...Equality in America always has been and continues to be an uphill battle for minorities. From the days of the civil rights movement with Dr. King to the election of our first black president, there continues to be an obvious separation between races. Racism may have been at its height in the late 1950’s and throughout the 1960’s while Dr. Martin Luther King wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He compared his struggles to the apostle Paul who tried to spread the word of Christ from one small township to another, similar to Dr. King’s journey from town to town in the southern United States spreading the word of freedom and equality. Although Dr. King’s struggles lasted years, he faced an easier route than Indians during the 1700’s. Genocide was the European settler’s answer to different skin tone and differences in land agreements. Instead of marches in the street like the 1950’s, whites and Indians took to small battles and murder to resolve their issues. In America genocide has been unheard of locally for many years, but many genocides have taken place during 300 years in between the Indians and now, most famously the Nazi Holocaust. Currently in the 2000’s, in the United States, we experience more assimilation and pluralism than racism and genocide. Maybe the most significant example of pluralism is the election of our first black president Barack Obama, finally signifying that a minority could accomplish anything a white person could. Another big step before that...
Words: 379 - Pages: 2
...The American Dream has a different meaning for each different perception. It is defined as the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Concluding the background information of the American Dream additionally raises the question: Why is there such a heated debate in modern history involving equality and the pursuit of excellence? Many US-born citizens classify the dream as striving for wealth, freedom, and financial dominance. On the other hand, many immigrants perceive the American Dream as a pursuit of opportunity, to prove equality. Although statistics prove that the amount of disbelief in the American dream is steadily increasing, blatantly...
Words: 254 - Pages: 2
...RUNNING HEAD: African-American Progress to Attain Equality and Civil Rights 1 How African-Americans Worked to End Segregation, Discrimination and Isolation to Attain Equality and Civil Rights Paulette Dorsey HIS204: American History Since 1865 Instructor: Professor Marisea Stanley January 21, 2013 African-Americans Progress to Attain Equality and Civil Rights 2 How African-Americans Worked to End Segregation, Discrimination, and Isolation to Attain Equality and Civil Rights Since the period of slavery years, African Americans have gone through a hard period of isolation, discrimination and were segregated on the basis of their skin color. Disfranchisement, legalized segregation, discrimination, and exploitation had become a part of the American way of life. But, through vehicles as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, migrations to the North, several activists including Nat Turner, Fredrick Douglas, Richard Allen, and Booker T. Washington just to name a few, rose from the depths of slavery and the terror of lynching to win an equal place in American democracy. How African-Americans Worked to End Segregation and Discrimination Segregation is defined as “the practice that divides people in terms of color, religion, and even wealth” (Student Notebook, Webster’s Dictionary). African Americans went through a rough period where segregation laws and practices were in place to encourage racial separation. They were forced to ride...
Words: 2508 - Pages: 11
...Massive discrimination against African Americans was one of the hardest issues to overcome in the U.S. It took many decades for African Americans to gain equality amongst whites. Equality can be defined in many different way, depending how each person perceives equality. Our text discusses three different kinds of equality. The first one is equality of opportunity, which removes any obstacles that could have caused discrimination in the past. The second is equality of condition, which basically requires the government to redistribute income and resources in order to have materialistic equality among citizens. The third one is equality of result, which consists of expedited programs to achieve result of equality. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by congress to prohibit discrimination and racial segregation. Racial discrimination was an issue for a long time. There...
Words: 436 - Pages: 2
...African Americans and Their Fight for Equality Tiffany Brown HIS 204 July 2, 2012 1 - 1 - African Americans and Their Fight for Equality I have chosen to write about how African-American worked to end segregation, discrimination and isolation. There has been much work through the years to end segregation, discrimination and isolation and some things that have tried to be done without the use of violence. Today African-Americans still have to deal with others and their perceptions on segregation, discrimination and isolation. According to Lawson (2010), racial segregation was a system derived from the efforts of white Americans to keep African Americans in subordinate status by denying them equal access to public facilities and ensuring that blacks lived apart from whites. During the era of slavery, most African Americans resided in the South in mainly rural areas. Though we have faced many problems bigger than segregation, discrimination and isolation, there was an even bigger problem, which was slavery. Slavery is where a person could own another person, which back then was normal for those who resided in the South. Slaves did most of the work where they lived and most of them worked in mines or on plantations, while some became servants. Some people thought slavery was wrong, where as some thought that it was acceptable. The majority of slaves worked as plantation slaves in the production of cotton, sugar, tobacco and rice. From the beginnings of slavery...
Words: 1459 - Pages: 6
...Poverty, discrimination, segregation, oppression, violence. These are all a few of the many things that African Americans struggled with before the civil rights movement, and some even today. African Americans will most likely deal with some sort of unfair opinions and treatment forever, but hopefully not to the caliber as they were in the past. For decades, African Americans faced racism, unfair treatment and opinions, and everything that goes along with it. The Civil Rights movement was a movement that started in 1954 , and was made up of protests and other actions that were focused on obtaining one goal, equality for African Americans. Even today, African Americans face unfair treatment, and harsh judgement that still motivate them to strive for complete equality, and to be treated as so. The Civil Rights Movement...
Words: 1672 - Pages: 7
..."The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rigghts upon it," (Chief Joseph). Once the Civil War ended the entire country was under reconstruction and the start of that was the pursuit of equal rights. Slaves were trying to go from being tortured, beaten, and starved to being equal to the people who did that to them, so this caused a lot of discrimination and dispute once slaves were freed. Due to the fact of pursuit of equal rights freed slaves did gain political equality, but society saw them differently, so they didn’t gain economic or social equality. Due to African-Americans starting to influence the government and taking part in it, they started to gain political equality. "Revels becomes the first African-American...
Words: 596 - Pages: 3
...ANT 101 INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY GSF 1150H INSTRUCTOR SASHUR HENNIGER MICHELLE GLOVER PAGE 1 ZULU Zulu the three aspects of culture which will be used in the final cultural research paper, which I have done my research on Zulu, I thought it would be very interested in their cultural and Religious Traditions along with their Kinship ,and Sickness and Healing. Cultural and Religious Traditions Because of the impact of its colonial history on the nations political and economic and sociocultural, its is generally is identified more with southern Africa then with central Africa. Zulu is identify as a landlocked country, in 1980 a lot of groups struggle for their independent especially the European Cultures and their values helped shaped the urban along with the rural landscapes, after studying the Zulu cultural its seems more obvious then other cultures there’s a difference in Economics which is referred to African and Europeans when the whites and minority had lost political power after Independent Most of the African Widows Live in proverty, when their husbands dies they would be in mourning the majority of widows was caught up in witchcrafts. The Zulu people believed that there Religion is a force to be reckoned with. Zulu people are descended of the NGUNI people and they are known for their beads, every...
Words: 301 - Pages: 2
...Racial equality in the USA remains a distant dream – discuss The dream of racial equality has taken great steps towards becoming a reality in the past 50 years. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the election of the first black President are counteracted by events such as the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and the fact only nine African-American senators have ever been elected to the Senate. In this way although on the surface racial equality appears to be achieved, the reality is that with economic discrimination increasing during the recession, and instances of white flight increasing, racial equality has not yet fully been achieved in the USA. There were many formal attempts to establish civil rights in the USA from 1950s onwards. Before this the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments created to guarantee the rights African-Americans had been ignored by many states, especially in the deep South, meaning that for most blacks racial equality was a distant dream. However, the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the creation of affirmative action policies under JFK began to change things. For the first time government policy began to make up for years of historical discrimination against the African-American population. Affirmative action ensured that members of all previous disadvantaged minorities were given a head start, specifically in areas like education and deployment. With all federally funded projects from the 60s onwards...
Words: 1488 - Pages: 6
...highlights that fighting for equality is vital in the United States. Through his speech, he explains that equality needs to be achieved in order for the nation to come together again. Lincoln used various techniques to try to persuade people to strive for equality. He begins by referring to the Declaration of Independence, reminding all Americans of the prominent notion that “all men are created equal” (27)....
Words: 382 - Pages: 2
...Gender Equality Women have faced major discrimination when it comes to work and sometimes in education. Women decades ago had a wide range of opportunities denied to them due to their sex. Women have always been looked upon as the weaker sex and men as stronger and as the rulers. Women years ago were not seen as individuals, they were basically their husband’s slaves. Women were the ones to stay home, make dinner for their cranky and tired husband, look after their children, clean the house and answer to their husband. It was pretty safe to say that women were never the ones that over ruled this society, but “there have been huge changes…” (182) in gender equality. Gender equality has changed dramatically over the years and the shift toward gender equality will continue over the next years to come. It all started in the 19th century something important was born and it was the birth of the women's rights movement. Women were tired of being the “caregiver[s]” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage) while the men were the “breadwinners” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage). Women had to do change things around because they could not live the same life they were living. Many of the “women were suffering under the dominance of men in their lives” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage). It was time for women to fight for “gender equality in family and society economics, social, cultural, and educational fields” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage). It was not easy for...
Words: 1474 - Pages: 6
...Devotion to Our Country What Makes a Person an American? What does it truly mean to be an American? There are so many possibilities when it comes to answering this question. Is it your patriotism, equality, or your freedom? Many would say that all three of these things are large factors of being an American. It is seen as a rather obligatory job for Americans to take their citizenship seriously. If you are an American, you are encouraged to talk positively about your country, and also to fulfill your duties as a citizen. Using your freedom as an advantage, by voting, and participating in the enrichment of your country. To be an American is to be patriotic, express your equality, and embrace the freedoms presented by our founding fathers without overstepping boundaries. Patriotism is a very important aspect of most Americans' lives. To be patriotic is to have or express devotion and vigorous support for one's country. Everyday Americans show patriotism not only in simple actions, but also by taking extreme measures and risks in...
Words: 742 - Pages: 3
...The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 Leonard Stinson HIS204: American History Since 1865 Instructor John Durr December 5th, 2011 The African Americans: The Birth of Equality after 1865 This was a time when America was trying to find herself. These were the years known as the Reconstruction Period from 1865-1877. During this time period, the African-American people became free from slavery but one can only imagine what free really is. While the nation search for ways to establish true meaning of equality, African-American people continued to struggle to find out just what equality means and to have the same rights and freedom as the white people in the nation. Whether as slaves or free people, the political and social status of African Americans has always been to obtain the ability to participate in the nation’s economy. While many historians believe that slavery and politics can be attributed to the Civil War, more than 600,000 Americans died and with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation to start the motion to free the slaves, America became even more a divided country in 1865 than the previous earlier years (Bowles, 2011). Although freedom in the post-Civil War years did not guarantee equality, African Americans continued to struggle from racism, segregation and discrimination for many years, but the birth of equality is beginning to grow and show that all men and women are created equal. The effort to integrate...
Words: 3595 - Pages: 15
...Racial Equality in a modern society Racial Equality Brian Dugas University of Phoenix In the decades previous to the nineteen fifties, African Americans were the subject of more discrimination than any other race or religion in all aspects of being treated both as a person, and a race. These people were up until almost the mid 1900’s as slaves, even though slavery was abolished long before, even in the mid 1900’s, African Americans were still considered “second class citizens”, not seen as equals in the eyes of others. It was during the 1950’s that African Americans, and other racial authorative groups collaborated to change their status in society. This challenge of fighting against discrimination and for racial equality among racial groups became one of the most important times in United States history; it was the beginning of what we know as the Civil Rights Movement. The fight for racial equality started long before the 1950’s, in the early 1900’s, the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) was created by Booker T. Washington, and Webb Du Bios, Mr. Washington was actually an ex-slave. As the NAACP grew in numbers and support, the NAACP also published its own newspaper, showing progress, and enticing people to come forward to support for their rights. One of its first victories was the laws of segregation in housing, and also the right of African Americans to jury duty. The NAACP helped in establishing other groups...
Words: 1858 - Pages: 8
...The Civil War brought significant changes for African Americans, as they were freed from slavery. However, rather than achieving complete legal, political, and economic equality during the Reconstruction Era, which lasted from the end of the Civil War until 1877, African Americans continued to be second class citizens. As will be argued in this paper, African Americans experienced hardship and significant discrimination after 1877 due to racist laws, social, economic, and educational inequality; however, as laws and cultural sentiments about blacks changed during the Civil Rights Era, African Americans today have more political, economic, and educational opportunities than ever before. On the following pages, this paper will trace the path of African Americans to equality by discussing salient events in African American history from 1877 to the present. Significantly, as the author believes, while progress has been made since the nineteenth century, complete equality remains elusive even today for many African American men and women. The end of slavery did by no means lead to the immediate equality of African Americans in American society. The years after the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era, were characterized by wide-spread discrimination against African Americans. In the South, so-called Jim Crow laws effectively barred African Americans from having very basic civil liberties. Public and social life in the South but also in other places in the United States, was strictly...
Words: 1373 - Pages: 6
