King of America: The Dream of Equality. A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation

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King of America: The Dream of Equality
Part 1: Observation
Chapter four, “King of America: The Dream of Equality,” portrays how people were segregated based on their race and skin color before and after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The American dream was for all people to be treated equally regardless of their ethnicity, culture, race, skin color, and gender. However, even today, minorities continue to press hard when it comes to how they are handled by government institutions and organizations led by whites. In this chapter, the primary theme is equality. In particular, the most exciting thing is that even after the Emancipation Proclamation, Fifteenth, Fourteenth, and Thirteenth Amendments, African Americans continue to feel unequal when compared to other Americans (Cullen 107). Lincoln asserted that he might make slaves free, guarantee citizenship for African Americans, and even give them the voting right. Nevertheless, one thing he cannot do is to help them from having the perception that they are inferior. The fascinating thing from Lincoln’s statement was that he could not save minorities if they were not ready to redeem themselves from the chains of segregation. Consequently, there is a likelihood that the perception of white superiority by black people is what enslaves them even today.
Part 2: Passage
One of the quotes that stood out for me was a statement uttered by one black soldier after fighting alongside the white military on the battlefield during the Civil War. He said, “Why then should we not have equal rights with a foreigner, who comes to this country to fight for the preservation of the government” (Cullen 114)? From my perspective, although African Americans wer...