African American History Essay

Improved Essays
The National Museum of African American History and Culture has a mission to bring forward the importance of the African American history. The museum wants to use this history and the associated culture as a lens to understand the meaning of being an American (Berry and John, 1982). It is only though the historic details and use of good words that you can identify the real essence of your being. There have been several African American authors who have come up with the aspect of bringing about the change and highlighting this fact. It is of prime importance to understand the fact that it is history that shapes our future and it is history itself that can shape our future (Christian, 1985). Through the understanding that can be developed and …show more content…
According to this quote, the self-realization plays a very important role in the lives of individuals. When we use this quote in context of the African American history, we can analyze that until the time the Africans did not put up a fight, the shackles of slavery and discrimination bound them (Griffin, 1995). Only when they realized their worth and the fact that they are being discriminated due to the difference in the race they belong to, were they able to free themselves. It is important to work hard in order to achieve results and this is what is meant by the quote. This also brings forward the fact that the people can want something but when it comes to actually work in order to get it, they shy off. According to the quote, the people desire for many things and in this case the concept is related to freedom. There are several individuals who seek freedom but fail to participate in the movement. These are compared to those who want food but do not want to work to obtain

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Why did Congress’ Reconstruction efforts to ensure equal rights for the freedmen fail? The evolving differences in the political parties, and tensions growing between both in the 1850’s-1860’s. The issue was with slavery in the south and if they should be allowed in the new territories out west. All republicans wanted them to stay out of the west because they said that all that territory is for the white man to explore and use for their own activities. All of these issues and more led to the civil war, during the civil war Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation proclamation which stated that all the slaves in states that they were fighting against were freedmen now.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ever since 1787, and even before, African-Americans have struggled to gain political, legal, social, and economic equality. Although some national and state government programs were constructed to help African-Americans with this perpetual problem, it is also the same state and national government policies that expanded this problem. In fact, this is still a problem that persists today. The national and state governments definitely have gone a long way in providing African Americans with political, legal and social opportunities; however constant setbacks have lessened their effectiveness. Beginning in 1787 there was an unspoken guarantee that all states had the option to decide whether or not they wanted to be slave sates.…

    • 1951 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The African American had been granted rights and freedoms equal to their white counterparts, but in the South, these right and privileges were, in most cases, not worth the paper they were written on. Opportunity for social change, change that would significantly enable the new black American to dream of being creative and constructive in their lives and better their way of life because of their achievements. They seldom could comprehend, let alone set out on, living the American dream. Without having the resources to develop the skills that were becoming necessary in a postwar America, the former slave was no better off than prior to Emancipation. We must not forget however, that the South was for the most part an entirely ravaged and war torn territory.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (Proposal) The most significant war in the nation’s history was the American Civil War. The Civil War guided The United States to get better equality and grant the freedom deserved to the African American. The United States began to relieve itself from the long catastrophe of slavery during the four years of the American Civil War.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    African Americans contributed to the Union and Confederate sides during the Civil War (HistoryNet, n.d.). There were over 179,000 African Americans that had positions in the Union Army as well as support from the Navy (HistoryNet, n.d.). The states that were separated from the Union were called the Confederate states and they consisted of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas (Africans in America, n.d.). The states provisional president was Jefferson Davis (Africans in America, n.d.). On the Confederate side, African Americans were slaves and assisted in labor positions.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the Civil War both African American men as well as women contributed towards the Union’s victory against the confederacy through the roles of fighting, spying, and nursing. Although the participation of African Americans within the war was controversial at first, the help acquired from fighting wars, spying, and even nursing was handy for the North and pushed the nation a step closer towards victory and success. The involvement of African American’s participation within the war was at first controversial in the North. The idea of having blacks bear arms seemed foolish and even dangerous, while others, being the abolitionist, thought it was a step closer towards equality.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the world that we live in today and how diverse it is, I think that it is essential to know your background, especially if you’re an African American. So every week when we’re assigned to watch a film(s) and type the opinion essay. I think it brings me just a little bit closer ever week. And these 3 videos that were assigned this week, I think that it is so astounding to show what they have came up with.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For hundreds of years, beginning from the time of colonization, African Americans were taught to self-hate themselves. The image of Africa has been portrayed negatively in a way in which the people of that country are said to not be civilized. Moreover, this quote implies people of color should not let others dictate who and what should be considered a standard model of character. African Americans must first embrace their own appearance and who they are as an individual; including acknowledging themselves before anticipating that others do the same.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The African American contribution to American society was expediential. Contribution in form of culture and technology have shaped America into a functioning successful country. Though some deeds have gone unnoticed the African American struggle for equal rights was earned well beyond its due time. Advancements in astronomy, mathematics, engineering, research, housing goods, and agriculture by African Americans in early American history made groundbreaking milestones to establish an African American history legacy. Thomas Jennings was the first African American to have his invention patented in 1821 for dry-cleaning.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Black Abolitionism Essay

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The character and role of black abolition in the 1800s was monumental and played an important role in the history of the United States with the eradication of slavery. Leading up to the Civil War, abolitionism created one of the fist times in the United States that white and blacks worked together to achieve the same goal, the immediate end of slavery. Although several other factors played a role in the eradication of slavery, the bravery and determination of the black abolitionists was by far one of the most powerful. During and following the Revolutionary War, slaves petitioned both on a state and national level to put an end to slave trade and to achieve emancipation. Through this, anti-slavery societies began to form within the black…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The war has done a great deal to me. For better or worse, I am a new person. As an African American; I have grown used to the North. The South has made it extremely difficult to get a job and reputation due to my color. The only real choice for me was to trust my friends and move north.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I believe there are no words that can describe the African American experience from throughout 1609-1865. Although if I were to choose one word to describe African American history at the time I would it as a dark time for African Americans because many slaves were beaten to death abandoned on ships and some did not survive the ruff life of slavery. By 1850, ninety-two percent of all American blacks lived in the South, and about 95 of the 92 percent were slaves. The Societies of the North and South were very different. Pre-civil war slaves in America went through a great deal of chaos and sadness in the South.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Inhumane Use of African Americans During the Colonial Era In the early 1600’s the inhumane transporting and enslaving of African Americans in the American colonies began. Although the English settlers required agricultural labor during the Colonial Era, their use of the African American slaves was unjust. The English did not provide sufficient housing, clothing, or nutrition for the African American slaves, nor did the settlers have any regards for their families. The English also overworked the slaves and gave them brutal and inhumane punishments.…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    African Americans have had a long and burdened history in the United States, beginning with the institution of slavery and continuing on to the widespread racial injustice that they persevered and still endure today. As we look deep into the historical backdrop of America we cannot deny that African Americans have had a profound effect on the character of the United States of America. They helped to change the face of not just America, but of themselves. They called out for liberty and equality wherever the opportunity had arisen; battling ardently for the proclaimed equality that the Declaration of Independence decreed. This fight has been going on even before the U.S. was formed, through violent and bloody slave revolts to passionate and…

    • 1303 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Due its prevalent nature, freedom, in general, cannot be placed in a particular category or as an idea. Rather, it has been the focus of insistent conflict in American history. The history of American freedom is an anecdote of deliberations, disagreements, and struggles rather than a set of an everlasting continuum or an evolutionary narrative toward a predetermined goal. The ideal meaning of freedom is an impacted privilege at all levels of society.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays