Slavery had existed for many years and they were used to doing all the work for their “owners”. They were often mistreated, beaten, raped, overworked, etc. The list goes on and on. Slavery was basically another form of prison because they really had no choice or say because they were considered "nothing" and just people who would do all the work for their "owners" for little to no money, almost like animals domestic. . Now, while states allowed it, some were against slaveholding, so this became an issue that national and state governments needed to be made aware of. While the issue lasted about 3 or 4 years, finally in 1865 the 13th amendment was passed by the congress of the US constitution and on January 31, 1865 it was finally ratified after slavery was abolished. This conflict in particular was no walk in the park and didn't just last a couple of months or a year, it went on for a while until the matter was brought to the federal government and finally resolved. This wasn't the only thing African Americans had to fight for because they had another problem coming