It is almost an insurmountable challenge to separate the deeply embedded African culture in the manner and ways through which African-Americans who were enslaved in the United States during the 18 th and 19 th century behaved and coped with the challenges that faced them. Research studies indicate that aware of the strength that the culture of the Africans would give to them with respect to intellectual awareness together with a sense of unity and purpose, African-American slaves were strictly forbidden by law and their masters to practice their native culture ( Mintz & Price, 2013) . This encompasses any activities that would have been regarded as being cultural including the communication language that was used by slaves, with the slave masters prohibiting the use of native African languages on their slave farms. However, regardless of this and as is evident in the practices and culture of African Americans, African cultural practices and traditions played a critical role in forming the modern culture of African Americans together with aiding them to go through the slavery period.
One cultural practice that was deeply embedded among African American folks and that has been traced back to African cultural beliefs, traditions and practices has been the telling of folk-tales which were used by the slaves to record their experiences at the hand of their masters ( Mintz & Price, 2013) . Research findings point out to the fact that folk tales were often told in secrecy given the nature of information that was entailed in the folk tales told to slaves were the glimmer of hope in a future where the slaves would be accorded their freedom and the human rights they were denied ( Mintz & Price, 2013) . Through the recording of the tales and stories, the African Americans who were both free and enslaved were able to garner the confidence and inspiration to advocate for the rights of those who had been enslaved given the awareness of the struggle that their predecessors had endured.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Additionally, research identifies the fact that West African traditions were deeply rooted in religion and the belief in the super natural. Various cultural practices delineated to the existence of a supreme being who was considered to have control over natural phenomena that occurred including weather, natural calamities and other similar factors ( Ogbar, 2019) . However, African American slaves were restricted from practicing their traditional religious practices and rather forced to take up the religion of their colonial masters, most of who were Christians. African American slaves were deeply committed to the Christian religious practices given the hope and faith that religion gave to the enslaved individuals for better days to come ( Ogbar, 2019) . Moreover, religion was used as a unifying factor together with the church among the freed African Americans in addition to raising awareness on the tribulations of those who were captives on the land of their masters ( Ogbar, 2019) . These two factors critically contributed to the ability of African American slaves to survive through the tumultuous and demeaning period that was the slavery period during which they experienced among the most savage and inhumane forms of disregard for human rights and dignity.
Events that demonstrate the ability of enslaved and free African-Americans to overcome the legal limitations to dignity and self-respect
One of the most relevant events that clearly demonstrates the ability of African-Americans to overcome the legal limitations to dignity and self-respect can be identified to be the abolition of slavery in the whole of the United States by the thirteenth amendment ( Curran, 2017) . The thirteenth amendment was passed immediately succeeding the civil war, where slave masters in the South put up a spirited fight in a bid to defend the practice of slavery together with the continuation of the oppression and discrimination of African Americans. This was a monumental moment both in US history and the historical timeline of African Americans as it can be established to be a manifestation of the struggle, pain and endurance that African Americans had to endure for approximately two centuries.
The fact that the slave masters were inhumane and profit driven such that they collectively chose to brazenly ignore the oppression to human rights that slavery was points to the magnitude of the victory that abolition was to enslaved African Americans ( Curran, 2017) . Through abolition, it became apparent that the efforts put in place by the abolitionist movement together with the blood shed that was experienced as a result of slave revolts and uprisings in various plantations were not in vain. Various African American slaves and free citizens had either been executed or imprisoned for either trying to escape or for organizing and attempting to mount revolts against their masters ( Curran, 2017) . All these efforts could therefore be said to have been vilified by the accordance of the various rights and freedoms that had been stripped away by slavery.
Additionally, another event that could be taken to be a demonstration of African Americans to overcome the oppression and denial of their basic human rights was the occurrence of the civil war. The war occurred as a result of the hard and opposing stances taken by abolitionists who continued to maintain that slavery should be abolished and the plantation farmers of the south together with stakeholders in the North and South who favored the slavery institution ( Curran, 2017) . Additionally, the war was greatly influenced by the Westward expansion of slavery and slave trade into the North despite the social reservations of many citizens of the North to the practice to together with the political opposition mounted to object to the proliferation of slavery in America. To this extent therefore, the war could be termed as a manifestation of the long simmering tensions among those who advocated for the freeing and emancipation of all saves against those who valued the institution of slavery ( Curran, 2017) . This delineates the fact that the efforts that enslaved and free African Americans took in demonstrating the opposition to slavery and the mistreatment of individuals of African descent has finally paid off with various parties coming to join arms with them against slavery and discrimination.
How the events demonstrate the ability of the constitution and declaration of independence to live up to their promises
The United States of America stands to be among the most pristine examples of the successful application of stipulations of democratic rule in addition to standing tall among the most profound defenders of human rights and dignity during the 21 st century. This has been traced back to the formulation of the basic foundations of what it encompasses to be a citizen of the USA together with the specific rights and freedoms that the citizens of the nation would enjoy ( Lundberg, 2016) . The foundations and principles that guide the lives and conduct of Americans and its leaders are enshrined in two documents which are regarded highly by the nation, one being the constitution of the USA and the other being the declaration of independence of the USA ( Lundberg, 2016) . These two documents have been relied upon all through history by the most monumental American leaders and voices of the people who prevalently use them as references of the rights and freedoms that all the citizens of America should enjoy.
The declaration of independence of the USA categorically states that all men are created equally and are inherently born with natural rights of life, liberty together with the pursuit of happiness. Proponents of the abolitionist movement often and prevalently referred to the fact that all men were created equally to advocate for the freedom of slaves stipulating it that it was wrong for man to oppress and discriminate against another, especially one considered an equal ( Lundberg, 2016) . Additionally, the opposition to slavery by most individual was enshrined in the fact that slavery was to a large extent a denial of the basic and inherent human rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The abolition of slavery could therefore be termed as a manifestation of the implementation of the declaration of independence ( Lundberg, 2016) . Moreover, the civil war was also motivated by the belief in the proponents of abolition in the declaration of independence and the fact that all individuals should be free and treated equally given that all of them were created equal by God.
Additionally, the constitution of the USA for the implementation and enforcement of laws and rules that to a large extent act to serve and realize the stipulations of the declaration of independence. During the abolition of slavery, the decree was written in the constitution within the thirteenth amendment which largely acted as an affirmation of the fact that indeed the act of slavery had been abolished within the borders of the United States of America ( Lundberg, 2016) . Additionally, those who were opposed to the abolition of slavery leading to the civil war sighted the protection of the act within the constitution of America using it to defend their actions and their belief in the institution of slavery within the US as the sole means to assure development ( Lundberg, 2016) . For instance, the constitution protected the enslavement of individuals by prohibiting free states from interfering in the matters pertaining to slavery. To this extent, enshrining the abolition of slavery critically contributed to the alleviation of the discrimination and oppression leveled against blacks.
References
Curran, F. (2017). Democracy and the American Civil War: Race and African Americans in the Nineteenth Century ed. by Kevin Adams and Leonne M. Hudson. West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies , 11 (1), 76-78.
Lundberg, J. M. (2016). One Nation Divided by Slavery: Remembering the American Revolution While Marching Toward the Civil War. Civil War Book Review , 18 (3), 23.
Mintz, S. W., & Price, R. (2013). The birth of African-American culture. In African-American Religion (pp. 46-62). Routledge.
Ogbar, J. O. (2019). Black power: Radical politics and African American identity . Johns Hopkins University Press.
