Within the first 150 years of Colonial America, it was clearly established that Blacks had no place in America, short of being the property of white colonists. Slave codes were established to divide and conquer, moreover, to separate the lower class by making poor whites identify social status with skin color. This sectarian view fermented complacency towards the plight of Black America. Black Lives did not matter, but in reality, they were America’s greatest asset. By 1850, enslaved Americans were worth $1.3 billion or one-fifth of the nation’s wealth. Within a decade, human collateral exceeded $3 billion and was worth more than the nation’s banks, railroads, mills and factories combined. The South (the Confederacy) seceded to maintain a system of oppression, for profit, at the expense of Black livelihood. The Civil War was fought to protect the financial interests of a racist south. In the battle of North vs. South, America fought its bloodiest war to date. When the South lost, they lost everything. Blacks were “emancipated” and lands were forfeited. Organizations, like the Ku Klux Klan, were established to enforce perpetual retribution against the enslaved that betrayed them. In the North, Blacks were also targeted as being seen as the source of our deadliest war. We became the cancer of America. Why did the institutions of America replace “Slave Codes” with “Black Codes (Jim Crow Laws)?” How did America become so desensitized and shielded behind the precepts of “necessary evil?” Why is President Lincoln canonized as a humanitarian even though he’s professed his indifference towards the institution of slavery? How did the Black consciousness evolve under the purview of freedom?

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