic hardship but it was necessary to bring “These United States” to “The United States”. Bibliography: Killer Angels by Michael Shara

The period of Reconstruction proved tremendously difficult with the obstacles that Whites imposed. Before, long legislation passed by congress, allowed to ensure citizenship, equality, and suffrage. Although the South stigmatized the process of their admission into society the power of good illuminated a path of hope in the darkness of the South. The Blacks would then have to fight for their own selves. The greatest physical crime of humanity is slavery.

The commitment to white supremacy in the South began with the planter's intention of keeping the institution of slavery. Whites perceived emancipation as "uncompensated liquidation of the nation's largest ... ... middle of paper ... ... for a certain candidate could determine the outcome of an election. Beatings, whippings, and raids on black homes continued throughout the South. Educated blacks and black leaders were persecuted and killed in order to persuade other blacks to refrain from objecting to longstanding policies. Blacks were tortured both mentally and physically in their struggle for freedom.

The battle against white contender was not just an ordinary victory. It was a victory of the black defeating the system. Both the reader primary and secondary are the audiences of the essay. The writer is writing on behave of the new generation who needs to know more about the history and society educated. "If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help "which explains the real struggle of the black people at that time.

Before the outbreak of the Civil War, fought from 1861 until 1865, blacks were bound by the callousness of slavery. Though the initial claims for the intent of the war was to reunite the seceding southern states with the Union, it ultimately became about the retention of slavery in southern states. It was during the Civil War that blacks were permitted to enter combat for the first time,... ... middle of paper ... ...minates and resonates with endless possibilities. However, at the war’s close, the soldier’s valiant efforts were diminished by the conflict that was ignited by their return. The Red Summer of 1919 was the result of competition between races for jobs and other resources within the finite space of the North, but the targeted blacks did not allow themselves to be victimized by the occurrence; instead the “New Negro” retaliated “making America safe for himself.” Nevertheless, the surging conflicts did not hinder or impede the tenacity of the African American, but their new perspective and perception of life infiltrated into the arts.

Another factor which made it harder for freed slaves to enter the society was the Ku Klux Klan organization, which can be described as “Original American Terrorist Organizations”. Most white’s southern viewed literacy, political equality, or any advancement for blacks as a loss to whites. (3) Terrorist groups like the Klan, the Knights of the White Camelia, the Red Shirts, and several others formed during Reconstruction to maintain the preexisting social order of white supremacy in the South. Black Americans had to suffer a lot, but still later on they

Although slavery was abolished, racism was not. Because the government had started recognizing African Americans as more than just slaves, the Klan decided they would have to take matters into their own hands. They felt extremely betrayed by the U.S. government. As one supporting KKK web-site claimed, "The KKK movement provided for the people of the south the leadership and rallying point to begin their arduous struggle to regain their lost dignity and indeed, the values of Western Civilization." They began their protest by lynching, tar and feathering, whipping, beating, and killing African Americans in the south.

There were groups of democrats who went about lynching blacks, harassing them and putting them in fear of whites so as to keep white supremacy. Such acts were destroying the idea of freedom for blacks so many northerners and educated blacks attempted to put an end to it. Two of these men being Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois were both black men with the same idea in mind- to better the lives...