December 18, 1865 - slavery was abolished in the USA. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially ended and prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude (except as punishment for a crime, of course). It was called the "Thirteenth Amendment" because there were twelve amendments adopted before it. They just didn't work out as well as expected, I guess.
Ending slavery was a huge step in the USA, but as we know, there was still a long way to go before all people living in America were considered to be equal.
This was an important ammendment to the constitution. It was one of the stepping stones towards Martin Luther King Jr. and so many lives have been positively changed since then. However, racism and predjuice are unfortunately alive and well and living in the USA. As a Caucasian Canadian living in the U.S. married to an African American I am all too aware of just how far we still have to go. It saddens me to know that the color of one's skin or one's religious preference or sexual orientation can negatively impact how one person views the worthiness of another human being, and that this happens every day, in every country of the world. I believe that the majority of people have good hearts and I have hope that one day we'll be able to say we are truly a world without barriers and boundaries, but we have many more generations of stepping stones to lay down before we come to the end of the road.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the fantastic comment!
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