Aint seen freedom yet

The black people of today take for granted all the rights they have, that black people before fought hard to ensure that they had.

It almost seems like an abomination when black people call each other the "n" word, when so many black people died for this name in years gone by.

In the American civil rights war, it was the name boy.

Attached is a video that represents the sentiments of that time.

https://youtu.be/dzNNGPsDG7A

It is a common misconception that Black people were "promised" freedom if they fought in the Civil War and then were "not made free" but had to "return to the fields that they hated so badly." The reality is more nuanced and complex. Here's an article addressing this topic:

The Complex Reality: Black Soldiers, Emancipation, and the Unfinished Promise of Freedom After the Civil War

The American Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865, was a watershed moment in American history, fundamentally altering the course of the nation and the lives of millions of enslaved African Americans. While the war is often remembered as a struggle to preserve the Union, it undeniably evolved into a fight for emancipation, particularly with the recruitment of Black soldiers. However, the path to true freedom for many Black Americans after the war was fraught with challenges, and the idea of a simple "promise" of freedom followed by a return to forced labor oversimplifies a deeply complex historical reality.

The Emancipation Proclamation and the Call to Arms

Initially, the Union's war aims did not include the abolition of slavery. However, as the war progressed, the strategic and moral imperative to strike at the heart of the Confederacy's labor system became clear. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, declared enslaved people in the Confederate states to be free. While it did not immediately free all enslaved people (as it did not apply to border states loyal to the Union or Confederate territories already under Union control), it fundamentally shifted the war's purpose and opened the door for Black men to officially join the Union army.

This was a pivotal moment. For many enslaved people, joining the Union cause represented a direct path to their own liberation and an opportunity to fight for the freedom of their families and communities. It was not a "promise" in the sense of a formal contract with explicit conditions for post-war life, but rather a profound understanding that military service for the Union directly contributed to the destruction of slavery. Black men, both formerly enslaved and free, eagerly enlisted, forming regiments such as the famed United States Colored Troops (USCT). They fought with immense bravery and distinction, proving their mettle in battles like Fort Wagner and the Siege of Petersburg, often facing greater perils and discrimination than their white counterparts. Their service was instrumental in securing Union victory.

Freedom Hard-Won, Yet Far From Complete

The Union's victory in 1865, followed by the ratification of the 13th Amendment, legally abolished slavery throughout the United States. For the nearly four million formerly enslaved people, this was an unimaginable triumph – the end of generations of brutal bondage. They were indeed "made free" in the legal sense.

However, the reality of post-war freedom was far from the idyllic vision many might have hoped for. The immediate aftermath of the war saw immense upheaval and the daunting task of rebuilding lives and communities in a society still deeply steeped in racial prejudice.

The Persistence of Agricultural Labor and Economic Disparities

The idea that Black people "had to return to the fields they hated so badly" is partially true, but requires crucial context. The Southern economy was agrarian, and for the vast majority of formerly enslaved people, agriculture was the only work they knew and the only available means of survival. With little to no land, capital, or education, many were forced into new systems of labor that, while not slavery, were exploitative and restrictive, such as sharecropping and tenant farming.

Under sharecropping, Black families would rent plots of land from white landowners and pay a share of their crops as rent. While technically free to leave, economic dependence, coupled with discriminatory practices, often trapped them in cycles of debt and poverty, resembling a new form of servitude. The "fields" they returned to were often the same ones they had toiled on under slavery, but now as nominally free laborers facing different, though still severe, forms of oppression.

The Unfinished Promise of Reconstruction

The period of Reconstruction (1865-1877) was an attempt to rebuild the South and integrate formerly enslaved people into American society. During this time, Black Americans made significant strides: they voted, held political office, established schools and churches, and built communities. This was a period of immense hope and tangible progress towards full citizenship.

However, Reconstruction ultimately failed due to a combination of white Southern resistance, federal abandonment, and economic depression. The rise of white supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, discriminatory "Black Codes" (and later Jim Crow laws), and a concerted effort to disenfranchise Black voters systematically undermined the gains of emancipation. Black veterans, despite their service, often faced the same, if not worse, discrimination as other Black Americans. They were denied land, access to education, and equal protection under the law.

Conclusion

Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War were not "promised" freedom in a transactional sense, but rather seized the opportunity to fight for their liberation, a liberation that the war ultimately delivered in legal terms. They were indeed made free from the chains of chattel slavery. However, the promise of true equality, economic independence, and full citizenship remained largely unfulfilled for generations. The "fields they hated so badly" were often the only place where they could find work, perpetuating a system of economic subjugation that, while distinct from slavery, was a bitter legacy of the past. The bravery and sacrifice of Black soldiers in the Civil War were paramount to securing Union victory and ending slavery, but their fight for genuine freedom continued long after the last shot was fired.