...In Toni Morrison’s the novel “The Bluest Eye”, it provided a comprehensive understanding of how whiteness is the preferred beauty standards, which misleads the lives of African American women and children. Morrison is a master at examining the relationships between the races and genders. She also talks about the struggle between civilization and nature, despite the fact that if it is myth. Morrison has a unique way in her writing that causes the reader to get visual through her narrating stories. Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye demonstrates her creative techniques to express the struggles of how African American girl’s deals with society’s concepts of beauty, self-hatred, self-worth, and family. As many individuals may know that beauty is...
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...In response to the act of violence done towards Trayvon Martin, President Obama explains, “When Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago… I think it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away”. The history of the African American community in the United States that President Obama is mentioning is the concept of the construction of whiteness and how that “whiteness” has been used repeatedly against the Black community. Trayvon Martin is not the first nor the last victim of this history and stand your ground culture which Kelly Douglas explains in her book, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God. Then the question comes to us when we observe these acts of violence, who or what is responsible for the acts of violence in the world like the murder of Trayvon Martin? Do we blame the murderer, George Zimmerman, who felt that Trayvon Martin was a...
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...Feb. 11, 2016 Ethnic Studies Week 6 *Paper due in 3 weeks Immigration, Eugenics, White Ethnics, Mexican Americans U.S. Immigration Legislation (Tyner, 60) -1907: U.S. Japan Gentlemen’s Agreement -Denied entry to Japanese laborers -1917: Immigration Act -Denied entry to illiterates (meant to exclude Southern and Eastern Europeans) -Designated an “Asiatic Barred Zone” denying entry to people from the lands between India, Australia, and Japan 1924: Johnson-Reed Act (National Origins Act) -Promoted by the American eugenics movement -Designated to maintain national purity and security -America should remain a white, Protestant nation -All others must either assimilate or be relegated to a permanently inferior status. *Eugenics want to keep white/Anglo-Saxon -Product of scientific racism - Applied to Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory to modern, industrial civilization (Social Darwinism) -1890s: popular with educated Americans concerned about an imminent “race suicide” due to low Anglo-Saxon birth rates -1903: American Breeders Association founded -1906: its Committee on Eugenics formed “to emphasize the value of superior blood and the menace to society of inferior blood.” -1908: first Eugenics Society (England) -1909: first professorial Chair in Eugenics established (University College, London) -By 1910: emergent international eugenics movement proclaimed itself “the science of human improvement through programs of controlled...
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...The character of Pecola is the most affected by the standardized ideology of racism through the concept of beauty. The unreachable concept of white beauty victimizes Pecola and allows the African American community to also discriminate and address their self-hatred toward Pecola. In contrast to Claudia, Pecola has no self-love for herself as she always sees herself through the eyes of others and her only aspiration is to conform to the standard of beauty to be accepted in the community. The narration of the book allows readers to unfold that it was Pecola's own assumption to feel ugly and that her deep internalization of white beauty standards and their value drives her to her ultimate insanity. The character of Pecola loses or never has...
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...However, the present paper is concerned with intraracial discrimination within the African-American community. Because African-Americans have historically been victimized by racial discrimination coming from Caucasians, it is unusual to think of racial discrimination within their own community. Yet the fact that African-Americans were historically introduced to American society as the slaves of Caucasians “forced them to view themselves negatively while viewing their white counterparts positively” (Smith, 2004, p. 1). This dynamic created an inherent and conflicted valuation of whiteness and caused divisiveness between African-Americans based on skin color variations. The cause of intraracial discrimination between African-Americans may be due to the fact that lighter-skinned African-Americans have historically received preferential treatment over darker-skinned African Americans (Washington, 2000; Goldsmith, Hamilton, and Darity, 2007; Darity and Mason, 1998). A study of wage earnings between Caucasian workers and African-American workers of varying skin shade indicated that, while light-skinned African-American workers earned about 7% less than Caucasian workers, medium- and dark-skinned African American workers earned about 17% less than Caucasian workers (Goldsmith et al., 2007). This sharp discrepancy between the wages of light-skinned and medium- and dark-skinned African-Americans...
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...Grace Elizabeth Hale’s Making Whiteness demonstrates how the culture of segregation came to be. In the second half of her book, Hale argues the contradictions embedded in the culture of segregation that Southern whites have created and the way lynching had modernized and perfected violence which would then be used as a means for consumer culture. This paper will begin with a short summary of Hale’s arguments; next it will touch upon the importance of violent display on the phenomenon of public lynching. Altogether it will become evident that participation and consumer culture of lynching was used as a method for Southern whites to preserve their superior status. After emancipation African Americans were now free to purchase and consume goods in the same space as whites. This...
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...think about race, class, and gender as interlocking systems of oppression. Multiple levels of domination are experienced through people being oppressed and discriminated. Hill Collins introduces this dominant theory of multiple levels of domination that involves gender as a site of identity and politics that sometimes involves African people. Collins believes that Afrocentric feminism is ultimately anchored in the unique experiences and struggles of ordinary African American women. Gender is always gender when spoken about in any race or nationality....
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...States continues to explain how mainstream Americans disown the new wave of Jewish immigrants who were met with isolation of their race from society, stereotyping them to a deliberate standard, and having government laws in place to restrict their growth as a race.Jewish immigrants were considered to be low-class Americans as a result they had to fight there way to whiteness. Jewish school children of this time were asked to not identify themselves as Americans and therefore were categorized by nigerences, having the features and mannerisms of a negro. Thaddeus Russell states “In Philadelphia, public schools require students to fill out questionnaires on their racial makeup and...
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...Black Africans first arrived in the United States “primarily as slaves centuries ago”, however “contemporary black African immigrants either voluntarily migrate to the U.S. or migrate to seek a safe haven…through involuntary or forced migration.” African immigrants come from many different African countries, however a majority of African immigrants originate from West African countries. Just as the North American continent has various countries of diverse people, the same applies to Africa. However, most native-born Americans, including politicians do not view Africans to be as diverse as they truly are, rather they are viewed as a whole. From the time of the north American slave trade there has been an anti-black narrative pushed by authority figures to continue to excuse human slavery. I believe that the evidence provided in this module proves that anti-black ideologies exist in contemporary...
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...efforts to abide by the accepted sociological norm of whiteness; despite being from a Latino decent, I have found myself product of the unspoken “normalcy” of white culture. My first example of this is that when I’m entering the main college campus at the University of Rhode Island Kingston Campus, I have found myself either turning down or switching the Spanish radio station to something more “American” or “white” because I fear of how I would fit in or be looked upon. Second, I have noticed that when I tend to go out with some of my friends, especially those who happen to be white, I always have little to no saying on the places we visit; this again, for fear that the places I decide on are not a representation of whiteness. Thirdly, I have found that in connection to my normalcy number two, I tend to order relatively the same foods that my white friends order, instead of ordering something that I really want; my order to the waitress is more on the accepted sociological belief of what whiteness constitutes. (11) – Though it might be strange to think about Racism in two different spectrums or categories, the reality of the matter is that indeed, Racism can be divided into two sections. When we think about racism, the first image that comes to our mind is that of another...
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...Black male. Being the minority and part of societies out-group hinders those even if they are not being oppressed knowingly by their white counterparts, who should be educated and made aware of this unseen discrimination. Unearned Privilege Critical Race Theory Critical race theory examines society closely and partly signifies that racism is engrained in American society. Being White and part of the in-group is something critical race theory takes a look at, and is the other side of the coin of being racist, whether it is consciously or unconsciously. Whites in general are born with opportunities Blacks are not inherently given. It is a choice to be racist, but it is not a choice to choose your race, Michael Jackson excluded. The system of white privilege in North America has been long established, going back to when the Europeans came to this strange continent by accident. When the British and French set up colonies, they fought and oppressed the native americans, establishing dominance that carries on to this day, but not only with Native americans, but any other hyphenated group, ie African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, etc. Being in the dominant group does not make you a racist, a student in a study done by Greason (2012) stated “I am white, but does that make me an oppressor by not being able to change the system of white privilege? As an open-minded and fun-loving individual, it seems that my whiteness is a blessing but also a curse, because I know...
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...The Immigration Act of 1924 sparked conversations surrounding whiteness that complemented nativist practices towards Italian immigrants. During and after WWI, the sweeping immigration of Italians was met with white backlash surrounding their ethnic and national backgrounds, with many whites branding Italians as swarthy, illiterate, and ragpickers.” Furthermore, fiction novels of the early twentieth century portrayed Italians as distinctly non-white. While the Immigration Act was well received by white nativists behind such xenophobic actions, heavily biased mathematical engineering behind the quota system inadvertently spurred the consolidation of an Italian ethnic identity through geo-national pride. While the Immigration Act of 1924, influenced...
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...Biracial Identities within the African American and White Communities Black enough, white enough, light or dark enough are just a few aspects to a biracial individual’s physical perception. For many with one ethic background, understanding who and what they are tends to be reflections of the expectations that are held by society. Those who carry a dual ethnic background have dealt with many expectations of identification not only by society but by standards upheld culturally as well as a parental influence in regards to exposure to both ethnicities. From early interactions of blacks and whites, a slave master and his slaves operated with a purpose to erase blacks from society and purify the American race. These actions transitioned the views of biracial individuals into a focus of passing through society as color was essential and being too dark was detrimental. Historically, self identification and association with specific ethnic backgrounds were dismissed to fit society’s standards causing one to identify as more white than black. Passing through the early 20th century became an important component to a person deriving from the African American and White communities. Jim Crow laws and other governmental provisions denied many African Americans opportunities in everyday life because of their darker skin causing a huge jump for those who were biracial; black and white to take advantage of their light skin to “pass” in order to get through society. Light bright skin just as pale...
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...easily understood that black Americans have gone through a plethora of things while in this country: slavery, segregation, endless discrimination, etc. Richard America (this is his actual name) is a professor at Georgetown University School of Business has stated that reparations must be acknowledged; that the acknowledgement will help Americans get past ceaseless debates over “set-asides”, enforced diversity, and affirmative action. While the professor doesn’t believe that the costs of these...
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...RUNNING HEAD: Pre-Prospectus An Exploration of the Reproduction and Perpetuation of Socio-historical Oppression in U.S. Schools: Pre-prospectus La’Quaria Barton Georgia Southern University Dr. Delores Liston, Dissertation Chair Dr. Daniel E. Chapman, Committee Member Dr. Lorraine S. Gilpin, Committee Member Dr. Robert Yarbrough, Committee Member TENTATIVE CHAPTER OUTLINE Chapter 1: Introduction * Background of the Problem * Statement of the Problem * Purpose of the Study * Research Questions * Importance of the Study * Scope of the Study * Definition of Terms * Limitations Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework Chapter 3: Review of the Literature Chapter 4: Research Methods * The Qualitative Paradigm * Qualitative Methods * The Researcher's Role * Data Sources * Data Collection * Data Analysis * Ethical Considerations Chapter 5: Research Findings Chapter 6: Conclusions, Discussion, and Suggestions for Future Research * Summary * Conclusions * Discussion * Suggestions for Future Research Towards A Phenomenology of Liberation From the very start, I am thus fully endorsing the premise that no account of race can be dissociated from a critique of power and a social historical ontology of ourselves (de Oliveira, 2010, 209). INTRODUCTION I grew up in rural North Carolina. When I was in the third grade, I watched as five of my white peers were pulled from class to attend gifted courses. I always wondered why, I, who had always worked...
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