Native Americans and African Americans Left Out Rights

The question I'm rsponding to is number 2. Which states Both Native Americans and African Americans were left out of the rights granted by the United States Constitution and both groups have had to fight for recognition and rights under the United States government since then.

The years immediately following the Civil War were a time of hope for African Americans on all levels: politically, economically, and socially. The ratification of the 13th Amendment freed them, for the first time ever, from the hands of their Southern masters. Blacks gained control of their own destiny and had chance to rise above their squalid condition. The congress, dominated by anti-slavery Republicans, was determined to ram through sweeping civil rights legislation equalizing blacks and whites. Republicans passed through the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 over Democratic President Andrew Johnson's veto. This legislation granted citizenship to blacks, an immeasurably important prerequisite for gaining other important rights, such as suffrage. Under the Bill, discrimination because of race was made illegal. The 14th Amendment, added to the Constitution two years later, ensured that the rights gained by blacks under the Bill would be protected from repeal by later Democratic Congresses.

The fall of the American Indian occurred just when the African American was gaining essential freedoms for the first time. Indians were not even considered American citizens at the time of Reconstruction; the 14th Amendment that gave blacks their citizenship specifically excluded Native Americans. Without this most basic acknowledgement, it was impossible for Indians to gain any of the freedoms or rights granted to blacks. As if the complete destruction of Indian culture, social structure, and economy was not enough, Congress, with the General Allotmen Act, began taking even the reservations away from them.

African American and Native American life from post-bellum America to the mid-20th Century have followed different patterns. Though both were subjected to unimaginable cruelty at the hands of "civilized" Americans, the conditions of blacks began improving immediately after the Civil War, with African Americans being granted citizenship, protection from discrimination, and male suffrage. However, these gains turned out to be more fictional than fact, white supremacists wishing for a return to Dixieland, Southern Democrats thirsting for power, and a prejudice Supreme Court made many of these victories hollow by legally disenfranchising most blacks and segregating the group to a second-class status. Despite these challenges and reversals, the African American did reap substantial gains at the hands of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which began to turn back the tide of segregation and hate.

In conclusion though both African American and Native Americans shared the bottom of the American social ladder and suffered from prejudice and discrimination, their lives were somewhat different. Both suffered at the hands of whites, but Native Americans suffered more with the almost total destruction of their society. On the other hand, it took much longer to begin improving the African American condition than it did for the Native American one. One thing is certain, however, America must always remember the hardships it forced these groups to endure for no other reasons than the greed, hatred, ignorance, and racism that allow discrimination to flourish.

Comparing Lives.

The question is 3 im answering is just going to compare the living conditions of slaves, indentured servants, and poor immigrants in the American colonies. And who lived he best and who lived the worst. I predicting that the poor immigrants most likely had the worst living conditions. And the indentured servants most likely had the best living conditions.

The living conditions on the plantations were generally very difficult for slaves. A strong family and community life helped sustain African Americans in slavery. People often chose their own partners, lived under the same roof, raised children together, and protected each other. Brutal treatment at the hands of slaveholders, however, threatened black family life. Enslaved women experienced sexual exploitation at the hands of slaveholders and overseers. Bondspeople lived with the constant fear of being sold away from their loved ones, with no chance of reunion. Historians estimate that most bondspeople were sold at least once in their lives. No event was more traumatic in the lives of enslaved individuals than that of forcible separation from their families. People sometimes fled when they heard of an impending sale.

Indentured servants were often scorned in their time as beggars and riffraff. Labor was hard and living conditions were generally harsh for indentured servants. Many servants had difficulty adjusting to the climate and native diseases of southeast Tidewater Virginia, and many servants did not live to receive their freedom. Runaway servants, of which there were many, were punished by increasing their time of service if they were captured. But conditions changed in Virginia, however, and, by 1700, recruitment of tobacco plantation labor from England was no longer as important due to the increasing availability of African slaves for the harsh plantation work.

When immigrants entered the U.S and did not have nowhere to stay, however they found out about “tenements” from sources. It was not like living in mansions, condominium’s, or anything. These tenements were for poor immigrants that just came to the United States to start a better life. These tenements were overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe housing. At least 18 people lived in one tenement apartment. There were only two toilets stalled on each floor and one bathtub in the kitchen of the apartment. When people had to use the bathroom and both toilets was in use they had to go to the backyard of the tenement and do there business there. Meanwhile, the tenements are about four to six stories high. Immigrants only had to pay ten dollars a month rent.

It seems as the poor immigrants lived the best because they didnt have people beating on them and being harsh to them. They may have not lived the best but they were not treat bad. They had their own life. And slaves and servants kind of lived the life they were both treated bad and put through tough labor. But the only thing that is different from the slaves from the servants is the slaves got beat but servants did too if they tried to run away.