African American Freedom Struggle.

African-American is a term that has been used to refer to Americans who owe their roots to Sub-Saharan Africa. They have, in the course of history, involved themselves in activities that are in the in their interest as a group. Such activities included pride, defiance, and fighting for human rights. The governments during these periods did not seem to be comfortable with the activities of the African Americans. Their struggle dates back to the nineteenth century in the form of political movements and deliberations. They were initially slave but when slavery was abolished in 1865, they were given every right as their white counterparts. They could vote and even occupy public offices.

The freedom struggle
The blacks, as they were called, mounted resistance against discrimination which was widespread at the time. Their struggle led to the development of the civil rights lobby group which later paved way to the second reconstruction between the 1950s and the 1960s. The struggle form civil rights led to the reformation of some legal aspects concerning the blacks but it did little in the way of addressing their poverty. The blacks formed a lobby group that was named Black Power to fill the gaps that still existed socially.
   
Blacks staged streets protests in a bid to realize social changes. The methods they mostly employed were non violent. Grassroots groups such as Montgomery Improvement Association organized freedom rides, boycotts, voter education, and sit-ins as some of the strategies of fighting towards their goals. In 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation, especially as far as public schools are concerned. Black students were victims of frequent attacks by their white counterparts, this was both verbally a number of cases of physical attack. Even after the formulation of the policy on desegregation, some schools chose to close rather than accommodate even a single black student. In some schools the few black student had to be assigned security as their lives were in danger all the time and they were left out by fellow students in almost all the things they were doing. Activists who were black were very keen on ensuring that such changes were not just limited to school but they went ahead cover all the other spheres of life. Attaining equality regardless of race was not going to be an easy thing to achieve and being a very sensitive issue its complete enforcement would require some time.
   
During this period, the blacks were not allowed to live in some places as they were designated whites only zones. The African Americans who were living in the north were subjected to much harsh conditions compared to those who lived in the south. At the beginning of 1960, President Kennedy tried to address the civil rights issues that faced the blacks though he was very reluctant in his moves. Southern democrat leader President Johnson went a long way in trying to fight for the rights of the blacks after realizing that there was a great deal of inaction. He supported demonstrations that were in protest to discrimination. By 1960 many African Americans had the power to vote.

This period of the second reconstruction, led to the changing of legal aspects that allowed discrimination as far as, voting, employment, housing, and other social vices are concerned. They managed to set up confirmatory action programs that mainly touched on employment and higher learning institutions. Activism of the blacks coupled with presidential actions went a long way in changing some of the legal aspects. The whites were not quiet pleased by the progress that the blacks made between 1950 and 1960, they did not have much to do because of the activism of the blacks and support from some of the leaders.

The great depression and the new deal
Before the beginning of the Great Depression, a booming period, known as the roaring twenties, was witnessed. In the course of the 1920s, business was booming and people worked in industries and businesses. This was just the period immediately after the First World War. Americans abandoned their farming ways and most of them opted to go to the cities. Americans earned a lot of money than they had done before. Companies increased their output as the consumption was high leading to the creation of more opportunities for employment. Many people bought cars and therefore other industries that were directly related to this business benefited. There was also a boom in the housing sector.
 
The Great Depression
Herbert Hoover took over the leadership of the United States in 1929 from President Warren Herding. Hoover was very thorough in his leadership that he tried to address various problems that Americans were facing at a go. Agriculture was one area that required urgent intervention more than any other sector of that economy. While some government agencies offered to buy the farm produce and selling them abroad on behalf of the farmers, the President did not agree to thus and instead he decided to allow the farmers market their produce themselves. Farmers were given loans by various boards and cooperatives but their condition only appeared to deteriorate. This is the same period when the stock market crashed. Consequences of the First World were also not yet adequately resolved. The government was indebted and it conveyed the same to the citizen in the form of taxes. The farmers purchasing power went low. Banks that had secured loans using mortgages were at a loss. People changed their consumption habits and limited themselves only to necessary items. Production decreased and as a result many people lost their jobs. People were left homeless.

The New Deal
Franklin Roosevelt took over the presidency in 1932. He came up with the New Deal whose objective was to aid faster recovery from the depression, provide relief assistance, and change the economic organization. He sought the assistance of businesses and banks. People wanted to withdraw their money from banks but this would lead to their collapse. The President in his wisdom closed every bank. He reassured the people that their money was safe. This marked the beginning of the recovery of the banks. He offered the youth casual jobs. He was reelected because of his work.
   
He advocated for the passing of the Act of Emergency Banking that ensured that private bankers could have access to federal loans. This was also the same time when the Economy Act which was which was concerned with the balancing of the budget by the government. This move went a long way in addressing the serious financial difficulties that the citizens were experiencing. He was also able to come up with Securities together with the act that was concerned with securities Exchange. These acts went a long way in regulating stock market which was at the brinks of collapse. To oversee all these amendments he came up with a commission that was in charge of securities together with exchange. To assist people who were loosing their homes, he came up with a corporation that was aimed at financing home owners so that their houses could not be taken but instead they would be able to repay the loan at a later date.

The works of President Roosevelt went a long way in rescuing America from the brinks of collapse. The people were very bitter with their leaders but he managed to bridge the gap and restoring the confidence of the people. This was a very trying period for Americans as more than a quarter of the population was out of employment. People who had borrowed loans from banks ended up losing their property.

The origins of the cold war
After the Second World War, two main power blocs seemed to exist. One of them was dominated by the United States of America and other Western allies who adopted capitalism while the other included the Soviet Union which preferred communism. These world powers did not engage each other in any direct confrontation instead, they adopted some way of fighting that became known as the cold war. This war was mainly through financial, martial and ideological opposition. This war lasted for almost a half a century.

Origin of the cold war
Prior to the Second World War, tension had been mounting between the Eastern bloc dominated by the Soviet Union and the Western bloc dominated by America. All these world powers had ambitions of extending their influence in as many countries as possible. The tension was worsened by the occurrences in the Second World War. The beginning of Cold War can be linked to the Russian Revolution which took place in 1917. This was a very serious civil war and the intervention of the Western powers could not do much to calm the situation. An association, known as Comintern, whose mandate was to spread communism was formed. There was suspicion and panic between Western powers and Russia. In the course of 1918 to around 1935, the United States committed itself to isolationism policy while the leader of Russia, President Stalin was mainly concerned with their internal affairs. After 1935 Stalin decided to form alliances with some Western powers to oppose the Nazi regime. This was mainly because of mainly because he feared fascism.
   
Such alliances did not seem to work to his advantage and instead he chose to sign a Nazi-Soviet deal with Hitler. This move did little in terms of pleasing the Western powers though they did not engage in any form of combat. Germany invaded France and later Soviet Union in 1941. This forced the Soviet Union to unite with Western powers that were against Hitler. This move weakened the Western Europe to the advantage of Russia and the United States who remained as the superpowers. They were together but each of them was obsessed by the thought of what they would like to be after the war. Russia, which had taken over Eastern Europe, wanted to impose their form of government and come up with soviet protectorate states. This was to secure itself from capitalist western powers. Russia assured such states, a fair election, a promise it was not able to achieve.
   
In 1945 after the Second World War, United States and its allies were pro capitalism and did not want communism to dominate. Exactly opposite was the ambition of Russia and the Eastern bloc. It was feared that the Soviet Union would attack the west. Russia feared the American atomic bomb. The Soviet Union feared that Germany would reorganize themselves and engage them in an armed conflict. America formulated a policy that was named containment. This policy was basically meant to contain communism and the Soviet Union. They wanted to stop the expansion of the Soviet Union Empire and also isolate the empire that was already in existence. In 1948 Europe had been equally divided into communism and capitalism. Germany was still a contested zone and it was divided into four portions under the occupation of the French, Americans, Russians and British. The war spread outside Europe as China adopted communism. The United States was quick to salvage Korea together with Vietnam. The superpowers did not engage each other as they were both going to suffer great damages if such a thing took place. The cold war ended in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The causes of the cold were can be linked to American dread of attack by communists. The Russians were afraid of the atomic bomb and thus could not engage America in an armed conflict. Capitalism was not fancied by Russia. Some of the activities carried out by Russians in their territory in Germany did not please the Western powers. America was very keen not to let out their secrets concerning nuclear weapons. Russia had an ambition of increasing communism in the world. Russia had no option but to ensure the security of their western boarder. Russia was expanding their territory to Eastern Europe while they had not achieved their election promises. Russia feared being attacked by America. These are some of the reasons that led to the cold war.

America, the First World War, and the Versailles peace conference   
The First World War was an armed conflict that involved the world greatest powers. These forces grouped themselves into two main groups. They were the allies and the central powers. The war started after the murder of Archduke Ferdinand, who was an heir of the Austria-Hungary throne, in 1914. He was killed by Serbians. While this might have been cited as the reason, there are a number of long term differences which ensured that the war continued. Since most of these powers had colonies, the war spread to other parts of the world. The central force was mainly composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire. The allied powers consisted of Russia, Serbia, France Japan and other countries. This period was also characterized by imperialism whereby stronger nations took over the relatively weaker states.

America in the First World War
Germans were destroying the ships that belonged to Britain. They also did the same to American vessels. Each of these sides wanted America to join their side. They were employing a number of strategies which even included propaganda. The main reasons that lured America into joining the war included the habit of Germans destroying British vessels and in a number of occasions they accidentally attacked American ships that had American civilians. A German known as Zimmerman telegrammed Mexico advising them to attack the Germans. Germans had declared the ocean around Britain their zone and promised to attack any foreign vessels. The worst incidence was when the sunk a ship known as Listuania which led to the death of 128 American nationals.
   
American President Woodrow Wilson was enraged by this action and for the first time America stated their stand of fighting the Central Powers. In 1917, the congress opposed the idea of engaging into an armed conflict. The United States decided to engage in armed conflict regardless of the view of the congress. They strengthened the allied powers and thus they played a very pivotal role in terms of changing the fate of the almost losing allied powers to winning. They applied biological and also chemical warfare in the course of their struggle. They used new weapons, such as tanks and the use of air fighters. They also applied the strategy of trench warfare. Woodrow Wilson was keen on opening the League of Nations that would be charged with the mandate of settling international disputes. The war ended in 1919 when the allied powers won. Most of the solders who lost their lives in the course of the war were Russians. This is also the time that the United States emerged as the world superpower. The currency of Germany lost their value so much that they were nearly worthless. Germany was forced to pay for the destructions they caused on the allied forces.
   
The Versailles treaty is a pact which was signed to signify the end of the First World War. Its negotiations took place in the Peace Conference held in Versailles, Paris. The negotiations begun in January, 1919. The agreements concerning the treaty were reached in June, 1919.  The agreement was to be between Germany and members of the allied powers. Germans did not attend the signing. The League of Nations had the mandate of executing the agreements of the treaties that were signed after the First World War. Germany was required to reduce its army to less than one hundred thousand. It was also required to leave all its territories along River Rhine. It was not allowed to engage itself in any buying, selling or producing weapons. Its navy was only allowed to have a maximum of 24 ships. Germany was forced to pay for all the damage that resulted as a result of the war.
   
Germany went out of cash and sunk into debts. It even had to give natural resources and their trains to pay the debts. The citizens lived in very deplorable conditions. This was later to pave way to the rise of the Nazi regime. The treaty led tom the establishment of nine countries. It also led to the revision of many boundaries.
   
This period led to the establishment of the League of Nations which was able to help resolve most of the international conflicts. The charges placed on Germany were very harsh. The treaty was not followed for a very long time as some of the nations no longer regarded it in their activities. Peace was not brought to the Germans neither did they feel any impacts of reconciliation. Germans were not happy because they were being disarmed and forced to buy war ships to the allied forces that in the process were being rearmed. They were not very weak and these are the factors that directly led to the Second World War.

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