what does it mean to be black in America?

what does it mean to be black in America?

Being BLACK! What does that mean today? What did it mean yesterday? Through the years the simple definition of being BLACK has changed but really how much? Owning slaves is illegal but does the slave mentality continue? Through all their years of bondage, not being able to vote, segregation and no one respecting their civil rights; have things really changed? From slavery to President Barack Obama this paper is going to show that between these two points is definitely not a straight line.

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In an American History class doing research in a book by the name of Nation of nations written by a Davidson & Delay, finding that it began its coverage of all the changes that Blacks would have to go through beginning with slavery and moving into the Emancipation Proclamation, Unit One was a time of mass confusion for Blacks, they had been set free from slavery, but set free to do what? To live where? To make money how? The world was a whole new place for them. They had to now take care of their own families, the Master’s food was no longer available, and the Master’s clothing was no longer available. What were they to do without sustenance and covering?

The government did not allow Blacks any political rights nor did they make any special plans for Blacks to get an education. Most states continued to write laws based on slavery times which were meant only to apply to Blacks, they did pretend to change them by allowing slave marriages to be acknowledged as legal, to allow Blacks to sue and be sued inside a court building and allowed southern Blacks to hold title to property but ultimately they wanted to keep the property out of the Blacks hands, the new laws that were written kept Blacks from testifying against whites, kept them off juries, some states even controlled how and where Blacks could work. (Davidson, et al., 2008)

For many years Blacks even though free lived in fear because there were so many radical people involved, so radical that they would attack the areas that Blacks lived in, they burned down the schools, burned down the churches, even killed several Blacks trying to get their message across “The negroes now know, to their sorrow, that it is not best to arouse the fury of the white man” one local newspaper reported. (Davidson, et al., 2008) The Blacks were being held back by laws that were being set by the President who was quietly trying to please others and by the radicals who believed that Blacks could not and should not have the same rights as they had, what could the Blacks do?

There were a few people that tried to fight back, there was Nat Turner, John Brown, Harriet Tubman even a lawsuit created by Dred Scott who not only received his freedom through the courts but helped others be set free well after the emancipation had been signed, but this could not stop the physical or mental attacks they did continued. (Black History Milestones, 2011)

There were laws created that would come to be known as the Black codes which were set-up in the United States in 1865 and 1866; these were the laws that were designed to replace the social controls of slavery that had been removed by the Emancipation and the Thirteenth Amendment; they were created to assure the continuance of white supremacy. The black codes varied from state to state but were all written to secure cheap labor and to make sure that the whites were still superior. They created a vagrancy law that allowed them to lock up any black that was unemployed and did not have a permanent home, now knowing that this person could not pay the fine they would bounded them out for a term of labor in order to cover the fine, these laws were ridiculously written but they were written. (Lynch, Hollis R.)

In Some states blacks were excluded from working at certain businesses and there were rules that limited them to only own certain types of property. They could not carry guns or testify in court, except in cases concerning other blacks. As long as the couple were black their marriages were legal, but interracial marriage were prohibited. The Freedmen’s Bureau was created in 1865 to help the former slaves and to assist with the reconstruction. The reconstruction finally was able to do away with the black codes but, after the reconstruction was over, many of the laws returned under the Jim Crow laws, which did not end until the Civil Rights A……………………………..

……………….ting power but never did a Black hold a Governor’s position and even in South Carolina where Blacks totally out numbered everybody by 60% did they have one house under their control; because of educational issues most Black leaders were illiterate which caused the lack of an official positions in the legal and governmental system. (Davidson, et al., 2008)

Things were changing freedom brought about choices for the Blacks, job changes, last name choices, living arrangement choices and so much more; one Black in South Carolina left her cooking job for her ex-master even though he promised to double her pay she reluctantly said “I must leave or I will never know I am free”. (Davidson, et al., 2008) There were internal issues that begin to occur within the Black communities, issues so deep it makes you wonder if the Willie Lynch speech as unreal as some say it is could have been used, the speech made a promise to slave owners it said “I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly it would control slaves for at least 300 years” (Lynch, Willie 1712) Even though Blacks were fighting for their rights, internally they were fighting one another it seemed just as the speech stated the old against the young, light against dark, smart against dumb; Lynch said use this technique and they will never trust each other.

Jim Crow Etiquette

A Black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a White male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a Black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a White woman, because he risked being accus…………………

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