How did African Americans go in post war period?
“What is freedom when one cannot enjoy it like a freeman?” Looking deeper into this question to search for the true answers one needs to understand how African Americans lived in post war period. It was not a cheap freedom that emancipated the slaves in United States. The state had to go through huge loss in capital and money. However the same countrymen who warred for the end of slavery system didn’t justify the freedom put upon African American’s shoulder.
Yes, the slaves were free however, the “13th Amendment of Constitution” (Our Documents) just banned slavery and didn’t talk about the rights of black Americans. In addition, “Jim Crow” laws passed in the South started racial violence that made African American outcast in their own home land. Even after emancipation, whites dominated the blacks as share croppers and tenet farmers. Likewise black Americans who sought for other better works had to “fear the violence of Ku Klux Klan or the Lynching Mob” (Du Bois 8).
Blacks didn’t have any good opportunities because of chauvinistic behavior of Southern whites. The hatred for colored people was so prevalent in Southern white society that blacks were provoked to migrate north. The north was believed to be fairly just society with good opportunities for blacks; however, the feeling for colored people was stigmatized along the course of time even in north. The segregated society was established even in North. It was true that the African Americans had good opportunities in North but opportunities were valueless if they were treated like second class citizens.
In addition, Du Bois in his book Souls of Black Folks talks about being “a problem” (1). By problem he meant that emancipation of slaves was a huge burden to white society as whites were not willing to associate with the blacks. Any connection with blacks was considered as humiliation of the whites. As a result of being an outcast caused “contradiction...