Race Problems in America
By: Ali Grover
Slavery in America
Slaves in America were treated poorly. Slaves only had short hours of sleep. Depending on the slave owner, a typical nights rest was four or five hours. After sleep, it was right to work. Some slaves were kept as house servants or trained to do jobs. Others had to work in the fields, such as cotton or sugar fields. If they were not do their jobs, talk back, talk to other slaves, or do anything else that didn't please the owner, they would usually get whipped. Slaves were not supposed to be educated in any way. Some slaves could attend church, but black churches only. Slaves were also treated as property, and not human beings. Often times women were whipped and sexually abused. If slaves were ever to get caught while running away, they could be sold to another owner, beaten severely, or told to do extremely hard work.
It took until 1865 for slavery to be illegal in the United States with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Before that, while slavery was still happening, Abolitionists tried to abolish slavery. An act called the Abolitionist Movement was a lot of people who wanted slavery to end right then and there. Unfortunately, it didn't end slavery, but it did free some slaves. Initially, Lincoln wanted to stop the expansion of slavery into any other territory in the United States. When that was accepted, just a month after, he ordered an Emancipation Proclamation, hoping to free all slaves. Again, it didn't completely work. So the Civil War turned into a war to end slavery. After winning, it was made that slavery would be illegal in America from then on.
Plan to Improve Race Relations
The legacy of slavery has contributed to these racial tensions. It is hard to forget our country's history of supporting slavery because it took so long to abolish it. Slavery would probably still exist today if it wasn't for Abraham Lincoln, which is why a lot of people look up to him. Its also very herd to forget slavery when African-Americans are still being treated poorly as they were . People still call African-Americans names that they did in the 1800's.
The one idea i have to improve race relations in america is to create a mini movie for kids to watch. I could give my movie to teachers and tell them to show it to kids, and i could show it to little kids that i know. My main goal would be to stop kids from thinking the color of your skin matters. Kids pick all kids of things up from adults, so if their parents or parents friends are racist, they will pick that up. My movie will tell kids that racism is not okay, and when they grow up , they will not be like that.