African Americans have a history of struggles due to racism and prejudice. Since the end of the civil war, they have struggled to receive all the rights promised by the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship, was passed in 1866. Even though African Americans were promised citizenship, they were still treated as if they were unequal. The South had a hard time accepting African Americans as equals and did everything they could to prevent the desegregation of all races. During the Reconstruction era, there were plans to end segregation; however, past prejudices and personal beliefs have lengthened the process. All African Americans believed that with the creation of civil rights, they would be free to do what all Americans could do. In the context of civil rights, emancipation means freedom from slavery. The process took much longer than expected. Many fled to the North to regain their freedom, which was theirs by right. Legal slavery was abolished from the North, but the slave population between the first emancipation and the end of the Civil War doubled from about 1.8 million in 1827 to more than four million in 1865. It was very difficult for Southern farmers and slave owners to immediately abandon a way of life to which they were accustomed and send away their slaves. White Southerners viewed African Americans as their workers. They lived with this mindset for so long, which made their transition difficult compared to the transition of slaves in the north. The Civil War was supposed to end slavery in the United States, but the victory could not maintain prejudiced feelings and beliefs. far. Newly freed African Americans who lived in the South...... middle of paper ...... while past prejudices and beliefs prolonged the desegregation process, African Americans still succeeded and were able to be free. Quoted Brannen, Daniel, Clay Hanes and Rebecca Valentine. “Segregation and desegregation.” Supreme Court Drama: Cases That Changed America. (2011): 873-879. Cartlidge, Cherese. Reparations for slavery. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Lucent Books, 2008. Chafe, William, Raymond Gavins, and Robert Korstad. Remembering Jim Crow. New York: La Nouvelle Presse, 2001. George, Charles. Life under Jim Crow laws. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 2000. Guelzo, Allen. “Should Black People Get Reparations?” Christian Science Monitor, 2009. Lichtenstein, Alex and Elizabeth Tenney. “A long struggle.” Pavé. (2013). Martin, Waldo and Patricia Sullivan. "Emancipation." Civil rights in the United States. (2000).