Does the American Creed Apply to Blacks?

Essay by nickmcnabbHigh School, 10th gradeA+, March 2004

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All men are created equal. All men are free to develop their own aspirations, without regard to race or religion. All men have a right to live according to the principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which our forefathers sacrificed their lives and fortunes. All men are entitled to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That is the creed of America.

That is the creed that white people have had the privilege to live by for centuries, ever since our country was founded. Not so for the black people. The black people were brought to this country as slaves. They worked day and night, with no pay, for the white people. They could not vote. They could not frequent public places where white people gathered. They were treated as sub-humans.

Slowly, things began changing for the blacks. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.

The 14th Amendment made any person, regardless of race, who was born in this country a citizen. The 15th Amendments gave black men the right to vote. But blacks were still treated second to whites. Jobs were given to whites first. Blacks were still not allowed in places where white people gathered. White supremacist societies started sprouting up, comprised of small-minded, hateful people who feared the blacks were getting too much freedom.

During the 1960's, many blacks tried to fight this inequity by rioting and violence against white people. Martin Luther King believed that violence was not the answer. He believed in the creed of this country, even though it did not apply to blacks. He dreamed that someday blacks and white would live together in harmony. He dreamed that black children would enjoy the same benefits this great country has to offer white children. He believed that things could...