AfriGeneas Western Frontier Forum The Black West and Civil
Rights From Africa to the American West Nov. 2005 The Black West
and Civil Rights In an attempt to honor the loss of one of
America's greatest bellwethers of Civil Rights, Rosa Parks, I'm
writing this small piece on the West and Civil Rights. It's my
belief that the American Civil War was not fought to preserve or
eliminate slavery in the southeastern states, but to decide if
the economic benefits of slavery would be extended into the
American Western frontier. From Pottowatamie, Kansas to
California's Constitutional Convention of 1849, this conflict
was ten years in the making, millions of acres of land and
millions of dollars in future earning was at stake by this
decision and the international community played both sides of
the conflict realizing what was at stake. Furthermore, Manifest
Destiny had produced a breed of people who saw the opportunity
of being rulers of their own new country and the vast western
part of the continent was ideal real es