Slavery was an unfair system however some slaves managed to fight the system one of these system was the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was the name given to the system by which escaped slaves from the South were helped in their flight to the North. It is believed that the system started in 1787 when Isaac T. Hopper, a , began to organize a system for hiding and aiding . Opponents of slavery allowed their homes, called stations, to be used as places where escaped slaves were provided with food, shelter and money. The various routes went through 14 Northern states and . It is estimated that by 1850 around 3,000 people worked on the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland in about 1820. In 1848 Tubman decided to try and escape from her plantation.
Tubman made her way north by the . Later, Tubman returned to rescue the rest of the family. This was the first of 19 secret trips she made to the South, during which she guided more than 300 slaves to freedom. Tubman's activities became so notorious that offered a $40,000 reward for her capture.
The turn for the black slaves in America came when in November 1860, 11 states broke away from the United States of America and formed Confederate States of America, fearing the fact that President Lincoln would take their rights which included keeping slaves and having taxes low. Most of northern states had banned slavery there were many who wanted to abolish it but the main reason for the civil war was to keep America together and not to free slaves however President Lincoln let this become a central issue as the war progressed as more people were needed to defeat Confederate States of America so that it would only be the United States of America. We know that Lincoln didn’t want to abolish slavery as the proof from his speech in 1862 saying ‘If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves then I would do it….’ President Lincoln promised Great freedom for slaves if they kept America together and defeat Confederate States of America By 1870 the 14th and 15th Amendments to the American Constitution had given black people equal civil rights. Even after 80 years after the end of the Civil War the freedom of black people was limited this depended which state they lived in.
Freedom and equality for black people was still limited up to the end of the Second World War and many people reacted violently to the black civil rights movement, there was segregation is schools, transport and many other facilities so inequality continued amongst the black people of America for example black people’s income were significantly lower than those of white people. Many black people continued to campaign for civil rights on of the best known leader as Martin Luther King, Malcolm x and Rosa Parkes. Martin Luther made his famous speech ‘ I have a dream’ at the March on Washington in 1963. Rosa Parkes is known as the boycott heroine she refused to give up a seat for a white person for this she was arrested and charged. Malcolm X like Martin Luther King was a famous black civil right leader in America however both men wanted to achieve the same thing but in different ways Martin Luther King wanted peaceful protests however Malcolm X was prepared to use violence if the peaceful protest were ignored or ineffective.
Although equality for blacks has increased in America there are still problems now as well for example in 1990 the average income of a black family was less than half of an average white family.. In 1992 serious riots started in Los Angles after four white policemen were acquitted of beating up a black person Rodney King. A passer-by had filmed this but the mainly white jury found the policemen not guilty. Thousands of dollars of worth of damage was caused. Unemployment is higher in mainly black ghettos of America’s large cites are as high as 65 percent. However on the other side Bill Clinton appointed 5 black people as members of his cabinet in 1993. Many black people are in TV, film literature and music also the secretary of state in America is Colin Powell who is a black man.
So in conclusion I believe that black people of America have achieved equality however not full equality I also think that the reason Bill Clinton appointed 5 black people in Cabinet was to show people he wasn’t prejudices and didn’t chose them for their intelligence.
