Historical Adversity Faced by African Americans free essay sample

Members of this group have spent time in jail for sometimes simple actions which violated this law. This minority group has been the target of racial violence as well. These attacks of resulted in everything from minor injury to death. In this chapter we will discuss the historical hardships faced by this minority group. The experiences of African Americans throughout the history of the United States of America have be intense, tragic and challenging to this racial group. The earliest experiences of African Americans in this country would be as they were bought and brought in as slave labor. These were African natives captured during battle and sold to slave traders from around the world. They were forced in to unsafe shipping holds where many died on the trip over. They were then sold and treated like cattle. African Americans we renamed by their new owners, told what they would do, when they would do it and how they would complete the task. We will write a custom essay sample on Historical Adversity Faced by African Americans or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Families were separated, marriages were dissolved and children were taken from their parents. They were forced to breed to make better workers and forced to remain uneducated. When slaves were freed, African Americans found a new set of problems. The only skills they had were what they were forced to do while owned. This meant they were limited to the same work and were paid almost nothing in comparison to members of the majority group performing the same task. Nearly a century later, as the skill sets of this minority group had drastically widened, African Americans found themselves forced in to separate facilities by law. As the battle to eliminate these boundaries began, violence often occurred. Members of this racial group often found themselves the victims of hate group aggression and violence, often resulting in death. These experiences were harrowing and held not only physical and psychological ramifications but lead to a great deal of political, social and cultural tension as well. Facing such intense issues throughout their time in this country, African Americans faced great number of social, political and cultural issues. Even as far back as the time of slavery, politics came in to play. Many slave owners treated slaves as property but wished to use them as a way to carry more political sway. They used the number of slaves they owned to count as partial votes. This meant that plantation owners would vote once but count as many votes. The act of freeing slaves was a political gesture which achieved nothing but was done to make a political statement. After slavery was abolished, social and cultural issues began to come in to play. Newly freed, slaves needed to establish their own culture and quickly found themselves forced in to separation from the rest of society. As time went on and culture was developed, society began to reduce the drastic manner of separation between African Americans and the majority but still left the group segregated. African Americans began fighting for the removal of segregation through political means. This fight caused a violent reaction in communities. In order to fight this, social and cultural boundaries were redrafted. However, African Americans were fighting not only societal discrimination but also laws in place to enforce much of this discrimination. Unfortunately, for a large portion of our countries history, laws were in place to enforce segregation and unequal treatment. The most notable of these laws were those governing segregation. This was legislation passed to keep members of the African American community forcibly separated from the majority group. These laws forced members of this racial group to relinquish seats on public transportation, use separate restrooms and attend separate schools. While the argument was made that these facilities were separate but equal. In the 1960’s the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, began fighting many of these civil rights issues. The group fought to use the Brown v Board of Education ruling across the country to work towards desegregating schools nationwide. The group also began pushing for equality in employment, working towards equal pay and equal opportunity for member of the African American community. Since the NAACP began pushing for equality many laws have been enacted to help promote equality. In 1963 John F Kennedy pushed a piece of equal rights legislation in to congress before he was assassinated. In 1964 Lyndon B Johnson worked hard to persuade congress to pass legislation seeking to eliminate employer discrimination. Since then this legislation has taken the concept even further. Affirmative action is a prime example of this evolved civil rights legislation. The idea was to encourage employers to not overlook minorities for positions or promotions based on race. The idea was to punish employers avoiding more qualified candidates based on race. The changes in legislation from hindering to helping have done a great deal to bring about equality for African Americans.