homework

After the civil war ended black Americans were finally, legally, free. But though the
government had freed them by law, they were still mostly slaves by action. They were forced 1

to work for little pay, in poor conditions. They were not given the same rights as even 2

children in white houses could expect. As the years passed they gradually realized they wanted something better. Though many groups formed to fight for black freedom only three real ways for achieving this freedom formed. The peaceful protest, the peaceful end of segregation threw strikes, and the attempted overthrowing of the government in order to form a new black only government. 3

While the peaceful protest did the most to gain sympathy for the black movement they left a lot of black Americans feeling un rewarded. It was hard, dangerous work that often gained little seen good. In order to get people to feel for the black movement, this kind of protest required those they were protesting against to physically respond in a negative way. Protesters were often beaten up, yelled at, or abuse in other ways. Many were killed in their work for the black movement. All most all of the protesters were at one time or another arrested. Still this kind of protest against segregation and racism worked best. It often showed people who did no harm to anyone else being beaten up. People have a soft spot for the underdog, and often reject the strong taking advantage of the weak. It made the peoples hate work against them. 4

Strikes did a huge amount to end segregation. The most famous was the bus strikes that rebelled against black Americans having to give their seats to white Americans. It was no easier for the strikers then for the protesters. They too often had abuse dished out to them. They had to find alternative ways of getting to work then the bus, many not being able to afford to just drop work. To this end they organized so that people with cars could take those without to their jobs. Some white citizens even joined in, feeling that the way Black Americans were treated was morally wrong. They gave up their days driving black Americans from home to work and back. They faced if anything more abuse, seeing as the white racists saw these people as traitors to their own people. A lot were chased away from helping for fear their families would be harmed. Areas set up for people to come to get rides, when discovered by white racist groups were brutally attacked. Still the strikers continued, eventually winning the freedom to ride on the bus unmolested. 5

As the years wore on many of the young male black Americans got tired of waiting. They felt that the peaceful protest were doing no good, and resorted to violence. Carrying guns they would attack policemen and get into fights in the street. When they found white racist group meetings they would attacked the meetings just as brutally as the white racists had done them selves. These groups lost a lot of support from the white community, as people saw them as criminals. This was fine by most of the violent groups because they wanted, instead of a de segregated society, two very segregated societies. They wished to set up their own nation with their own government were white people would be outlawed. They wished for nothing less them total separation Many rightly viewed this as racism directed at white Americans. For a while it seemed that these groups would grow in the black society and overshadow the non violent groups but something soon happened that ended much of the protest and groups.6

Martin Luther King Jr. was killed while on his way to a protest. With him the best of the protesters, the majority of the groups fell into vertigo. They worked still trying to show that while you could cut off the head the body would not die, but this was not wholly true. Without their leader they were divided. They thought with each other just as much as they got along. It seemed like they would surely fail, but they didn't. While the old groups fell new groups rose up, not as public as the first, but still working to achieve their goals. Today you can see their accomplishments all around. No longer are their segregated schools and people can't lynch other people for their color and get away with it. Their is still work to be done however. Resentment lives on in both communities. There are still parts of the country where people of color are looked down on, and vise versa. If America is to pull togeather and finally become one nation those problem areas will need to be seen to. 7