Race Relations

There are two periods of history that threatened in the words of Abraham Lincoln to create a house divided in America, a house that once divided would fall. Both of these periods are adequate to give validity to the issue of race relations representing the most significant challenge to American democracy. The first was the period of the Civil War in the mid-1800s; the second was the period of Civil Rights activism during the mid-1900s. At a time when our nation was still developing, issues of race threatened to break it asunder. The slave-owning states in the south became pitted against the non-slaveholding states in the north. While some argue economic interests were a primary factor, slaves were a valuable economic resource to the south so slavery was indeed the crux of the matter. As Alexander Stephens wrote in 1866 “African slavery as it exists among us…was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, has anticipated

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r such people, with such memories, revolt is always an inch below the surface. For blacks in the U.S., there was the memory of slavery, and after that of segregation, lynching, humiliation. And it was not just a memory but a living presence—part of the daily lives of blacks in generation after generation. There were many black leaders who tried to bring a measure of justice and equality to race relations during this period of turbulence which threatened the very fabric of American democracy. One, of course, was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who sacrificed his life fighting for the principles of democracy as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. King led a movement of non-violent populism in order to win equality for all people regardless of race, creed, or religion. However, King’s source of validity transcended American legislation and principles for it included the eternal laws of a God whose laws applied to all of his beings equally, one that was bigger than all denominations “Dreaming this meant, primarily, dreaming the Dream of God. But dreaming there must be, for it is the stuff of dreams that provides the vital impetus for the American ‘Negro’ to accept the responsibility for himself, an
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1455
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)