Freedmen’s Fight for Rights in Mississippi

Freedmen’s Fight for Rights in Mississippi

            The freedmen were compelled to state that they bear no ill will towards their former oppressors, as the aftermath of slavery left them poor and in devastated neighborhoods. The African Americans celebrated the end of slavery and years of brutalities and denial of wages, education, and homeownership. Despite the era coming to an end, prejudice was still existent against the Black race. Due to the continued social discrimination and inferior status associated with them, African Americans were still uneducated and poor, as they received no wages before they were freed. Therefore, the Blacks were technically still under the Whites captivity. Besides, the freedmen depended on the Whites for wages after working and relied on their skills in reading and writing. In this case, the African Americans had no grounds to defy the rule of the Whites and were forced to state no ill will against the Whites.

The Mississippi legislatures define vagrancy in vague terms, as the Whites despised African Americans and did not expect them to be fully independent. As former slaves, the African American’s freedom was limited and had no free will in the legislation process of the state (Bigelow,1970). The Blacks were considered an inferior race, which could not readily provide for themselves or their families without depending on the Whites in the state. Claims of living independently in the appeal were unbelievable to the legislators in Mississippi.

The use of the term “citizen” by the freedmen denotes that Blacks are equal as other residents of the state and had the right to vote or participate in democratic procedures. The right to vote was a central concern for the freedmen as they wanted to elect their representatives (Zeisler-Vralsted, 2019). The African Americans valued the suffrage rights to put in office one of their own to abolish oppression and fight for their rights. Electing one of them to public office was the only assurance that their rights would be represented and fought for in legislature in the Mississippi state..

The federal government had to intervene in the South after 1865 to protect the rights of freedmen, as the Blacks were still prone to further oppression.Due to their socio-economic background,African Americans were still prone to racial segregation and manipulation. Additionally, they had no representative in the state legislative body, who could protect and fight for their rights. Under the states, the rights of freedmen were limited, and the Black Codes spell racial segregation. Therefore, it was necessary for external intervention from the federal government to control the extent of legislation against the freedmen.

In conclusion, the abolition of slavery meant that African Americans were free from oppression, however, they had to look upon the Whites due to their social status. The freedmen were poor and homeless, therefore, they had to work in Whites’ farms to satisfy their basic needs. Mississippi state laws concerning freedmen stated the vagrancy vaguely in African Americans as most of them were expected to fail to support their families. Being citizens, the African Americans had the right to vote to have their representative in the state. Federal government influenced the state laws as African Americans could be manipulated as a minority group.

References

Bigelow, M. M. (1970). Public Opinion and the Passage of the Mississippi Black Codes. Negro    History Bulletin, 33(1), 11-16.

Zeisler-Vralsted, D. (2019). African Americans and the Mississippi River: Race, history and the             environment. Thesis Eleven, 150(1), 81-101.