The African American race changed dramatically throughout the 19th century. Abraham Lincoln's policies and the Emancipation Proclamation freed African Americans in rebel states, and soon the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery completely. However, some properties and characteristics have remained the same. Religion has remained the same in the black community; The most widespread religion in the 19th century was Christianity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay African Americans were still enslaved in the early 19th century. Many enslaved African Americans lived on plantations. Slaves had no constitutional rights; meaning they couldn't even marry or own land. There was also the domestic slave trade, which was the largest and most significant in 1808. This term meant that enslaved African Americans were reassigned to every state in the United States. Many changes began to occur, but it was mainly during the American Civil War when Abraham Lincoln began to appear in the picture. Abraham Lincoln was often called "the great emancipator", due to the fact that he was anti-slavery. Abraham Lincoln tried as much as he could to help the slaves and came up with a policy called the Emancipation Proclamation. This was one of the major turning points for African Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation declared that “all persons held as slaves are and hereafter shall be free.” However, this policy only applied to rebel states, such as Alabama, Florida, and Arkansas. Nevertheless, this policy greatly helped African Americans; for the proclamation declared that the Union Army and Navy would begin accepting men with black skin. Nearly 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom by the end of the war. Before the end of the Civil War, they adopted the 13th Amendment. The 13th Amendment was adopted by Congress on January 31, 1865; it declared the abolition of all kinds of slavery in the United States. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime of which the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or in any place subject to their jurisdiction. » Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom article now from our expert writers. Get a custom essay However, the Emancipation Proclamation didn't solve everything. The promise (the saying) made to slaves “forty acres and a mule” did not come true for former slaves. After being freed in the United States after the Civil War, many African Americans sought to reunite with their families and acquire land of their own. However, the guarantees of “40 acres and a mule” were now no longer fulfilled for almost all former slaves. Ten years after emancipation, only 5 percent of former slaves in the former Confederate states owned land. Those who harvested some land often did not have the means to increase it due to loss of credit. Although there were many white Americans who considered themselves abolitionists and opposed the group of slavery before and after the Civil War, there were also white Americans who wanted to maintain slavery's reputation quo and the separation of white and black communities. . The same types of animosities persisted before and after the Civil War.