Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Brief history of racism
Racism and its effect on society
Effects of racism on society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Document A states, “John W. Stephens, State Senator from Caswell, is dead. He was found murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in the Grand Jury room.” This details the brutal and exemplary murder of a Republican by the white terrorist group known as the KKK. Intimidation tactics like this threatened reconstruction because it made Republicans hesitant to run for office for fear of violence. This prevented the passing of acts that would advance African Americans in society.
42 is a story about Jackie Robinson, the renowned baseball player who broke the colour barrier by becoming the first African-American to join the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers (“42”). It portrays the struggles, mainly racism, Robinson had to go through while he was in the baseball team and how he managed to overcome them. The world is a constantly judgmental place. This can be seen through the segregation of the Blacks and Whites, media being dominated by the majority and racism against the Blacks.
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when he became the first African American to play Major League Baseball. He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, and was named Rookie of the year that year, national league mvp in 1945, and a world series champ in 1955. Born january 31st, 1919, in cairo georgia, Robinson became the first african american athlete to play major league baseball of the 20th century. Throughout his decade long career, Robinson thought of himself as talented player, and a vocal civil rights activist. In 1955, he helped the Brooklyn Dodgers win the world series.
Though another standpoint is Bailey’s, who didn’t consider the actions of the KKK to allow them to be called heroes or terrorists. He didn’t talk about all the lynching’s made famous by the KKK, but called their activities “tomfoolery”. (15) Finally, Norton goes into detail by saying that the leaders of the KKK “allowed factionalism along racial and class lines to undermine party unity.” (19) Norton describes more about the main reason as to why the KKK was created and the purpose of existing, which was to terrorize the freed slaves and to make the south the way it was before the
Black communities in the south changed the status quo through the construction of black churches and schoolhouses that would be the center of communal activities. The black community repressed their enslaved past and self-empowered their communities in the post-emancipated world. White vigilantes saw these actions as a threat, thus created violence by “…burned down black churches and schoolhouses and drove off repugnant teachers and minsters.” These black community centers were a threat of the Ku Klux Klan even though it was in the beginning stages of growing in power. The assembly of the black communal centers became a crucial tactic of the Klan members that took advantage to implement violent methods of torture to a large group of African Americans.
Hardly any lynchings led to mass expulsions of African Americans from their communities, until the Forsyth County Race Riots of 1912. The Forsyth County Race Riots of 1912 were a tragic manifestation of deep-seated racial tensions, fueled by white supremacist ideology and a desire to maintain racial segregation. Through an analysis of the cause, event,
De jure segregation in the United States started to decline with the Brown vs Board Of Education Supreme Court ruling in the 1950s, and continued to decline through the actions of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and others who protested against the system in hopes of being heard. But even with the passing of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s, segregation is still a prevalent force in today’s society. De facto segregation is still felt today, with riots occurring within the past ten years in Ferguson and in Baltimore, predominantly due to police brutality and income inequality. These riots, coupled with actions such as the unjustified killing of Trayvon Martin and the murder of Eric Garner while in police custody, help to show that where we are today is no better than the racist times of de facto segregation and Jim Crow. When events like these occur in today’s
White vs. Native Americans Knowing the fact that Native Americans were pushed toward the Middle West and had to settle down against their wills are depressing. When the first Europeans came to this remote land and decided to make it their home, I was not sure whether they could imagine that the whole land is dominated by “invaders” called by the Native Americans, including the native Hawaii. “From a Native Daughter” by Haunani-Kay Trask showed us how these Natives’ feelings are being overlooked and silenced by white historians who do not know their language and culture. The author questioned Western historians were “looking at them with Western eyes, thinking about them within Western philosophical contexts, categorizing them by Western indices,
It was September 17, 1957 when Reverend. Fred Shuttlesworth and his family were brutally beaten after traveling miles to a Birmingham high school to improve his daughter’s education and create a better overall life for her. They were ambushed by the Ku Klux Klan when they first arrived. The Klan was very barbaric and they beat the Shuttleworth family with brass knuckles, clubs, fists and chains until they were plastered with bruises. This act of racism affected them greatly by showing them that they were not welcome in neither of these two places: their home that they traveled from and any place in the country they potentially could travel to in the future because of their skin pigment.
White supremascists Shawn Berry Lawrence Russell Brewer and John King started a major racial controversy by murdering James Byrd Jr. It came as a shock to people when, for the first time in history, the press bothered to notice the lynching of a black man in Texas, society was astonished that they cared with such passion and vigor. Many American citizens found this appalling considering the country’s indifference to racial violence. Had it not been for the lynching of James Byrd Jr., the Hate Crimes Prevention Act would not exist, therefore countless acts of brutality would take place because there would not be any rules or resistance impeding them from committing the crime.
The supreme court agreed with Judge Ferguson and racism in the US was let loose. That was until the supreme court looked back on their ruling and changed it, making it so that Jim Crow was a hate sign and kicking him off the stage (Jim Crow
Terror groups rose up to assure white supremacy in the South. African Americans could never win, especially when the Ku Klux Klan always forced them into debt. Although government awareness was brought up when they interviewed Henry Blake in Document 5, nothing could be done to stop the terrorizing feelings of individuals who fail to see that people of color are human as much as someone white is. African Americans worked to get the rights they deserved so of course they would be proud of what they accomplished. Document 4 is an account of Lucy McMillan, an African American, who had her house burned down by the Ku Klux Klan for “bragging” about her land owning rights.
Moreover, Malcolm X believed that the christian american government wouldn’t be able to help. During his talk with a ranking african leader, Malcolm states(pg 406), “white man is not racist, but it’s the american political, economic and social atmosphere that automatically nourishes a racist psychology...for humans to meet in american and not be conscious of their color differences” The government was to blame for the racist actions of whites in america. They both agreed that America would be very fruitful if racism was gone. It would even help with how the rich and poor interacted. He also states on page 403, that, “I am agreement with one hundred percent with those racist who say that the government laws ever force brotherhood” The government
Racism in America Racism can be defined as a major problem in United States history, and can be dated back to the 1400’s. Racism can be viewed and defined in many ways, but most accurately is seen as the state of characterizing an individual based on his race, and or believing that one race is superior to another (Shah) . Racism is as big of a problem in the USA as anyone can think, starting way back to when the country had just began to form, when Europeans started settling into the 13 original colonies (Shah). Ever since then, it seems that the problem has only been on the rise, rather than the opposite. Racism has always been a major issue, although hundreds of years have passed since the birth of racism, the problem just seems to never go away.
In the video they mention that they found dead bodies under bridges every month and besides crime and poverty they mention that pollution is affecting their children. There are many trucks going or coming from Canada and the burn of the diesel is polluting the air. Kid breath three times faster than adults and these contaminating air is deteriorating their health. But still people would not give up and they want to make this city great again like it was before. They refuse to be defeated.