American History: Revisiting the Phenomena of the Past

Running head: AMERICAN HISTORY
AMERICAN HISTORY
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AMERICAN HISTORY
The history of the United States of America is full of variety, troughs and crests. The
country had got independence on the 4th of July 1776 and the thirteen colonies of America
were united to form the United States of America of the present day. The country has seen
history of enslavement, war, occupation, foreign threats, civil war and what not. This
independence day this newspaper endeavours in revisiting some of the historical phenomena
of the country while speaking to some people who were whole heartedly connected with
these historical events.
During the 1920’s a large number of African Americans started moving North from
the Southern part of America. Such a great movement of lakhs of African Americans from
the southern part of the country to the North. The primary reasons of such movement was the
economic concern and the social discrimination towards the community in the south. Many of
these people were slaves who were brought to the Americas from Africa and later they got
freedom. However there was still distinction and discrimination based on race and language.
The consequences of the Northward movement were many. “Housing was difficult to come
by, and in many cities the non-African American residents demanded strict segregation,
relegating the new arrivals to self-contained neighbourhoods in undesirable parts of town. In
addition, most of the available work in the cities was industrial, and many migrating African
Americans faced the prospect of learning new trades, generally at lower rates of pay than
European Americans received.” Jordan O Neal who was brought to the Americas along with
his father who was enslaved was one of the members who moved towards the North. This
newspaper interviewed Jordan to get some valuable insights about the experiences. While
visiting the home of Jordan it was seen that he was still living in humble condition with very
little economic prosperity. While understanding the conditions in which he was living, O
Neal was interviewed about his memories and his experiences about the events.