Westward Movement

During the westward migration of the U.S. after the Civil War, there were many hardships that settlers had to endure as they traveled. The west first had to be bought from different countries, before American settlers took to settle in it. Once the land was bought, the U.S. government left it open for anyone that had $10 (for a filing fee), and they received 160acres of land. But once there, getting the land wasn’t too much of a hassle, but it was the journey to get to the land that was. By having to cross dry vast deserts, disturbing Native American tribes (who in turn were not too happy about settlers moving on their land), and then trekking over large mountain peaks and steep valleys.
A crucial part in moving west, was the fact that settlers had to go through Native American tribes, and the natives were not happy about that, one bit. Settlers would often be wasteful in using either land or animals that the natives used. For instance buffalo, natives would use every single part of the buffalo, while settlers would only use the fur or eat the meat, and leave the rest. This made the natives furious, and they started to often retaliate against settlers. There was a tension build up between settlers and natives, and the way that the U.S. government often handled this, was my pushing the natives further west, by building cities and railroads. Good relations between natives and settlers weren’t just hard to make, but rare to even come by.
As settlers would move further west, they would come to realize that the Midwest and West is pretty much nothing but plains and deserts. Most of the south west was indeed desert, and it didn’t take long for settlers to realize that it wasn’t easy to get past. The deserts in the west have little to no water, unless settlers would dig deep enough to hit water, but for the most part the water would only be on the surface for a few hours, and then it was gone. It didn’t take long for settlers to realize that they needed to find an easier way across the west, to their surprise they found another route, but it wasn’t so much of being easy.
Finally, after running through the natives, and barely surviving the desert, settlers saw mountains in which they would try to climb over. At first it may have been a little simple, but soon it got harder. Often the mountain tops would fill with snow, making it almost impossible to travel with a horse and wagon through it. Also, there were steep ridges and long falls in mountains. Mountains were the final obstacle in the settler’s way, when they tried to move west, once they got over the mountains, it was time to make a home, and then farm.
Westward migration was indeed one of the most hardest things that the early American had to deal with. But, by finding newer and faster ways to travel west, such as the train, getting past natives, dry deserts, and mountains were no longer much of a hard task. As the settlers traveled, they had the opportunity to pay a $10 filing fee, and they would receive 160 acres of land from the U.S. government, that was one of the main reasons that settlers headed west.

Apartheid

The Civil War was the biggest battle fought on American soil, and it was against us. That war was about freeing black slaves, but in the process of their freedom, something worse happened than being slaves, and it was segregation. After the civil war, something called Apartheid was going on in South Africa, it is also segregation, but it is sort of on a higher level of segregation. Apartheid in South Africa was primarily started for three reasons to keep blacks at a lower level than whites, so as for the whites to keep control of the country.

During the start of the apartheid, the people that were in control of the government and country were white males. These men made it clear, that they did not want blacks near whites, and to make this happen they did a few things. Something that the men did, was segregate schools, doing that makes it harder for everyone to have the same education, and even harder to have a good job and move up in the ranks to change the government to make it more fair for all. Also, they segregated restaurants, bathrooms, beaches, and movie theaters. It was done, to make it seem as if blacks were inferior to whites and that they shouldn’t get or deserve anything that the whites do, and it worked for a while.

Later on, some peace driven people, such as Nelson Mandela, took to the approach of reaching higher within the South African government, in an effort to make life equal for all. In the process, he was put into jail, and likely had many threats against his life. For years, many people fought back in peace, while some others took to fighting against the racism. Sadly, almost all of the violence came from whites fighting against protesters.

To fight back, the whites had some restrictions put on blacks, they could not be within the city around the fall of night. The living conditions for blacks, was a small hut, crammed together with a community of other small huts. Plus, it was almost impossible for blacks to travel out of the city, without any sort of permission pass or cards. But, education was one of the main areas in which whites targeted. The task was simple and clear, mess with the knowledge system, and one can control, for knowledge is power. By attacking the blacks learning centers and segregating them, it made it harder for blacks to gain high knowledge as they progressed on into later grades.

The Apartheid in South Africa and the aftermath of the Civil War in the U.S. both were similar in the segregation that occurred to blacks. Although, some of the segregation and discrimination of blacks was more cruel and unusual, the people of South Africa have had to deal with it much longer, and still do. South Africans are working on living a more peaceful and united country, rather than segregating thy fellow brother.