Without Sanctuary

After reading the introduction and looking at both postcard images and the written contents on them type a one page reflection paper addressing the who, what, when, and why?After the American Civil War blacks were emancipated, granted citizenship and male suffrage. By 1877 the Radical Republican Congress had turned its interest elsewhere to international business ventures leaving black in the hands of vengeful white southerners. This period from 1877 up to the mid 20th century is sometimes referred to as the "Southern White Redemption." The images reflected the lives of all American in the late nineteenth through the mid twentieth century. During this time life was excruciatingly challenging for African Americans, during which they encountered many horrid fates due to the rise of Jim Crow and the establishment of, "Separate but equal doctrines," during this time. The vengeful white southerners received their redemption by implementing petty codes to keep blacks from being politically and educationally orientated.

Pie chart of religions of African Americans

Scars of a whipped slave (April 2, 1863, Baton Rou...

A billiard hall for African Americans in Memphis, ...

The images revealed life during this time frame for all Americans was a bit quirky. I mean whites taking matters into their own hands when they acclaim to have so much trust in our great Constitution. When in fact their actions continue to challenge their very own contracts of entrusting state and federal and sometimes Supreme Court Justices' with the responsibility of interpreting the law. This alone sent the image of America's legal system to be extremely weak in the matter of upholding the law of the land, or drastically corrupt. Blacks were already living their lives in the shadows of these unjust whites: always trying not to cross the wrong path, look the wrong way, or say the wrong word. That being said life to many African Americans may not have seemed to be worth the air driving blood through their veins. Every turn that was made, they were faced with the possibility of someone making a false accusation that did not have to be verified in order for a lynching, or shooting, of the accused. All of this because of the color of their skin never was the content of their character a question. Frankly speaking life for African Americans was hell. These events have and still continue to take a psychological toll on minorities in America. The emotional, mental, and even now still physical turmoil of our past and the inability of coping with what has happened throughout the history of our country continues to influence terrible outcomes, even today.

This aspect of American History should be discussed in our schools today. Not as a means of targeting whites and taunting their ancestor's actions and ways of life but to insure that history does not regress and surely is not forgotten. It should be discussed in a way to explain the reason blacks were given such limited roles in American society in the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries.

bibliography:http://www.withoutsanctuary.org/

English: Fugitive African Americans fording the Ra...

Accession No.: 07_07_000093 Call Number: no. 35 of...

Cold Harbor, Va. African Americans collecting bone...