America Reconstruction: 1865-1877: The Struggle for Meaningful Liberty - Essay Sample

Introduction

America reconstruction is a road that has been rough but steady. Starting in the mid-19th century, after the end of civil war, the way to restoration has been on its highs and lows. It began with the purpose of slavery, but as Congressman James A. Garfield put it if freedom meant just being free of chains, then that freedom is a mockery and a delusion (Foner 35). The struggle to meaningful reconstruction and liberty of America started with the definition of the freedom between 1865-1877 where former slaves gained independence to be free and to own property. The move was followed by a great industrial revolution between 1870-1890 which the country transform from a world based on small scale agriculture and artisan to a complete and mature industrial society (Foner 74). The fight was reborn by the new drive by civil societies in the 1945-1968 era in which the freedom fight was intensified to include freedom to education, freedom to equal job opportunities, and freedom to vote. Civil right movements gave birth to the second reconstruction of America.

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The civil right movement started with the rising tide of protest. It began with four students who went into a local Woolworth's department store and occupied seats reserved for whites (Foner 452). The attendants declined to attend to them but resulting in a non-violent movement the students went to the same store the following day and occupied the same seats until evening. The action continued to gain momentum, and the Woolworth's store was later forced to admit all students without discrimination and serve them in their lunch counters an area previously reserved for the white (Foner 453 ). The fight against discrimination in public transport and places of worship was much opposed by civil right movements, which then gained freedom against these form of discrimination.

The protests were heightened by the significant demonstration that took place in the year 1963 over the inequality in areas of housing, job opportunity, and education (Foner 455). They were met by police brutality where many blacks were arrested, and others bombed. Martin Luther King Jr. was also arrested during these demonstrations and while in jail he wrote his most eloquent letter; Birmingham Letter. The message and the protests forced the American Whites to rethink of their relationship with white and find out what they had in common as opposed to segregation (Foner 457).

The rule of John F Kennedy allowed these civil rights groups to grow and to fight for more of their freedom. They did this by administering various bills into the Congress and to the Senate aimed at expanding the freedom they were enjoying. Though in his first years he regarded civil rights groups as distracters to his mission (Foner 455), he later admitted to their views and implemented far-reaching bills that aimed at giving more freedom to blacks and less privileged citizens of America. Even after his assassination on 22nd November 1963, his successor Lyndon Johnson advocated for and implemented even far more reaching reforms to expand freedom to blacks and other oppressed Americans in a move that was no precedent. During his tenure, civil rights groups got an opportunity to reconstruct America through presenting and fighting for bills that expanded the definition of freedom and brought equality between whites and people of color and coined the philosophy of high society that aimed at fighting poverty and inequality (Foner 466).

By 1968, the civil rights movement had managed to reconstruct America to a country with more inclusivity, freedom to education by all, and freedom to equal job employment opportunities. They had also secured rights to buy and own rental houses as well as the power to vote and choose their own to represent them. But the fight to economic freedom was far from over. It stood as a challenge for civil rights to continue fighting for and ensure that freedom also meant economic empowerment.

Work Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History: Seagull Fourth Edition. Vol. 1. WW Norton & Company, 2013.