The Real Problem with Slavery Was Not Ending It, but What Happened to the Freed Blacks Afterwards

"The real problem with slavery was not ending it, but what happened to the freed blacks afterwards"

When Abraham Lincoln emancipated the slaves, many people also believed that the Negroes would finally be free from the hatred and the mistreatment from the whites in the South, but there was a long road before that would happen. Though most Negroes were treated even worse than before, some of them tried to make the most of the opportunities and got in positions of responsibility, trying to make life better for themselves and their families. For the people that couldn't make life better, they had to stay in the south and deal with deaths, lynchings, beatings and mob violence, as many whites were unwilling to accept the new freedoms awarded to African-Americans.

Many people wrongly believed they would be free, including the Negroes, they thought wrong. People believed that the blacks would be able to advance in society because they are now free, what they didn't know is that most of them could not read, write, or even talk literately. This was a major problem; this was a significant issue for the recently-freed slaves due to their lack of education. Where slaves had no need of education, as free people seeking employment, their inability to read and write created substantial barriers to entering the workforce. Many ended up returning to the farms where they had been slaves, which perpetuated the status quo of black labour. Many were provided lodgings and food, but no pay. Their conditions, though they were free, remained unchanged from when they were slaves. The Ku Klux Klan was created on the 24th of December in 1865, during the reconstruction of the South after the civil war. The name of the clan comes from the Greek word 'kuklos", which means circle. The name thus interprets as "Circle of Brothers." The clan were a big problem for the blacks, burning their houses, beating them, lynching them, for no other reason than they hated the Negroes, and they believed that they were inferior to the whites, and they do not deserve equal rights.

Being treated badly was nothing new to the blacks, but instead of getting better after the abolishment of slavery, it just got worse and worse. There are numerous examples, from the Scottsboro trial case, to the murder of Emmett Till; even people being tarred and feathered, which not only made them look like a fool, but when taken off, pulls off a layer of skin and if you actually survive the infections, then you would be permanently scarred for life. To make it worse, they were segregated, not only in the South, but in the some places in the North as well. Jim Crow laws were a bid to stop black Americans from

being equal, the southern states passed a series of laws known as Jim Crow laws which discriminated against blacks and made sure that they were segregated (treated unequally) from whites. The ruling meant that the Jim Crow laws were legal and that it was not illegal to keep blacks and whites separate. This is in reference to a "Black man, Homer Plessey, who took a railroad company to court because he had been made to sit in a 'coloured only' carriage. The case went to the Supreme Court who supported the railroad company." Life may have gotten better for the minority of slaves that were able to go to the North, but for the majority that couldn't, they were in a lot of trouble.

Life got better for the minority of slaves that were able to make their way to the North, but the majority that couldn't, were in dire straits. Hiram Rhodes Revels was elected Senator in the Mississippi State, and was the first black man to ever enter the U.S. Government. He quietly, persistently, but unsuccessfully worked for equality. He was a part of the creation of many good bills, including the construction of the New Orleans and the Mississippi Railroad. He was not fired, but he resigned two months before his term ended. This is a great example on how Negroes are not only trying their best to make a better life for themselves, but they are actually succeeding. This was a big difference, because when they were slaves, they had no need for education, no need for employment, and As George Fitzhugh said, "There is no rivalry, no competition to get employment among slaves, as among free laborers... They have no dread of the future - no fear of want." . People were trying to make a better life