The treatment of African Americans during Reconstruction vs. the treatment of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement

When it comes to the treatment of African Americans, it completely differed during the Reconstruction and the United States Civil Rights Movement. African Americans were not treated fairly like whites, and they went through many obstacles and struggles because of racism.  

Let’s start off with the treatment of African Americans during the Reconstruction. Even though the 13^th Amendment ended slavery, blacks were still treated with lack of respect. Many people still viewed them as an inferior class and did not treat them fairly. There was definitely a continuation of racial segregation; for example, education for the white and black were divided. Blacks were considered unimportant and were underfunded. Blacks were also under the violence of racial masses of people. They were treated with disrespect in the society and were discriminated against. They also had to go through widespread employment discrimination. As you can see, blacks were still treated badly and much differently than whites during that time period. However, over time, there was a positive outcome for the African Americans; they were registered to vote. And the problem? They outnumbered the white voters which once again caused problems. Whites ended up manipulating the voting results and therefore they controlled the outcomes of the election.

The lives of African Americans during Reconstruction, honestly, did not differ much than their lives during slavery. They were still under the control of a white landowner. A new system called the sharecropping system made blacks work on their owners land in return for a share or half the harvest. The landowners provided land, a house, supplies and work animals for those former slaves. And normally, at the end of the season, the former slaves would be in debt for those landowners and would have to remain working in order to pay off the debt. Thus, the end of the Civil War did not really improve the conditions of the former slaves because slavery was just replaced with the sharecropping system, education was still not completely available for them, and their voting was simply manipulated.

Now, off to the next point; how were African Americans treated during the Civil Rights Movement? Well, the Civil Rights Movement is when the United States intended at stopping the discrimination against African Americans and the ability of them voting in the Southern States. The purpose of that movement was for freedom, dignity, respect, and social and economic equality. The good thing is, discrimination and segregation did end, unfortunately, not completely though.

The movement ended the discrimination against black men and women all over the United States. It ended discrimination in public places; schools, workplace, government, and employment. It was then illegal to discriminate against color and race. All people were equally treated and had equal rights as citizens. And when it came to voting, the Voting Rights Act was passed and federal observers were positioned in polls to make sure there are equal voting rights.

The Civil Rights Movement included the 13^th and 14^th Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment eliminates slavery throughout the U.S. The Fourteenth Amendment, on the other hand, protects a person’s civil and political rights from being deprived by any state, ended slavery in the US, and finally, it was in opposition to the violence against black people.

So therefore, when comparing the treatment of former black slaves during the Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement, there is evidently a big difference. The degrading mistreatment of African Americans after the Civil War did drastically change for the better and resulted in the freedom and respect of all kinds of people no matter what color or race or ethnicity or even sex, and gave all citizens equal rights in the US and ended discrimination and segregation all over the United States.

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Does history REALLY matter?

Well heck yeah it does! History is everything. History is what made today! History is what made US. It is also what we make. We shape our history, we are linked to our history, WE ARE a part of history! History is tomorrows yesterday, it is everything that has been done and said. Without history, we’d be nowhere. History is what improves us, what makes us better, what makes us realize our mistakes and can try again.  We cannot repeat history, but we can learn from it. History is a story of past events, but a story that has many versions. To each person, history differs; their facts differ, their opinions differ, their description differ.

And finally, history ... is the lie commonly agreed upon.

Did Reconstruction affect former slaves?

Former slaves were not happy with their situation; not being able to vote and treated poorly. Unfortunately, Reconstruction did not do much to help that change. African Americans who were freed, were employed by landowners to work on their plots of lands due to the new sharecropping system. The landowner did though provide them with land, a house, tools and seeds and work animals. But basically, there was no difference in the treatment of the African Americans due to the replacement of slavery with the sharecropping system. The only difference was that instead of being connected to an owner, they were connected to landowners. But, the reconstruction did permit  blacks to vote, but after their votes adding up to be higher than the white people votes, white people where not happy and therefore resulted in manipulating the voting system.

So basically, Reconstruction did have its outcomes when it came to former slaves but not dramatically. The former slaves’ lives were very similar and did not change much after Reconstruction.  

Stereotypes.. stereotypes.. oh, and more stereotypes.

There are so many stereotypes nowadays, I lost track. All Indians are cheap, all muslims are terrorists, all black people are lazy, all asians are good at math, all italians are in the mob, and the list goes on and on and on...
Stereotypes increase daily in our present lives. What are stereotypes? Stereotypes are conceptions based on assumptions. Just because some asians are known to be good at math, all asians have suddenly become good in math. Stereotypes are peoples beliefs; their point of view of something or someone. The more events that occur in the world, the more popular the stereotypes will become and the greater the list. People believe what they hear on the news, or what they hear from other people, and without doubt, believe it. Not knowing if its actually true or not, people just believe it and become stereotypical and judge other people.
Some people should know that every human being is the same, and no matter what religion, nationality, or race he is, we all come together and are the same in every single way and I am pretty positive a person does not like to be judged by other people, especially if theyre being judged without actually knowing them...

"that government is best which governs least" ... hmm.

What first of all, what does this quote really mean? Well, we can definately tell that the Thoreau meant that a governments are best when they either govern smaller lands or get less involved. I agree with Thoreau because smaller land and smaller governing means less problems and a better society and governing. It is better than having a government governing big land and not being able to carry the responsibility and take care of it. So by that, the smaller the land and the less involved a government gets, the better the government and the better the society.

Children and their history

Young children in schools are taught history in a kind of different way. They do not really go into details or learn about the specific results or actions of events. They try to keep it as simple and age appropriate. Even though what theyre taught might be slightly incorrect or innaccurate, I think that curriculum should not be changed because as the students get older, they will be wiser and more able to understand the specific and accurate details of those events and will be easier to study and comprehend.

What history books lack

History books differ from one country to another; not just by the language its written in, but by the content. A person would thinks a history book has every single historical event that occured in the past, they are mistaken. Some countries tend to leave out some negative events or information due to their dislike or ashame because it does not really reflect a good image on them. By not mentioning their loses or defeats, they either do not get into detail or just fail to mention it. That ofcourse has its disadvantages because students will be unaware of some important historical events and details and they will have wrong ideas about them and not know the truth behind every thing that had happened in the past.