Reading Response: Introduction; pp. 2-16
As I go through the reading for this time period, I am trying to gather my thoughts on what it was like for ALL people during this time. A nation divided, with the South fighting to continue damaging the lives and culture of human beings all for the sake of preserving the antebellum southern plantation myth of owning human beings as property in the institution of slavery.
The Aftermath of the Civil War
An estimated 620,000 people died in the Civil War, over preserving slavery. It had become so natural and everyday to dehumanize individuals for their benefit of free labor, of which built a nation prior to the Civil War, that the thought of this coming to an end was something the South was willing to risk losing lives by going to war. I imagine they went to war with something in mind like: they have the right to treat human beings this way and were willing to put their lives on the line for it. I can not fathom an intelligent understanding of it. The North went to war looking to preserve the union among all states by any means necessary. However, if the South couldn't keep slavery and remain the Union, then they would rather secede from the Union in an effort to continue their practice of slavery.
There were different interpretations of the meaning of this tragic and unnecessary event of American History. Many writers, both white and black like John W. De Forest and Albion Tourgee both white, voiced their opinions about the war being a threat to all men and their families both white and black. These were white Americans that wanted freedom for all men without the distinction of race or color (pp. 5). Albion Tourgee referred to the war as "A Fool's Errand." Being foolish by going to war over preserving slavery and then the government refusing to punish those white supremacy groups responsible for the crimes committed against African Americans.
African American writers, Charles W. Chesnutt and Pauline Hopkins wrote stories about slavery hoping to ruin and put to death the antebellum plantation myth. However, there was just not enough support for these writers to compel a change in America. It seems like, as much as writers like these would write about how bad slavery affected African Americans, white supremacists would take to writing their racist novels. All of which were complete fiction, depicting slaves as villains and feature films making false depictions of slaves singing dancing as if they enjoyed themselves while being at slave auctions. The even sadder part of it is, is that American people loved and supported such nonsense. Why would anyone want to support so much untruth at the expense of human beings beings suffering from oppression?
How on earth did African Americans during this time get through this oppression and day to day racism. How did they figure out how to gain equality and civil rights? They got much needed advice and encouragement from renowned speakers like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois. Their views about how African Americans should pursue equality, however they were both well educated men that offered hope to African Americans with strategies they could believe in and strive to achieve.
There were some real Americans in this country during that time who were willing to speak up and state the obvious of how WRONG slavery was, but there was just not enough voices to make enough noise over everyone else who refused to acknowledge the wrong practices of dehumanizing human beings in the institution of slavery. The truth of the matter is that more voices prohibiting slavery probably would not have changed anything anymore than it did anyway. I imagine it took a lot of courage being a white American to speak up and out about it without a lot of support, along with concerns of being ridiculed or that no one would pay any attention to their writings. But the fact that there were some white Americans that did speak out speaks volumes to them as individuals who simply would not just turn a blind eye about the injustices affecting African Americans suffering at the hands of those who supported white supremacy.
Expansion, Industrialization, and the Emergence of Modern America
At this point, after the war and devastation, how could reconstruction even begin? Where do people go from here? What are they thinking about their future. To me it would seem bleek and uncertain on how a family would simply recover to survive and move forward. The government had to then try and devise plans to support a start to some type of reconstruction. Many people went West believing they could get cheap land along with a chance at freedom and opportunity. Many African Americans went West also, specifically to Kansas. With so many moving West in search of better opportunities, they referred to it as their "manifest destiny."
However, not so much for others. Mexicans that were already settled in Texas and California were robbed of their territory by the arrival of Anglo-Americans by way of the railroad who were squatting on their land. Indians who were also settled in the West were encroached upon by Americans. After winning a battle to protect their land form them, the government swiftly re-drew boundaries in order to let Americans just move them out of their territory. Why does it seem that Americans just take whatever they want from other people and then turn around and make it legal??? A white reformer, Helen Hunt Jackson wrote about the disastrous treatment of the Indians in "A Century of Dishonor" which was sent to the U.S. Congress. Another writer, Sarah Winnemeuca Hopkins of Native American descent, also wrote about this horrific event in her story: "Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims. Still the government turned a blind eye to these pleadings and did not stop their harsh policies and in fact federal troops succeeded to massacre 100 unarmed Indians at Wounded Knee, SD.
By 1900 30% of the U.S. population was made up of foreign born immigrants. The U.S. government received the Statue of Liberty, then known as Liberty Enlightening the World from France for commemorating the centennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Others said different of the statue's meaning, that it was a welcoming symbol to immigrants coming to America from Europe. If it was a welcoming symbol, was it only for a specific group of immigrants only? It seemed like it when the U.S. government passed a Chinese Exclusion act prohibiting Chinese from becoming U.S. citizens after they brought them into the country for work for which they were in desperate need of workers. The government just seemed to kick people to the curb when they are done with them. No gratitude was shown toward the many people that helped re-build the war torn nation. It's mind blowing to read how people have been treated over the years. It seems as though, if you don't fit the profile of what the government saw as worthy then you got the shaft.
The 30% influx of immigrants created a way for jobs to be filled, however earnings were less than meager causing workers to exist in deplorable work environments and impoverished households . So many immigrants had to suffer at the hands of the U.S. government not to mention those non-immigrants already on U.S. soil. So if you were not of the Anglo-American persuasion could you have expected to be treated unjustly by the U.S. government at their sole discretion?
