Slavery Vs Reconstruction

America is the land of opportunity with multiple cultures and ethnicities, for years America has been associated with freedom and expression, however this has not always been the case. Since the birth of the nation there has been oppression in America which began with the enslavement of millions of African-American slaves in the 17th century. Slave trade became the economic foundation of America, this was especially true in the South where the economy became dependent of slave labor. This practice of slavery lasted in America for over 200 years until about the mid-19th century, around this period there was expansion of the nation westward, as well as a growing abolition movement in the North. The abolition movement brought to light that the
Since the Southern economy was so dependent on slavery its economy deteriorated after slavery was made illegal, therefore alternative structures were practiced. For instance, sharecropping was a form of agriculture where landowners would rents out their land to tenants in return for a portion of the crops produced from the land. Another system in place was the convict labor system which leased prisoners out for labor, work ranged from picking crops to excavating coal mines. These structures created in the South still contained elements of slavery since they consisted of labor for little to nothing in
Board of education was a Supreme Court case in 1954 that put segregation on trial, Brown argued that separate schools for whites and blacks were inherently unequal because of the psychological damage they impose on black students. The psychological damage that African American students could endure from segregated schools is due to the feeling of being inferior to other races, thus lowering their self esteem and motivation to learn. On May 17th, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Brown, stating that separate schools violated the equal protection clause of 14th Amendment. The ruling put an end to decades of legal-racial segregation in the United States by overruling the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson case of “separate but equal”. Many Southerners opposed the ruling of Brown and resisted integrating schools. Public schools went to the extent of transferring their property from public to private, leading to all white schools to avoid integration. Federal Courts mandated public schools to desegregate in 1957, however the governor of Arkansa, Orval Faubus, defies the order and sends in the National Guard to prevent the nine students from entering. President Eisenhower takes control of the Arkansa National Guard and orders them to force