- Post-Slavery Treatment Of Blacks -
The Civil War may have ended in the emancipation of the salves, but in many ways it only signaled the beginning of a new struggle where blacks were concerned. Many newly freed black men were still manipulated by whites, due to their dependence on them to make a living. The newly freed black man struggled to find a way to take advantage of the industrialization in the North and the growing industrialization of the south. They also sought to free themselves from the continued manipulations of their former white owners and their new white employers. Many of the issues that were at the heart of Reconstruction continued to plague the black man in his attempt to break free of the domination of the white man:
For black men the thrust of the Civil War meant more than the simple physical fact of emancipation. To them what was at stake was the whole future of the Negroes in America-whether they would be full-fledged members of the body politic, or second-class citizens. To both the freedmen and the northern blacks, the principle issues were three: land, education, and politics. In their view, for Negroes to achieve equality in American society it would be necessary for them, like other citizens in nineteenth century America, to acquire land, secure and education, and exercise political rights.
(Bracey, Meier and Rudwick, 1972: 234)
This paper will be a discussion and analysis of the struggles and conditions of blacks post-Civil War as they struggled to forge a new identity for themselves in an effort to break free of the dominance and dependence of the white man. Ways in which blacks were continued to be oppressed, both in the South and in the North that fought for their very right to be free, will be addressed. A conclusion will relate this oppression of minorities to modern day society in the United States.
There were many issues that blacks found themselves confronting ...