The quest for freedom, recognition, and protection under the Constitution has been a struggle for African Americans. Their journey was filled with slavery, physical and psychological torture and persecution. Although most of their hardships were experienced in the South, the North was not considered a safe haven unless an African American was a documented free slave. Even then they were not considered equal for a long time. While black and white abolitionists and free slaves in America supported the abolition of slavery, Southern whites were willing to defend the existence of slavery until they were forced to abandon it. This force, rooted in ethnocentrism, power, racism, and the pursuit of wealth, was difficult to defeat, but was ultimately defeated through education, civil war, conflicting economic interests, rebellions, and courage. harsh reality. The typical slave working on a plantation would wake up at dawn and begin picking cotton. Much of the cotton grown in the South was sold to England, fueling the Industrial Revolution and enriching plantation owners. A “privileged” slave might be seen working in a plantation owner's home as a nurse for his children, a cook, or a housekeeper. While it may seem that work in the slave owner's home was preferred to grueling physical labor performed in the hot, humid climate of the South, this was not the case. In the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs recounts her experiences working in Dr. Flint's house. Harriet grew up in Doctor Flint's house and was the slave of Miss Flint, Doctor Flint's daughter. . She was taught to read and write, which was rare for a Slav... middle of paper ......g with abolitionists countered the strong economic and cultural forces of the South that drove slavery through education, freedom of word and slavery. determination. This conflict has not overcome all existing forces, such as racism and ethnocentrism. For example, the white superiority mentality was illustrated when the Supreme Court defined the separate but equal doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson. The pursuit of maximum equality and freedom for all Americans continues to be an ongoing struggle. Education and a revolutionary mindset are necessary to overcome the forces of racism, greed, and control that continue to exist and repress. Works Cited Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the life of a slave. New York: Penguin Group, 2000. Print.Zinn, Howard. A popular history of the United States: 1492–present. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.