African Americans Were Not Free In The South Dbq

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Pages: 2

How would you like to be a newly freed slave who is looked down upon and denied the rights that the whites around you have? In 1860 the number of free blacks had grown to around 476,000 52.5% of that was in the south, 46.4% was in the north and the other 1.1% was in the west. During this time blacks were shunned and turned down by many jobs. This discrimination was going on even in the north, by the very people who fought to free them in the first place.
So were newly freed slaves in the north reality free?No they were not. The newly freed blacks were not shown political, social or economic freedom. One of the ways that showed that blacks were not free in the north was social inequality.
In document B it states "We shall not make the black man a slave; we shall not buy him or sell him; but we shall not associate with him. He shall be free to live, and to thrive, if he can... but he shall not be free to dine and drink at our board." Being shunned and be in the same place as the ones who freed him because of his race does not define the word freedom. That's not what makes someone free.
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Shall I be a merchant? No one will have me in his office." A person who is unable to get a job because of his or her race does not bear the title of being truly