Primary Source Analysis Post #1
I did an article about C.M.Manning, He is a 21 year old African American male and Civil war soldier. Manning wants to spend the rest of his life as a free and intelligent citizen of the United States. I chose this article because Manning was looking for something other than his family. However, It makes me wonder where Manning's family is, are they alive and if so is he in touch with them? Towards the end of his article Manning also says “give a colored man a fair chance and an open field, and he will not only support himself, but help to support others”. I thought this was an enlightening statement because Manning contradicted a common white Southern belief that people of color would starve without a master.
This article was published on March, 24 1866, directly after the Civil War had ended on April 9, 1865. Manning was a soldier in the civil war and was living in South Carolina. Since the Civil War had ended, slavery had become illegal. However, many colored people continued to work on plantations as many did not have the money or means to leave the south during this time period. In South Carolina, racism was very prevalent and former slave owners were extremely unhappy with their current situation. This made it nearly impossible for colored people to integrate normally into Southern society.
Manning in his ad stated, “I wish to spend the balance of my life as a free and intelligent citizen of the United States”. This highlights that African Americans had freedom legally, but lacked it in everyday life, because of the white dominant society he lived in. Manning also pointed out that African Americans didn’t have citizenship at this point in time. Slaves were often not allowed to go to school and it was rare for African Americans to go to school in general during this time. For this reason, African Americans were seen as dumb and unknowledgeable by white people. Intelligence was seen by many African Americans as a key to freedom. This is one of the reasons so many African Americans of all ages flocked to schools to learn after the Civil War. Manning's ad in the paper overall is asking for equality and to be treated fairly.
My question for the class:
Was the U.S unjust for withholding citizenship from African Americans while allowing them to fight in the civil war?
My ad:
http://informationwanted.org/items/show/3104
I really interested in what you wrote, This ad seems like Black man announce their inner voice on ads. Black need an opportunity to change whites' view, although the law was abolished slavery, but social phenomenon can't change immediately, people had stereotype on Black although Black supposed to learn much knowledge.
It is unjust that African Americans were denied gaining citizenship while they participated in the Civil War. That should apply to their rights of being a US citizen. Just because the Civil War ended slavery doesn't mean the blacks stopped being discriminated. Manning fought for the rights of them to be educated and treated the same as whites.
This is a really powerful letter. It is a little different from the "information wanted" ads seeking family members, but in some ways it is similar. Manning's line about being a "human being," strikes me as especially poignant. I think many of these ads were about reasserting humanity through reconstituting families. Manning is directly appealing to readers to respect his humanity and his military service and offer him citizenship in return.
In response to your question, my vote would be yes. I think the question itself is great. For fighting in the war, Black men were offered emancipation, but not citizenship. It wasn't until years after the war that the 14th Amendment guaranteed Black peoples' citizenship. I think we can see the impact of that disparity in Manning's letter.