SLAVERY IN AMERICA

Slavery in America developed its roots way back to when American explorers
discovered the new world. As a result, the whites started to use the African folks as
workers in their plantations and homes as slaves. The African natives that were taken
back to America as slaves were of various ages and sex. The women would work in
the homes as cooks and cleaners while the men spent their days in the plantation
tending to the crops. The young girls helped with minor house works and the boys
were tasked with the duties of bailing the hay and loading goods and crops on wagons.
During the civil war, most of the Black men were recruited into the army to aid in the
fight. After the fight, the thirteenth amendment was enacted on December 18th, 1865
under the proclamation of the then secretary of state. It aimed at abolishing slavery
and involuntary servitude of the Blacks. It was the first of the reconstruction acts
enacted post the civil war. This amendment was soon after improved by the 14th
amendment which gave the African Americans citizenship but little constitution rights.
This was abridged by the 15th amendment which gave the African American males
right to vote in the general elections during the reconstruction era

The term “reconstruction era” refers to the period between 1865 and 1877 after the
great American civil war. It is the time in the US history whereby the governments of
the various states put in motion efforts in a bid to solve the social, economic and
political problems that came about due to the establishment of the 11 confederate
states union that had disintegrated before or during the war. It was during this period
that the Pres. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (April 1865) due to his lenient
policies and proposed passing of the 14th amendment (1866) which aimed at granting
the black Americans full citizenship. This move was called for by the fact that there
were newly established states that required governance and the in economic, social
and political recovery aspects required that all people work together irrespective of
their differences in a bid to achieve growth and development. However, these
propositions were met with high disregards from the public; majority of whom believed
that the blacks were meant to be slaves and had no rights. Consequently, there
developed riots and black codes which were meant to restrict blacks from their rights,
especially in the south.

The 14th amendment was passed during the reign of President Andrew Johnson.
However, the southern states established the Black Codes which refers to the laws
passed by these governments in order to limit the rights given to the freed African
Americans. The 14th amendment gave the slaves a right to citizenship, but the Black
Codes prohibited them from voting, jury duty, possessing weapons, testifying against
the whites, and even working in certain positions secured for the white folks. As a
result of this, the radical republicans supported the passing of the civil rights bill which
was intended to protect the African Americans from these Black Codes. However, in
April 1866, Pres. Andrew Johnson banned this bill claiming that America was a land for
the Whites and should be governed by the white folks. Additionally, he claimed that the
whites are a superior race to the blacks in terms of abilities and intellect. These
statements clearly showed the extent of racism and inequality that existed between the
two races. The radical republicans were able to yet again pass the civil rights bill in
1867. This move led to the rise of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
whose main aim was to frighten and terrorize the African Americans from exercising
their rights (voting).