Current modernists attempted to progress from the terrible prejudice against African Americans, yet traditionalists impeded the new movement for black equality. Many people are influenced by previous experiences and expect situations to continue endlessly without change, similarly F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: “So we row on, boats against the current, carried back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald). In the deepest meaning, this quote means that as human beings we are constantly trying to relive what has already happened, and if we tried a little harder or ran a little faster, events could have had a different outcome. I believe this is an important point of differentiation between modernists and traditionalists in the South. Throughout history, wealth has been defined by the amount of slaves you owned: the more slaves you had, the richer you were. However, during the 1860s, during Lincoln's presidency, slavery was abolished and times changed in the United States. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforth shall be free." States Government; National Archives.) Southern plantation farmers were enraged by the new law and seceded from the United States and formed a confederacy, which led to Civil War Despite the inclusive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways as it applied only to states that they had seceded from the Union. After years of fighting, the North won and began reconstruction. Reconstruction was a difficult task and was not taken lightly, as after the defeat the South harbored much resentment and hostility towards... ... middle of paper ......such, gays, lesbians, Asians, Muslims, Mexicans, Italians, and many other African American races add a portion of diversity to the United States as a whole and are a great people. Works Cited Bryant, Jonathan M. "The Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era." New Encyclopedia of Georgia. 09 May 2013. Web. 21 May 2014. Ginzburg, Ralph. 100 years of lynchings. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic, 1988. Print."Reconstruction and Its Aftermath." Reconstruction and Its Aftermath, a part of the African American Odyssey exhibit, discusses the hardships faced by free blacks during the Reconstruction period. Network. May 21, 2014. Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2000) United States. National Park Service. “Jim Crow Laws.” National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, May 12, 2014. Web. May 20 2014.