...Racism is a term that is often used to describe a variety of social, culture and economic problems, but has, unfortunately, acquired “so many contradictory meanings that it takes on the aura of a myth,” it has become increasingly difficult to define . Although the term wasn’t officially featured in the Larousse Dictionary until 1932, racism had been a dark cloud hanging over the global horizon for centuries (de Benoist, 1999). Whenever there are people of different cultural and social characteristics introduced into the mix, a recipe for racism and the hostilities it generates is created. Because racism defies a singular definition but is usually represented by the categorizing of people according to certain criteria, it can perhaps best be understood by discussing the issue itself in terms of such categories as the reasons for racism, its causes, why it continues, and how its meaning is ever-changing. It is widely accepted by sociologists that racism is essentially an ideology or belief system with its foundation cemented by three basic ideas. First, there is the fact that human beings can be divided naturally into different physical types (Vorster, 2002). For example, Africans are ‘typed’ by their dark skin color and by their curly hair; Asians are known for their ‘yellowish’ skin color, black hair and slanted eyes, etc. Often, solely on the basis of these physical traits, assumptions are automatically made that become “intrinsically related to their culture...
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...Statistics recorded there were forty nine million students enrolled in 2007 in U.S. schools, and that number was projected to increase to fifty eight million by 2015 (Howard, 2010). Over the past few decades the concern over the disparity between the rising number of students of color in comparison to, teacher of color has grown significantly (Waddell, 2012). According to Waddell (2012) researchers claimed that the demographic disparity between K-12 students and the teaching force not only harms the concept of equity , but that it also causes damaging effects on students’ achievement, particularly students of color. A growing concern about the demographic...
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...Case Study 1: How Racist Are Australians? Think about this topic broadly, but try to also think about the different ways that social scientists could study issues of race and racism in Australia. For example, there are important conceptual issues. How do we define terms like race and racism? Are there different kinds of racism (i.e. old racism? colour racism? new or cultural racism? institutional racism? Can you be racist towards someone on religious grounds, or is that something different? – if interested in the latter see Dunn et al 2007 in refs below). There are also historical and contemporary questions – who has experienced racism in the past in Australia, and who experiences it in today’s Australia? Then there are questions about how we examine the issues surrounding racism. How do we measure racism? Do we use survey questions about people’s beliefs? Are the kinds of questions asked in such surveys really measuring racism? (think about the survey explained in Dunn et al 2004). Can we use qualitative forms of research to investigate racism? What about assessing racism from the perspective of its victims (i.e. from those who have experienced racist acts, or forms of discrimination?) Are there particular groups of people more likely to hold racist beliefs? In what ways can we measure and assess the extent of racial discrimination in Australia? Can you think of any other good research questions that we could ask on this topic? Here are some further ideas of things...
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...The topic of my research report will be the life and works of Dr. David Harold Blackwell. He is a renowned mathematician, statistician, educator, and author. During a time of racism and discrimination, Blackwell went against all odds and excelled in the field of mathematics and statistics. He worked hard and soon became recognized both nationally and internationally from his works and studies, while also mentoring and teaching students to excel in the field of mathematics as well. Dr. David Harold Blackwell was the oldest of four children, born on April 24, 1919 in Centralia, Illinois. As a child, he quickly became interested by mathematics, especially topics that included theorems and equations. His parents discovered their son’s passion and wanted to foster it as well, so they decided to enroll him into integrated schools, rather than racially segregated schools. With being born during the era of racial discrimination and segregation, they wanted to make sure that their son would not be affected by the trials and tribulations of racism. With the support of his family and being taught within a school system that cultivated his learning, Blackwell’s fascination carried on and led to him being recognized in high school within the School Science and Mathematics...
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...and guiding force behind Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institution in Hampton, Alabama during 1881. He felt that industrial education was a way out from the horrible sharecropping and debt. His plan also wanted to achieve self-employment, land ownership and small businesses. “Yet one has the hand in all things essential to mutual progress”, being a personal quote from Booker T. at the Atlanta Compromise address in 1895. His major role was to influence the area of race relations and black leadership. He attacked racism and secretly founder of many anti-segregationist activities. Booker T. wanted to help black Americans rise up from the economic slavery, that had held them down long after they were legally free citizens. As being a dominant figure in black public affairs from 1895 until his death, he spoke heavily against lynching and worked towards making “separate” facilities more “equal”. Being a confident advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft was a very important role he acting in. No presidential, political appointments were allowed, unless they were cleared through him. In 1900, Booker T. Washington was a founder of the National Negro Business...
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...something. It gives us a view on how better he or she is compared to one another. The way it is in our society and generation; a superior car equals a superior person. This is obviously not a biological reason, yet this is a way we divide ourselves as individuals. This is very comparable to the "micro-level" of racism mentioned in the writings of Michael Omi and Howard Winant, which separates two people by a noticeable factor (Omi 12). Race has nothing to do with my or anyone else abilities or intelligence. In our society we build descriptions of an entire group of individuals that demonstrate a certain qualities of that separates one group from others. Our society defines these groups as stereotypes. When we glance at a group of people that stand out from social norms, we place them into another class. The motive is to not load ourselves with this excess of information. It is difficult to bear in mind everyone's individuality. This is why we have stereotypes. However, there are times when put a mark of superiority or inferiority onto another stereotype. We critic these stereotypes, and we do not distinguish the individuals in their group. That is how we view our stereotypes. Racism is more or less the exact same thing. When we see an African American, our view of them is a stereotypic African American. This goes as the same for other groups as well. It is much easier to group people collectively that our even our government stereotypes. It is too difficult to help every single individual...
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...CULTURAL DIVERSITY What is cultural diversity? Diversity is nothing more than a difference from the majority. In any culture there is a majority and many minorities. Culture is a set of norms that set standards for a society of what is acceptable behavior. In every culture there are basic standards for social interaction such as personal space distance, eye contact, amount of body language displayed in public, negotiating style, etc. In America, we stand about eighteen inches apart when engaged in normal conversation; prefer very direct eye contact; are pretty demonstrative with body language and negotiate very directly always asking the other party for their “bottom line”. In other cultures they may stand closer or farther than we are comfortable, may view direct eye contact as rude, be more or less open to displaying body language and negotiate more indirectly. In America, many of us have a peculiar habit of assuming that those who differ from our norms are wrong. We tend to view the world from a rather myopic view leading to those outside this country calling us “Ugly Americans”. Cultural diversity makes our country richer by making it a more interesting place in which to live. Just think how boring a meal would be without Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Italian, German, French or Indian food! Cultural diversity also makes our country stronger and better able to compete in the new global economy. People from diverse cultures bring language skills, new ways of thinking, creative...
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...Making the Environment and the People In It Sustainable In the summer of 2015, I was afforded the opportunity to do a six-week program at Howard University. This program, HCOP (Heath Careers and Opportunity Program), allowed me to expand my vision of what it really means to be in the STEM and health fields. On Wednesdays, we would have discussions about the contributions to health disruptions and disparities in our global society. The discussion that stood out to me the most is the one regarding environmental racism. Environmental racism is the systematic disruption of the livelihoods of people due to the environmental risks they face in their communities everyday. This injustice usually affects people of color and those is a lower socio-economic...
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...Mamie Phipps Clark was born Mamie Katherine Phipps. An African-American Psychologist who made a significant impact on developmental psychology. Mamie received distinguished alumni awards from both Howard and Columbia Universities. She also received honorary doctorate degrees from Williams College and the Pratt Institute and a noted fellowship award from the American Association of University Women for her research on the psychological effects of racism and segregation. Her contributions stimulated racial desegregation in education in order to improve the lives of minorities. She was born in 1917 and died in 1983. She was the eldest of two children born to Harold H. and Katie F. Phipps in Hot Springs, Arkansas where Mamie attended racially segregated elementary and secondary schools. She graduated Pine Bluff's Lanston High School in 1934 at the age of 16. After High School, Mamie enrolled in Howard University to major in Mathematics and Physics. After her first year at Howard University, Mamie met her future husband, Kenneth Bancroft Clark, who influenced her to change her major to Psychology due to her interest in children. She was enrolled into the Psychology program, she graduated magna cum laude in 1938 and then spent some time working in a law office where she was able to witness first-hand the damaging effects of segregation. She soon started graduate school and had two children while pursuing her studies. Her master's thesis titled “The Consciousness of Self in Negro Pre-school...
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...sexual assault. Despite these allegations tarnishing his legacy, Brown's impactful activism during the Civil Rights Movement and his lasting influence on athlete activism underscore his significant role in shaping societal perspectives on social change. Before the success that Jim Brown found in activism, it is crucial to understand his backstory. Jim Brown was raised in an all-black family on the island of St. Simon, Georgia to father Swinton Brown, a professional boxer, and his mother who was a housekeeper. Later, his family relocated to Manhasset, New York, when Brown was just eight. There he went to Manhasset High School, finding success in the school's football and basketball teams, averaging 38 points per game (Howard). During his time at Syracuse University, Brown was a versatile athlete, excelling at football, basketball, track and field, and lacrosse. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest lacrosse players in history and was a National Lacrosse Hall of Famer, having such a great impact that they had to change the rules of the game because of him (Boyd). Jim Brown was statistically exceptional during his time on the Cleveland Browns, and in his nine seasons of playing football professionally, he never missed a game. He has many accolades, including winning the NFL championship and 3 NFL M.V.P. awards, and setting a record for the most rushing yards per game average over a career, being 104.3 rushing yards a game (Streeter). On top of that, Brown left the NFL on a...
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...While Howard University professor Frank Snowden writes “the ancients did accept the institution of slavery as a fact of life; they made ethnocentric judgments of other societies; they had narcissistic canons of physical beauty.” Greece and Rome created an ideology that their barbaric slave system was “natural,” so did the modern slave-owning class. The only difference was that slavery was only natural because of race. African Americans were not human so they were born to be slaves. Come to find out, racism did not exist in the early years of slavery, but was created much later. In the 17th century Blacks in Virginia had more rights than Blacks in the Jim Crow South during the 20th century. In the 17th century blacks were able to bear arms, own land, and own their own servants and slaves. Frances Payne bought his freedom by earning money to buy three white servants to replace his own work. Alex Taylor of “The Roots of Racism” quotes Historian Eric Williams “here then, is the origin of Negro slavery. The reason was economic, not racial; it had to do not with the color of the laborer, but the cheapness of the labor… This was not a theory, it was a practical conclusion.” It was not just whites that had slaves...
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...this book, the pages began to fly. The concept alone, a father writing a letter to his son about the world and how to navigate it as a black man, spoke to me personally as I was going through situations with my own father. This book was unlike anything I had read prior. After hearing Coates depict Howard University, the Yard, and all of the knowledge he learned...
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...from a black working-class family that took pride in their heritage. As a child, Morrison enjoyed literature, unlike most children. She had a variety of favorite authors such as Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy. She later on attended an integrated school with Europeans, Mexicans and Southern blacks. Since she adored literature, she was the only black student in her first grade class who could read. She maintained excellent grades and graduated with honors from Lorain High School in 1949. Wofford continued her education at Howard University, where she majored in English with a minor in classics. During this time, she alternated her name to Toni, since most people had difficulty pronouncing her original name. In the years she spent at Howard, Toni participated in a repertory company and graduated in 1953; more over, she later on attended Cornell University and achieved her master's degree in 1955. Wofford taught introductory English at Texas Southern University in Houston. A year or so later she met Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect. The two ended up falling in love and eloped in 1958. They had their first son in 1961, who was named Harold Ford. Although, she was suffering from an unhappy marriage because she felt that her husband did not appreciate her literature. This lead her to joining a small writer’s group, where she realized that she needed to put her marriage to an end. However, before ending her marriage, she became pregnant with her second child. After giving birth...
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...African-American characters as realistically human. It promoted awareness among the blacks about civil rights and reform movements. Magazines like the The Crisis, and The Messenger, a socialist journal eventually connected to Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a black labour union, were crucial and strengthened the awareness of the colored people about what was happening around them.Negro World, the newspaper of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, also played a key role in spreading awareness. (Hutchinson lines 1-26) Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, Joplin, Missouri, USA. He died on May 22, 1967 in New York, New York, USA. He was American and was a poet, and a writer. His books had equality, condemned racism and injustice, and celebrated African American culture, humor, and spirituality. Langston Hughes’s creative genius influenced by his life in New York City’s Harlem a primary African American neighborhood. He had a strong sense of racial pride. Langston was the most important writer in the Harlem Renaissance. ( Langston Hughes lines 1- 12 ) Langston started to write in high school. He lived with his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas until he was 13. Then lived with his mother in Lincoln, Illinois, and Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland is where he went to high school. ( Langston...
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...Clark I chose Kenneth because; the Brown vs. Board of Education always interested me. Brown vs. Board of Education ended legal segregation of schools in 1954. Kenneth completed the “Doll Study” for the case. He studied the responses of more than 200 Black children who were given a choice of white or brown dolls (Kenneth B. Clark). With the dolls there was one white one with yellow hair and one black one with black hair. He found that African American children showed racism for white dolls from as early as three. So, this showed that segregation in schools was psychologically damaging. This is important to me because without segregation I would grow to hate people...
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