African American Dream Essay

An uncharacteristic take on rural black politics, Steven Hahn’s A Nation under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration transports readers into a world of faith, power, and family across the rural South. Diving into a period that spans nearly one hundred years, Hahn, an author, specialist, and professor, addresses the political culture of newly freed slaves as they maneuvered through challenges of freedom, Jim Crow laws, and religion. Hahn pens, “ [A Nation under Our Feet] is a book about extraordinary people who did extraordinary things under the most difficult…” (1). The author successfully presents such book in this sequential timeline and geographical mapping from Texas to Virginia. Through his synthesis of vast primary literature on slavery, Civil War South, and the Great Migration, Hahn supports his arguments and presents readers with a new look into the past.

Many people migrated west for many reasons during the 1800's. Some of these reasons were government sponsored and others were not. Some examples of government sponsored reasons include the Homestead Acts, Mexican War, and the Gadsden Purchase. Some nongovernment sponsored reasons include the Gold Rush, and the Mormons. The Homestead Acts was one of the first reasons for westward expansion.

The Reconstruction period was an important first step in the effort to secure civil rights and economic power for the former slaves. During the period of 1865 to 1905, the lives of African Americans in the South changed vastly. Civil rights for the African American community were ensured by the Reconstruction Amendments which outlawed slavery, granted citizenship to everyone born within the United States, and guaranteed the right to vote. For many African Americans, freedom meant independence from white control. In the wake of advancing Union armies, millions of black southerners sought to secure that freedom with economic opportunity, which for many meant land ownership.

What Has Changed for Blacks in the 1930’s The Emancipation proclamation has released the African Americans from slavery. Whites and Blacks now walk the streets together, but this is not an easy transition for the whites. The whites found many ways that excluded the blacks and kept them feeling like unequals. Despite the fact that the slaves were “free”, they worked long hours doing the same task they had as slaves for extremely low wages.

Challenge Essay Moving into The United States that has a different language has been the biggest obstacle that I have ever faced, especially with the fact that there was a time where I didn’t understand a single word of that language called English. This was a big obstacle in my life since I was raised in Mexico where the prime language, there is Spanish and that was the only language I knew back then, it was until the day had come where my family and I had to move into the United States due to the violence that has been happening in Mexico. I consider those times the most difficult ones of my whole life because I had to work triple than what I normally did in school in order for me to learn a huge complex language.

The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People was formed on February 12th, 1909. It was formed due to the horrific events of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield. They were horrified by the violence against Blacks, a group of white liberals called for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Approximately 60 people, 7 of whom were African Americans, signed the call which was released on the centennial of Lincoln’s birth. The NAACP’s primary goal was to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution, which had promised to end slavery, the equal protection of the law and universal adult male suffrage, respectively.

The authors addressed the birth disparity outcomes between the African American and White population. They stated that racial discrimination interconnects with income disparities, poverty, cultural isolation, stress, etc., As a result of these factors the African Americans still have the highest rate of infant mortality in the nation, and the African American babies die before the first birthday twice the rate comparing to White babies. Greg, R., Alexander, Michael, D. Kogan, & Nabukera, S. (2000).

My life took an interesting turn when my mother told me I would be moving to a different country, fear took over my body because that meant I would have to start from zero. On January 1st, 2011 my mom gave me the exciting news that her fiancée, now husband, had started the process to bring her to the United States so she could become a permanent resident, live with him, form a family and start a brand new life. I remember her face blighting up to every time she spoke a word but that smile faded once she told me I could not come with at that time because of the expense of the process. I understood why she could not bring me with. We had economic and emotional issues going on.

The thirteenth amendment stated that all former slaves were granted freedom. The reconstruction period, “did create the essential constitutional foundation for further advances in the quest for equality”. It laid the building blocks for the future building for civil rights not just for blacks but women and other minorities. Former slaves, “ found comfort in their family and in the churches they established”. Blacks took community in each other and bonded over the mutual idea of freedom .

As a teenager moving to a new country with a different culture, different language, and being thousands of miles away from everyone I grew up with was not an easy change, however, that was precisely what I did in January of 2013 when I came to the United States with my father. My whole world changed since, and shaped my way of thinking. From learning English, adjusting to a new culture, experiencing my first snow and finding my way in my new country, my life has been an exciting adventure. My parents brought me to America almost 5 years ago to have a better life, and to get a better education.

The first eight years of my life, I spent in India where I was born. Growing up I was constantly reminded by my parents that I needed to make them proud by getting a good job and living a good lifestyle. They told me this because they did not want to see me live a hard life like they did. When I was nine years old, I moved from India to the United States of America. The reason why I moved to America was not because I was living a bad life in India, it was so that I could have a better education and more opportunities in life.

It has been over fifty years since slavery had ended in the South with the enactment of the 13th amendment, leaving all former slaves and African-Americans free. The Great Migration, which started in the 1910s, was seen by African-Americans as a new hope, a chance to leave what they saw as the restricting rural South to find better opportunities, jobs, and the private life in the North. In 1917, when most of the migrations occurred, ten-year-old Rubie Bond and her parents left Mississippi to travel to Wisconsin. Fifty years later, in “Beloit Bicentennial Oral History Project” (1976), Rubie Bond was interviewed as part of Beloit College Archives’ project to document the history of the Great Migration. In her interview, Bond recollected why her family and many others left the South.

When looking at today’s modern day immigrant is usually a middle aged man who is married and the majority of the time, has children of his own. These immigrants migrate to the United States mainly for economic reasons. In the reading, "US Immigration Policy and Family Separation: The Consequences for Children 's Well-being,” there are numerous reasons why the men in the families end up migrating to the United States and all of them include wanting a better financial support. The fathers of the family are usually the ones migrating since it is the migration that makes the most sense within the family (Dreby). Not all fathers are eager to migrate to the United States however, they do understand that working aboard is what is the most beneficial

Immigration and The American Dream Immigrants from the mid 19th century and early 20th century consisted of mainly Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. Immigrants motivations, experiences, and impacts shaped what an immigrant had to go through being a different person from another country. Although Americans dislike foreigners who came to the United States, immigrants had a role in political, economic, cultural, and social aspects of immigrants because of their motivations, experiences, and impacts in America. New Immigrants did not have it easy and went through obstacles natives, political figures, bosses and others had thrown at them.

The American Dream is achievable by every American regardless of age, ethnicity, or their past. An elderly person should be able to pass on a legacy that they created. A college student should have the freedom to choose the career they want to follow. In the same way, a child should have the the ability to follow their imagination to wherever it leads them. is it achievable, the dream of freedom that all american should have.