Life for Blacks-Civil War essays

Life for Blacks-Civil War essays Life for African Americans after the Civil War was filled with joy and fear. As being former slaves, some had learned to expect hostility from white people and they did not presume it would instantly disappear. Even though the slaves were free, it was not a just freedom. African Americans faced racial segregation, discrimination, and extremely limited rights. The southern whites wanted to define control of blacks. They thought blacks were predestined to work as agricultural laborers. The black codes were created to give blacks certain rights, but it was under white conditions, so it ultimately hindered former slaves. Blacks search for independence was a long and seemingly lonely road. Many black people wanted to minimize contact with whites because there was a prejudice against them that would take many years to get over. To avoid contact with overbearing whites who were used to supervising them, blacks abandoned the slave quarters and fanned out to distant corners of the land they worked. Some rural dwellers established small all-black settlements that still exist today along the back roads of the South. Blacks felt they needed to be independent because whites would not welcome them with open arms to their communities. In some parts of the country, in order for a black man to enter a town, they had to have a note allowing it. This was clearly still a form of slavery. In addition to a fair employer, what freed men and women most wanted was the ownership of land. Land represented their chance to farm fro themselves, to enjoy the independence that self-sufficient farmers value, rather than working as a slave. It represented compensation for generations of travail in bondage. Everywhere, blacks young and old thirsted for homes of their own. But of course, most members of both political parties opposed genuine land redistribution and showed little sympathy for black aspirations. Northern ...