The Pursuit of Freedom in America

The pursuit of freedom, recognition, and protection under the Constitution has been a struggle for African Americans. Their journey has been filled with slavery, physical and psychological torture, and persecution. While most of their hardships were experienced in the South, the North was not considered a safe haven unless an African American was a documented free slave. Even then they were not considered equal for a long time. While black and white abolitionists and free slaves in America were advocating abolishing slavery, Southern whites were willing to defend slavery's existence until they were forced to abandon it. This force, rooted in ethnocentrism, power, racism, and the pursuit of wealth, was difficult to overcome, but ultimately it was defeated through education, civil war, conflicting economic interests, rebellions, and courage.

The everyday life of a slave was a harsh reality. The typical slave working on a plantation would wake-up at sunrise and start picking cotton. Much of the cotton cultivated in the South was sold to England, fueling their industrial revolution and enriching the plantation owners. A “privileged” slave might be seen working in the house of a plantation owner as a nurse to their children, a cook, or a housekeeper. While it may appear that working in the home of the slave owner was preferred over the grueling physical labor taking place in the hot and humid Southern climate, such was not the case. In the book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs recounts her experiences working in the home of Dr. Flint.

Harriet grew up in the home of Dr. Flint and she was the slave of Miss Flint, Dr. Flint's daughter. She was taught to read and to write, which was rare for a slav...

... middle of paper ...

...g with abolitionists countered the strong Southern economic and cultural forces driving slavery through education, free speech, and determination. This conflict did not overcome all the forces that existed, such as racism and ethnocentrism. For example, the mentality of white superiority was illustrated when the Supreme Court defined the doctrine of separate but equal in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The pursuit of maximum equality and freedom for all Americans continues to be an ongoing struggle. Education and a revolutionary mindset are necessary in order to overcome the forces of racism, greed, and control that continue to exist and repress.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Penguin Group, 2000. Print.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.