In Touch With Lifting Every Voice
By Betty Miller Buttram
FWIS Contributing Writer
“If you want to know a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln
Fear can be a corrupting emotional paralysis. It can affect one’s mindset leading to a path of destruction. It feeds on a person’s conscience and distorts the truth. Fear creates enemies in one’s mind that makes people think that others are taking away their privileges. Let us examine our current situation in the United States where misinformation and illegal lawful actions are causing widespread fear and diminishing the effectiveness, the power, or ability of our Nation to govern itself under the U.S. Constitution.
February is Black History Month and a time to reflect on the paths that African Americans have achieved in gaining freedom, recognition as whole persons, and voting rights. The road had many obstacles that did not make for a smooth journey and should be remembered and remain in the Nation’s history, either orally or written.
The Civil War fought over the issues of slavery and states’ rights. It was about the wealthy plantation owners maintaining their power and privileges through slave labor.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. This order changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved individuals in the United States to that of free persons. The Civil War did not end until April 9, 1865. The plantation owners were at a financial loss and lacked stable housing. They were in a similar situation, poor and almost homeless, as were their former slaves. The war devastated the South in part because free labor from enslaved people was no longer a source of income. Attempts were made to assist the South in the loss of its economic slave labor, political, and social status in the Reconstruction period implemented by Congress from 1865-1877. With the protection of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, the former slaves enjoyed a period when they were allowed to vote, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations. Educators from the North and the South, missionary organizations, churches, and schools gave the former slaves the opportunity to become literate. The Reconstruction Era ended through political outcomes when Rutherford B. Hayes was elected U.S. President. Federal troops pulled out of the South which ended the rights of the former slaves and the implementation of Jim Crow laws in the southern states legislature governing bodies enforced the freed slaves back into another system of racial discrimination. What were the Jim Crow laws and how had they evolved?
Thomas Dartmouth Rice (May 20, 1808-September 1860) was an American minstrel performer who gained fame in the United States and international audiences by depicting African Americans as unintelligent through their speech, songs, and dances. He called his character, Jim Crow, a name that was a popular tale among the Black slaves about a crow who sat on a fence and the slaves jumped away from it when they crossed paths. He did a song and dance called “Jump Jim Crow” in black face. Because the slaves jumped away from the crow, the south used the name Jim Crow to enforce the freed slaves back into another form of slavery. The Jim Crow laws were known as Black Codes. These codes effectively continued enslavement for African Americans by restricting their rights and exploiting their labor.
Nearly 100 years passed before the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965, which marked significant milestones in the pursuit of equality for African Americans in the United States. These legislative acts were a response to the persistent advocacy against the injustices they had endured.
This walk through the reflections of Black History is also a reflection on American History. Black History is American History. It has been a struggling path with many losing their lives.
Over 60 years after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act became laws, power and fear have resurfaced. African Americans, other people of color, women's rights, human rights, children, the elderly, partner choices, sports, religion, poverty, and people with disabilities are now affected by unlawful executive orders driven by this power and fear.
Do not forget your African History or American History for if you do, you will lose all that you have accomplished and achieved. Lift your voices once again. There is room here in America for all of us regardless of our culture differences. God is the Superior one, not any one of us.