Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE STRUGGLE FOR
EQUALITY
It's impossible to grasp American history without taking into account the great
struggles and hard-won victories of African Americans from all spheres of life.
Slavery
From the early 1600s until the 1800s, an estimated 600,000 slaves were brought
from Africa to America. Those who survived the horrific transport on crowded
ships (which sometimes had 50% mortality rates) were sold in slave markets
(African males cost $27 in 1638). The majority of slaves ended up in southern
plantations where conditions were usually brutal - whipping and branding were
commonplace.
All (White) Men Are Created Equal
Many of the founding fathers - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben-
jamin Franklin - owned slaves, though they privately expressed condemnation for
the abominable practice. The abolition movement, however, wouldn't appear until
the 1830s, long after the appearance on the Declaration of Independence of the
rousing but ultimately hollow words 'all men are created equal.'
Free at Last
While some revisionist historians describe the Civil War as being about states'
rights, most scholars agree that the war was really about slavery. Following the
Union victory at Antietam, Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, which
freed all blacks in occupied territories. African Americans joined the Union effort,
with more than 180,000 serving by war's end.
Jim Crow Laws
During Reconstruction (1865-77), federal laws provided civil rights protection for
newly freed blacks. Southern bitterness, however, coupled with centuries of preju-
dice, fueled a backlash. By the 1890s, the Jim Crow laws (named after a derogat-
ory character in a minstrel show) appeared. African Americans were effectively
disenfranchised, and America became a deeply segregated society.
The Civil Rights Movement
Beginning in the 1950s, a movement was underway in African American com-
munities to fight for equality. Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white
passenger, inspired the Montgomery bus boycott. There were sit-ins at lunch coun-
ters where blacks were excluded; massive demonstrations led by Martin Luther
King Jr in Washington, DC; and harrowing journeys by 'freedom riders' aiming to
