Slavery+and+Civil+Rights+-+America's+Black+Holocaust

Since the dawn of the United States of America, Slavery and history of slaves have dominated the civil rights landscape of the US. From 1607, when our country had it's roots, to 1865, with the Emancipation Proclaimation, slavery played a key role in the change and development of our nation.

Slavery in the form of plantation work, or help around the house has long since dissappered from the American Landscape. Though other forms of slavery still exist (in the form of human traffiking), a prominent role is the sort of genocide that came with Slavery in America. Slavery can be considered a Genocide in many ways.

Many slaves across the United States were treated poorly. Even making the journey across in the early days of slavery was very hard on the people. The exact number of people who died on the 'Middle Passage(the route of the Triangular trade between Africa and the Americas) is not known, however rough estimates place this number anywhere from 1.2-2.4 Million Slaves died in the Middle Passage. Packed tightly beneath the deck of the ship, and using up any available space and given VERY LITTLE, if ANY food during the journey made chances of survival slim. Slave revolts were not too common, but some were successful such as in 1841 on the //Amistad.// Slaves were often branded on the back, and had very small living spaces. Even so, Capitans treated their slaves as **precious cargo** and would subsequently torture slaves if they tried to commit suicide (most often by starvation).

Along with that, the sailors and crew were treated poorly. Many of them suffered from dysentary and lack of nutrition, only further adding to the grief that engulfed the ship as it crossed the mighty Atlantic Ocean.





Slaves in the United States
Many slaves in the United States were treated poorly, and whipped and tortured if they failed to carry out duties and obey their master. Slaves were also bought and sold. A main street buisness in the south might be a 'slave auction', which happened well into the Civil War.

While slave revolts were sometimes common, and implemented, slaves gained very little rights between the American Revolution (1776-83) and the Emancipation Proclamation (1863-4). There were some 'nice' slave owners, they were often regarded as 'softies'. They were very few and far between.

However since slaves were treated as precious property death rates/numbers were not a high as one would expect, most died of natural causes, and **therefore this was not so much a mass killing but a vast fight of unfairness and struggle**. In it's own right, this was a genocide.

**After the Cvil War** After the Civil War, a less bloody but still inequality of people being treated (particularly blacks), mostly from 1865 to the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964. On Christmas Eve, in 1865 America's most infamous and bloody group was founded. A group of Confederate war vets in Pulaski, TN, founded the first Ku Klux Klan, which fired the gun to almost a century of struggle among African-Americans. What people were unsure of after the Civil War was how long it would take to give African-Americans equal rights. This next section details the Ku Klux Klan and African-Americans issue to overcome this and achieve equal rights. People should never forget these events in which many were killed or hurt. They have shaped our country.

Quite simply, the Civil War still left a striking division beyond either side of the Mason-Dixon line.

**The First Ku Klux Klan and Reconstruction (1865-1877)** The Ku Klux Klan (KKK or simply, **The Klan**) was in infamous far-right organization that discriminated against Blacks, Hispanics (any other race besides White, for that matter), Catholics, Homosexuals and other various groups. They believed that they were America's Patriots, and wanted to try and implement their far-right values upon others. The first of the Three Klans was very popular in the South for a brief period of time. It should also be noted that this first Klan's basic mission was to vote the Republican 'Carpetbaggers' out of office. They were very successful in doing so, however by the end of the 1870s, the First Klan had died out.

Besides freedom of slavery, the newly-freed Blacks had a very hard time trying to implement themselves into society. The infamous "Jim Crow Laws" put into place many of the segregated things in public places that existed well into the 20th century (ie, segregated public schools, water fountains, and the US military). In the landmark Supreme Court Case //Plessy v. Ferguson,// in 1896 the US decided to uphold state-mandated discrimination by a "separate, but equal" policy.

Even then segregation still ran rampant. Well into the 20th Century, African-Americans still had to use (ie,) different restrooms, enter at different places, and attend different schools. During this time as well, racial respect was almost none in the south. Many Whites would use racial slurs, and refer to them not by their title (Ms., Mrs., Mr., Dr. in some cases) but "Tom" or "Cecilia". many Southern States also disenfranchised many poor whites **and** blacks at the turn of the century

Second Ku Klux Klan and Continued Struggles in the South
In 1915, the second Ku Klux Klan was founded in Georgia. It started off slow, but in 1921 the Klan started a very buisnesslike style of recruiting (organized costume charges, entrance fee, benefits for joining) and the Klan quickly grew to a few million people, mostly in the South and Southwest. In all respects, the KKK only had a massive influence for a few years. At it's peak, in the mid 1920s (most estimates say around 1925) the Klan had 4-5 Million members, or as the organization claimed about "15% of the nations "eligible populace."" The Second Klan also was largely a fraternal organization, with ranks. Each state had it's own Grand Wizard, the President of the Klans was the Grand Dragon. It is also notable that during this time, Indiana had the largest Ku Klux Klan in the US, known only as the Indiana Klan. However, by the 1930s the Klans numbers had dropped to a mere 30,000 and disappeared into World War II.

Films such as DW Griffith's //Birth of a Nation// also preached the "American" message of the Ku Klux Klan. This Klan also had a dramatic emphasis of racism, anti-catholicism, antisemitism among others. The circus-style Lynching of Will 'Froggie' James in Cairo, IL in 1905 further increased tensions in the mid-south, South, and Appalachia.