On July 4, 1776 the 13 colonies of the United States came together to form the Declaration of Independence in which it is clearly states:.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness .
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness- It's rather ironic how the passage ends on that note when in fact, for nearly 200 years African-Americans in the United States were used as slaves for the "white man." Even after slavery was abolished in 1866, and the North defeated the South during the Civil War; blacks in the United States were still not considered equal citizens and were pushed to the side. .
According to Steinberg (2001), although blacks were no longer slaves and were able to migrate from the cotton fields in the south "blacks were almost totally excluded from these burgeoning industries (in the North), and instead the nation looked to European immigrants to fill its manpower needs" (p. 174). .
Steinberg (2001) also declared that:.
Though the federal government possessed over one billion acres of public lands, which it generously doled out to European settlers, railroads and other special interests, almost none was made available for black settlement (p. 199).
Having said this, it brings me to my next question: How can a country that's foundation is based on Democracy and justice be so inhumane and unjust? "Ex-slaves were encircled by discriminatory barriers in other parts of the country, and, pushed to the brink of starvation, were forced to struggle for survival as wage laborers, sharecroppers, and tenant farmers in southern agriculture" (Steinberg, 2001, p.200).