Kayla Seider and Judy Huh

" In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky-her grand old woods-her fertile fields-her beautiful rivers-her mighty lakes and star-crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked when I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slave-holding and wrong; When I remember that with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten; That her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am filled with unutterable loathing.” –Fredrick Douglass

Changes Significance

Entrance to the War Specific Militias

African Americans

Entrance to the War

Frederick Douglass

“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”” –Fredrick Douglass

Abraham Lincoln

Contraband Camp

Abraham Lincoln •Abhorred slavery

•Planned to issue Emancipation Proclamation

•Wanted to keep Union together at all costs

•Wanted unity in the North

•Had a conservative stance

•Encouraged and firmly supported 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery)

“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone , I would also do that. What I do about Slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union.” –Abraham Lincoln

Fredrick Douglass•Abhorred slavery

•Encouraged black men to become soldiers

•Abolitionist

•Wanted unity in the North

•Recruited over 100 free black for the 54th Regiment

•Saw that if former slaves contributed to the fight, they could not be denied citizenship in the Union

“Who would be free themselves must strike the blow....I urge you to fly to arms and smite to death the power that would bury the Government and your liberty in the same hopeless grave. This is your golden opportunity.” –Fredrick Douglass

Contraband of War•Created a developing community

•Used as a work force

•Built fortifications and did other useful work in northern camps

•Washington D.C. became a refuge for such camps

•Benjamin Butler said that the slaves who escaped to union lines were contrabands of war and that the Fugitive Slave Law was not applicable

“Who would be free themselves must strike the blow....I urge you to fly to arms and smite to death the power that would bury the Government and your liberty in the same hopeless grave. This is your golden opportunity.” –Fredrick Douglass

Militias

54th Regiment Robert Gould Shaw

1st Colored Kansas Infantry

Robert Gould Shaw

•Born October 10, 1837

•Commander of 54th Regiment

•Encouraged his men to boycott their pay until they were treated with equal pay as the white soldiers

•Killed in the battle of Fort Wagner

1st Colored Kansas Infantry•Organized at Fort Scott, Kansas under the direction of James Lane

•Made up of mostly fugitive slaves

•Under the command of Colonel James M. Williams

•Ranked 21st

•Later designated the 79th United States Colored Infantry Regiment

54th Regiment •Under the command of Robert Gould Shaw

•Made up of free African Americans

•Half of the regiment killed in the battle of fort Wagner (Charleston, South Carolina)

•Sergeant William H. Carney became the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor

•Fought at Olustee, Florida; Honey Hill, South Carolina; and Boykin's Mills, South Carolina.

Changes for African Americans

Emancipation Proclamation

13th Amendment15th Amendment

Emancipation Proclamation •Issued January 1, 1863 by Abraham Lincoln

•Freedom from slavery

•All persons held as slaves ‘“within the rebellious states’ are, and henceforward shall be free.’”

•It applied to only the states that had seceded the Union

•Allowed African Americans to enlist in the Union Army and Navy

“We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free. –William Seward

13th Amendment

•Ratified December 6, 1865

•Supported and encouraged by Abraham Lincoln

•Officially abolished all of slavery in every state

•There were still laws that kept African Americans in poverty and some lead on lives virtually as slaves

•Continued to be discriminated against

15th Amendment

•Ratified on February 3, 1870

•Gave African American men the right to vote

•This Amendment wouldn’t be realized for almost a century

•South would not let them vote through poll taxes, literacy tests, and by other means

•Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be when a majority could vote

Significance

Fight For Freedom Joining The Union Army Equal rights as soldiers

Fight For Freedom•African Americans fought for freedom

•Their first major step in acquiring freedom from slavery

•Partly a cause of the civil war, South wanted to secede because the North and South had very different view on Slavery. (social differences)

•The Civil War would provide the chance to even greater freedoms(voting, land, etc.)

•Showed the discrimination and racism that still ran through the North and South with “restricted” freedoms.(voting)

•Inferences the change America would go through in years to come. (women’s suffrage)

Joining The Union Army •Showed the bravery and courage that African Americans gave throughout the battles regardless of earlier discrimination and prejudice from whites

•Depicted patriotism for their country and their will to fight

•Made up 10% of the Union Army

•179,000 served in the Army; 19,000 served in the Navy

•Allowed for them too fight for their rights and gave others a chance to advocate even more on the rights of African Americans

•Gave the Union an upper hand in numbers

Equal Rights As Soldiers•Allowed African Americans to fight just like every other white soldier

•They risked their lives and had just as much of a reason to fight as white soldiers and even more so

•Equal pay to black soldiers and white soldiers

•Closer to gaining equality not just on the battle field but in society

•Showed the pride of black soldiers even in the midst of death and battle (boycotting pay because it was unfair)