History 2200 ePortfolio

By: Bryan Gonzalez

The United States has had an interesting relationship with equality. After all
that is what this country was created for isnt it? However for centuries blacks were
treated as less that equal. Forced into slavery, fighting for true freedom through the
civil rights era, then in todays age still being victims of stereotyping. African Americans
have had an incredible journey as a race in our country and it is one I feel that really
demonstrates the human spirit to its core.
Africans came to America in two large waves, one was forced on them, the other
was voluntary. The first began in 1619 when the first slaves were brought to Virginia and
ended in 1807 when the United States Constitution denied any further slaves from
entering the country. Historians estimate that between 15 to 20 million Africans were
forced into slavery and that 10 or so million of those survived the treacherous and brutal
extrication from Africa, then the journey across the Atlantic ocean. Although most slaves
would end up in Brazil or the Caribbean Islands, roughly 400,000 would end up in what
would become the United States (Olsen and Beal p.307-308).
The second wave came after World War II. The Immigration and Nationality Act
of 1965 set a maximum of 170,000 immigrants annually from the eastern hemisphere and
no more than 20,000 from one country annually on a first come first serve basis. The Act
essentially allowed Africans, along with other immigrants, opportunities as good as any
to immigrate to the United States.
What makes Africans really stand apart from other immigrants, other than the
obvious slavery that they faced for centuries, was the racism and segregation that they
faced once they got here. Imagine those arriving in the United States for the first time and
then being told you are not equal enough to use the same bus, drink from the same water
fountain, or even attend the same school. Because of the will of the African Americans,
along with other minority races, the civil rights era of the 1950s through the 1970s might
be the most progressive time in our nations history.
Despite the abolition of slavery after the Civil War blacks and darker skinned
people were treated with appalling racism. Although free men African Americans were
still grossly considered inferior to whites. Things remained very segregated and very
much against blacks in the power structure. Blacks could not vote until 1869 however
measures were taken to deter blacks from voting. Grandfather clauses were passed in
some states that made voting increasingly difficult. Louisiana passed a law to keep
former slaves and their descendants from voting in 1896. As a result, registered black
voters dropped from 44.8% in 1896 to 4.0% four years later. Mississippi, South Carolina,
Alabama and Virginia follow Louisianas lead by enacting their own grandfather clauses
(aclu.org). Other grandfather clauses included poll taxes and literacy tests, while those
were less race specific, more clever laws around them were passed to allow whites a loop
hole to jump though. For instance a law was passed stating that if you were unable to pay
poll taxes or pass a literacy test, you were still eligible if your grandfather was eligible to
vote in 1860. White primaries were also used by the democrats to keep educated African
Americans from the polls (Olsen and Beal p. 207). Not until 1965 could African
Americans vote with nothing deterring or interfering with them from acting on their right
to vote.


African American leaders began voicing their opinions and fighting for change
more and more, although they wanted mainly the same things, they did have different
views on how to do it. Born as a slave Booker T. Washington came up from nothing,
literally, and over the time of his life he became the most beloved African-American in
the country. Washington believed that if African-Americans did not gain valuable
vocational jobs skills, then they would be destined to remain in the poverty of tenant
farming and sharecropping.
He represented those who where in the same position that he was as a child, poor
and a slave to land that someone else owned. To him, for African-Americans to be seen
as less of a threat, they needed to accept segregation and instead of focusing on civil
rights, focus on getting an education. His theory was that if they let whites have things
there way as far as segregation then they could live peacefully and separately. He said:
We shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor and put
brains and skill into the common occupation of lifeIt is at the bottom of life we must
begin, not at the top.In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the
fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progressagitation of
questions of social equality isfollyprogress must be the result of severe and constant
struggle rather than artificial forcing. (Ethnic Dimensions p. 212-213).
In comparison, W.E.B. Du Bois sought to bring civil rights immediately and
disagreed completely with what Washington preached. He thought that if
African-Americans accepted segregation, that they would be forever stuck in lower social
and political circles and equality would never come. He preached for the talented tenth
of African-Americans to study medicine, law, and public administration (Ethnic
Dimension p. 213-214). This would allow them to take high positions in society and force
change through power and influence. This was a flawed idea as it only represented the
middle class who could afford or had the means to gain such and education and
completely isolated those who still where stuck working on farms. It only aided a portion
of African-Americans, not all.
Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Brown vs. The Board of Education
and then of course there was the legendary Martin Luther King Jr. All symbols of the
fight for civil rights in the United States that still hold true today. There are still issues
today however the fight for equality is on the very far end as it seems the big battles have
been won. Stereotypes still exist, many being unfair, however I feel that a huge majority
of people simply just dont care about race anymore, especially as a new generation of
more tolerant and educated people start taking positions of power and influence.