Enslavement to Emancipation, a Work in Progress

US Slavery ended 150 years ago. At that time, some of my great grandparents were slaves and some had been born free in families that had been free for many generations. The last surviving slave, Sylvester McGee died in 1971 that’s just 44 years ago that should give us an idea of just how far we’ve come, considering how recently our civil status in this country has been upgraded officially from slave to free. Keeping in mind that many if not most of our people, at the beginning of the 20th century were still unable to read or write and were subjected to the worst treatment that the white power structure could get by with dishing out. Among such ill-treatments were second rate educational facilities, limited access to the judicial and electoral system, unfair exclusion from economic opportunities and general exclusion from mainstream society. Much of what was wrong then is continuing to affect today but we are making progress.