Analysis Of Frederick Douglass s Working Class...

Frederick Douglass’s speech on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of Emancipation in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1888 revealed the rage that Douglass had felt upon witnessing the conditions of his fellow black men in the South, particularly in Georgia and South Carolina. In his address he defined the liberation of African Americans from slavery as a fraud as white supremacy in the South has enabled white men to continuously hold dominance over black people. This dominance was not only prevalent in the ubiquitous presence of whites in the Congress, but also in the laws that put black working class under the control over their white employers. Tara Hunter’s â€Å"Working Class Neighborhoods and Everyday Life† similarly discusses the†¦show more content†¦The power that white men possess, particularly in the South, has become so great that black people’s liberty is not guaranteed despite Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Tara Hunter offers the mass incarceration of black men and women as an example of the different methods the South had utilized in order to enslave black people. In the 1860s, public demands to end police brutality towards African-Americans arose as police officers arrested and imprisoned black folks on the basis of getting higher salaries and promotions. According to Hunter, 60% of individuals arrested in Atlanta in the 1880s were black men, despite black men only constituting 44% of the population. 80% of black women were also apprehended, 90% of them were actually sent to jail, but yet again black women only made up half of the female population. This mass incarceration of black people benefitted the state as they were sent to work in chain gangs to perform physical labour as form of â€Å"punishment†, which in reality was an alternative to slavery. Therefore, although in legal terms slavery was abolished, to believe that this was the reality being practiced is nonsensical. Furthermore, Douglass uses the condition of the black plantation workers to strengthen his claim. These plantation workers are systematically and comprehensively swindled of his earnings through the trucking system. This device allowsShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesPerspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian