FREE ESSAY ON AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE STILL ENSLAVED IN AMERICA

AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE STILL ENSLAVED IN AMERICA

African Americans are Still Enslaved in America Blacks have no rights that which Whites
are bound to respect These were the words the words of Chief Justice Roger Tanry. These
words that have been believed and honored for centuries. Blacks have attempted to change
these discriminative views of White Americans for many years. As an African American born
in the United States I have witnessed and experienced several instances of racism and
discrimination. White Americans have always wanted to control and manipulate the minds
Black America. I know first hand that African Americans are still enslaved in America
today.Slavery marked the beginning the tribulations they have encountered from the moment
they arrived in America. Africans were captured and brought to America against their
wills. Once they were loaded of the ships they were handcuffed and displayed like
commodities. He was cut off from hi African past, with no hope for the future. With no
rights to protect him. Americans were free to treat them how they saw fit. This usually
included physical punishment. Slavery required docility. Punishment was carefully planned
out to instill terror and break the Africans' spirit. They had to be fit for hard work.
Inflicting the slaves with brutal beatings would provide so much more than just
punishment. Dehumanization, submission, rigid discipline, inferiority and dependence were
just some of the wanted effects. Who would ever guess that it would come back to haunt
them later? White Americans owned slaves for over two hundred years. Although some of
these slaves tried to revolt and runaway, it didn't have much impact on the situation. On
January 1,1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all the
slaves that were in states that supported the Confederacy. Contrary to what we were
educated with in grammar school, his major goal was to save the union. August 22, 1862
Lincoln wrote,My Paramount objective is to save the Union.... If I couldsave the Union
without freeing the slaves, I woulddo it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I
woulddo it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leavingthe others alone I would
also do it.....  (Hutchinson, pg. 52)It wasn't until May 1865 that President Andrew
Johnson called for abolition of slavery. Slavery in the United States has been called the
most awful the world has known (Banks/Banks pg. 52) The Civil War began April 12,1862 and
ended 1865. In the beginning African Americans were not allowed to fight in the war, but
the Proclamation It didn't matter that most Blacks were born in this counrty. They
continued to live without the rights that the other American born citizens had. This
country was built on the labor of these Blacks parents and grandparents and it was
continuing.