Equality Sure Does Have A Bizarre Meaning In America

Professor Jim Downs, author of “Sick from Freedom: African American Illness and Suffering During the Civil War and Reconstruction,” says that in the transition to freedom from 1862 to 1870, hundreds of thousands of freed slaves never lived long enough to enjoy their freedom. A lifetime of suffering was followed by a massive death toll.

The portrayal of newly liberated people, with their belongings piled high as they journeyed toward freedom and into a bright new world of opportunity, is far from factual. Many had no shoes and only the clothes on their backs. During the winters, many froze and starved to death. They were without shelter and experienced severe hardships and suffering. Enslaved Africans in Texas were not freed until June 1865, as slave owners there ignored the proclamation for two years.

Freed slaves entered a completely foreign and hostile world. They were illiterate, since it was a crime for them to read or write, and segregated. They had no knowledge of the monetary system or of social customs, and no paid jobs.

Millions of newly freed slaves succumbed to yellow fever, dysentery and other diseases. It is estimated that at least 1 million of the 4 million former slaves got sick or died between 1862 and 1870. That’s not counting the large numbers of enslaved Africans who were worked to death, beaten to death or lynched on plantations by slave owners.