Poor Blacks in the North

Authors Note:  This is a research paper I had to do for one of my goals. In this piece I demonstrate all the writing rubric skills. This essay is about the blacks in the 1800's.

Have you ever been given a privilege but it's not entirely what you want?  This situation relates to blacks in the 1800’s. The Emancipation announced that the blacks were free from slavery, although, there were a lot of things they couldn’t do. They had many restrictions and would be punished if they didn’t follow them. That’s why I think the free blacks in 1800’s were not really “free” because of many reasons.

First of all, after the Emancipation said that the blacks were free from slavery, every black was ecstatic, but they expected too much. They had so many boundaries, it was hard to keep track of. The only things they could do were to live and pay taxes. They were ordered to keep to themselves. They couldn’t associate with white people at all. Even though the blacks were free from slavery, that didn’t mean they were on the same level as the white people. They were forced to build their own churches, schools, and concert halls for the black kids.  The blacks that were free before lost their right to vote, which was a huge deal back then. The black woman, although, were treated the worst. The black women were on the lowest level. In the 1800’s even white woman were treated unfairly. They’re jobs were to clean, cook, and nurse;nothing else! So, imagine being a black woman, and how low of a level you would be on! Horrible!

Even though the blacks restrictions is a big reason why I think the blacks weren’t really free, I have another reason. In the 1800’s they were a lot of racism going on. The blacks could not do things with the white people. They could not dine or eat at a white man’s table. That was forbidden, even if black and the white families were friends. The blacks could not be in the jury or attend courts even though before, free blacks could go to be a part of the jury, and attend courts whenever they wanted to. The black men could not marry white woman even if they fell in love.  They could not represent the legislature. They couldn’t help white men when they are sick. They couldn’t even mingle with the white people in public places! How absurd! The way the blacks were being treated was completely ridiculous . The blacks were human beings too, and they should have been treated equally.

Even though a lot of blacks were treated unequally, there were some states that were generous to the blacks; for example, Massachusetts. They were the only state that allowed black males to be a part of the jury. The black men could vote too but that was the case in a lot of the New England states. Massachusetts was the state most blacks wanted to go to. They would abandon the state that they were living in, and go to Massachusetts where there was more freedom.  However, they're were a lot of states the blacks wouldn’t want to live in. For instance, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin were the states that the blacks couldn’t even vote in. Those states weren’t too fond of the blacks. All the other Northern-Eastern states had restricted boundaries if the blacks were to vote or not. However, that did not mean the blacks got a definite chance of voting. The blacks most likely wanted to move to the New England states. That’s where all the freedom was.

As you can see, the “free” blacks in the north of North America didn’t actually have a lot of freedom.  They had countless boundaries and they could only do a few things without breaking the restrictions. The white people thought they were better than the blacks. They thought they were inferior and needed more power than the black people. They were suddenly mistaken.

Sources:

(Doc. A) Leon Litwack, North of Slavery, University of Chicago Press, 1961

(Doc. B) Charles Mackay, Life and Liberty in America: or Sketches of a Tour in the United States and Cananda,  in1857-1858, London, 1859

We Shall Overcome”: Black History in America." Random History and Word Origins for the Curious Mind. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://www.randomhistory.com/black-history-in-america.html>.