The Black Experience: Democracy

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by Savannah Soares2 views·Updated Dec 1, 2022
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  1. for my project. I'll be discussing democracy through the black experience.
  2. I chose this topic because throughout the class,
  3. we talked a lot about how the US was built both on an ideal and a lie of equality for all.
  4. In the end of August of 1619,
  5. the first ship of about 20-30 enslaved African Americans were brought
  6. to the US they arrived at point comfort in Hampton Virginia.
  7. This was the start of the forming of systemic racism and inequality.
  8. What is a democracy?
  9. Democracy focuses on the power of the people,
  10. an ideal of equality for all and equal rights.
  11. But that was not the case.
  12. From 16 19 and on America grew black, forced labor, built the economy,
  13. enslaved people built the country's early infrastructures and
  14. produced lucrative commodities such as cotton and tobacco.
  15. After emancipation at African american labor was crucial in industry,
  16. agriculture and service
  17. In 1776 on July four,
  18. the Declaration of Independence was adapted by the Continental Congress
  19. in saying all men are created equal though this was a
  20. hypocritical lie that was told because when this was written,
  21. it was not believed that all men were created
  22. equal because african americans were not seen as equal.
  23. This was created a false ideal of democracy and equality.
  24. African americans fought for their own rights.
  25. America wasn't a democracy until African americans had
  26. earned
  27. and gained their rights.
  28. They fought to get their rights thus leading the way to paint the US as a democracy.
  29. They weren't treated as people or people who were from the US.
  30. They weren't even seen as citizens.
  31. There was no equality.
  32. They weren't able to vote until the 14th amendment that was adapted to the
  33. constitution in 1968 when they were finally
  34. granted citizenship in the United States.
  35. The fighting also continued through the civil rights movement.
  36. From 1954 to 1968 political movement and campaign known
  37. as the civil rights movement occurred during the movement.
  38. People came together to fight for a
  39. change and demand equality for african americans.
  40. This also led to the shaping of a democracy in the US and
  41. in this video it will be showing the power of voting for all
  42. and I will play this once I finish the slides.
  43. So for an african american experience based off of this
  44. ideal of America being
  45. built as a democracy.
  46. Nicole Hannah Jones, also the author of the 1619 project,
  47. talks about her experience from seeing her dad being in the service and
  48. fighting for a country who did not fight for his own rights.
  49. She later realized that as he was fighting for his own country,
  50. he was just like her ancestors who fought for their own rights and the freedom
  51. in the us.
  52. She realized that her father was fighting just
  53. like them and realized that the experience was
  54. something that she shouldn't hide away from
  55. the fight continues to this day,
  56. discrimination and racism are still an ongoing thing in the US.
  57. The fight to be treated equal. So persist to this day through the movements
  58. that are done like the Black Lives Matter movement.
  59. Here are my sources.