The Other Side of the Enmancipation Proclamation

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Current modernists attempted progress from the terrible prejudice toward African Americans, however traditionalists prevented the new movement of equality for blacks. Many people are influenced by previous experiences and expect situations to continue on endlessly without change, similarly F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “ So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”( Fitzgerald). In deeper meaning this quote means that as humans we are constantly trying to relive what has already happened, and if we try a little harder or run a little faster events might have had a different outcome. I believe this a major point of differentiation between modernists and traditionalists in the south. Throughout history wealth was defined by the amount of slaves one owned, the more slaves you had the richer you were. However, during the 1860s during the presidency of Lincoln, slavery was abolished and times changed in the united states. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free.”(Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863; Presidential Proclamations, 1791-1991; Record Group 11; General Records of the United States Government; National Archives.) Plantation farmers in the south were infuriated by the new law and seceded from the united states and made a confederacy, which brought about the civil war. Despite inclusive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union. After years of fighting the North won and reconstruction began. Reconstruction was a difficult task and wasn't taken lightly, for after the defeat the south had much resentment and hostility toward the... ... middle of paper ... ...qual, gays, lesbians, asians, muslims, mexicans, italians, and many other races. African americans add a portion of diversity to the united states as a whole and are a great people. Works Cited Bryant, Jonathan M. "Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 09 May 2013. Web. 21 May 2014. Ginzburg, Ralph. 100 Years of Lynchings. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic, 1988. Print. "Reconstruction and Its Aftermath." Reconstruction and Its Aftermath, a Part of the African American Odyssey Exhibition, Is about the Difficulty Free Blacks Faced during the Reconstruction Period. Web. 21 May 2014. Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2000) United States. National Park Service. "Jim Crow Laws." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 12 May 2014. Web. 20 May 2014.

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