America We Are

Today (April 12, 2011) marked the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.  Now that we've gotten that random fact out of the way we can get to what we were trying to say.  Today we went to an exhibit at National Geographic called "America I Am".  It was about the imprint African Americans in US history and society.  The big question is... why the heck is it called "America I Am?" Now of course the two of us don't know the real answer, but we have an idea.  After the founding of the United States of America black people weren't considered citizens, a slave or African American only counted as 3/5 of a citizen.  Even though our Founding Fathers (who seemed to have their fair share of hypocrisy embedded within them) wrote about equality for all and how all men are created equal in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution they didn't strive (or really try) for this to be the case.  George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both owned slaves!  African Americans were still treated horribly for almost a century when the Civil War started (150 years before today).  African Americans fought alongside white people when fighting for their freedom, but still weren't given citizenship!  After the Civil War slaves were granted freedom in the 13th Amendment.  And finally in the 14th they were given citizenship!  This isn't to say that life was easy though.  Throughout the next century black people were still treated poorly.  The civil rights movement, led by heroes like Martin Luther King Junior and Rosa Parks, helped African Americans get the stature that they hold in society today.  After years if struggle they finally were Americans, but the exhibit isn't entitled Americans We are now is it?  African Americans have given our society leaders, and celebrities, and even a president, so they really are America.  I found the exhibit fascinating and really enjoyed it.