Ethics 125

Ethics 125

04/01/2012

Dr. Beale

Ever since the first African was brought to America as a slave in 1619, Africans have been discriminated against and mistreated through out history. Slavery was very big business in the southern states. Slaves were used on the cotton plantations and tobacco fields in the south. Over one hundred and fifty years later slavery is made illegal in the Northwest Territory in 1787, which made it illegal to own a slave in the northern states. In 1861 the Confederacy is founded when the Deep South secedes, and the civil war begins (Infoplease, 2000-2007). The northern states were fighting for equality and to end slavery in the south and the southern states were fighting to keep their property; slaves. Two years later in 1863, President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” within the Confederate states “are, and hence forward shall be free.” (Infoplease, 2000-2007). This was an extremely big step towards Africans becoming Americans and being recognized ass citizens of the United States. The Freedman’s Bureau was established by congress, to protect the rights of the newly emancipated black slaves of the south (Infoplease, 2000-2007). Also in 1865, the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting slavery. The Civil war ends and the Ku Klux Klan are formed in Tennessee by ex-Confederates. The KKK is a group of white men, which violently discriminate against people of color. The KKK is responsible for lynching, beating and rape of people of color.

For over two hundred years slaves fought to gain their freedom and finally won. But, their struggle to be treated as equals from the white people just began. In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, defining citizenship. Individuals born or naturalized in the Unites States are American citizens, including those born as slave. This nullified the Dred Scott case (1857), which had ruled...