African Americana Subject To Oppression And Discrimination History Essay

African Americana Subject To Oppression And Discrimination History Essay Historically, African Americans were subjects to severe oppression and discrimination from the part of white Americans, who hold the leading position in the American society and used their power to keep African Americans under their control. The historical development of African American community was accompanied by the permanent struggle of African Americans for civil rights and equal opportunities. At the same time, the development of the African American community led steadily to consistent changes in the attitude of Americans to African Americans because the latter attempted to gain equal rights and liberties compared to white Americans. On the other hand, such a struggle costs many African Americans life, whereas oppression and discrimination of African Americans persists till present days. Nevertheless, on analyzing the development of the African American community in the course of the US history, it is possible to trace consistent improvements that have occurred to the positi on of African Americans in the US since the Civil War to the present time. The Civil War targeted at the liberation of African Americans, who were enslaved by the dominant white Americans. However, the idealistic struggle of the Civil War did not bring a consistent improvement of the position of African Americans. Instead, African Americans had to spend over a hundred years in the permanent struggle for their rights and equal opportunities with the white population to partially realize ideals of the Civil War both white and African Americans had been fighting for during the war. In fact, the Civil War became the starting point when African Americans have started to change their position and their role in the American society but they had to pass a long road to gain equal rights and liberties, especially due to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960-s, and carry on the struggle for equal rights and opportunities even today, when some elements of racial discrimination persist. The rise of the social consciousness of African Americans as the community equal to whites and as the community that has its own rights and liberties which are equal to those other Americans have, had started prior to the Civil War, whereas the Civil War marked the attempt of African Americans and abolitionists to change consistently the position of African Americans in the US society. In fact, the abolition of slavery was one of the major driving forces of the Civil War and it was one of the primary causes of the war. In fact, after the end of the Civil War, African Americans were liberated, but the change of their social status did not bring a considerable relief for them because they still suffered from economic and political oppression. The period from 1865-1876 was probably the most dramatic period in the history of African Americans because it is during this time their dreams of the liberation and new life had reached the apogee and it was by the end of this period their dreams had be en totally ruined. At first glance, the progress in the position of African Americans was obvious. After the Civil War African Americans were freed, the 13th amendment of the US Constitution, ratified in 1865, outlawed slavery in the US, while the 14th amendment, ratified in 1868, granted full US citizenship to African Americans Moreover, in 1870, the 15th amendment extended the right to vote to black males (Franklin, 2001).