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Historical Examples Of Dehumanization And Slavery

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Dehumanization is a destructive and persistent phenomenon in which individuals or groups are reduced to mere objects. Their inherent worth and dignity as human beings are disregarded. It has been used throughout history to justify the persecution and oppression of individuals and groups. The process of dehumanization has been facilitated through propaganda, stereotyping, scapegoating, rhetoric, and identity stripping. Three historical examples of dehumanization can be seen in the Japanese Internment, the Holocaust, and American slavery. An examination of history surrounding these events demonstrates the spread of hatred and the destructive effects of dehumanization that continue to linger in a society beyond the period of extreme persecution …show more content…

African Americans were treated as property, stripped of their identity, and subjected to horrific violence and exploitation. The slave trade was justified through dehumanizing rhetoric, with slave owners and supporters claiming that African Americans were subhuman and fit only for slavery. This dehumanization was used to justify the treatment of enslaved Africans, including torture, rape, and murder. Following the Civil War, newly freed slaves faced another huddle as Jim Crow laws were implemented to ensure racial segregation with poorer conditions and opportunities available to African Americans. The Civil Rights Movement and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr brought attention to the crisis that the Jim Crow laws created for African Americans, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed (Department of Labor, n.d.). This law prohibits….. Despite the legal attempts to help African-Americans in the 1960s, Michelle Alexander has pointed out that the mass incarceration of black men has created a new Jim Crow (2020). The book opens with a paradox for the author, “Today my elation over Obama’s election is tempered by far more sobering awareness. As an African American woman, with three young children who will never know a world in which a black man could not be president of the United States, I was beyond thrilled on election night. Yet when I walked out of the election night party, full of hope and enthusiasm, I was …show more content…

The examples of Japanese internment, the Holocaust, and American slavery demonstrate how propaganda, stereotyping, scapegoating, rhetoric, and identity stripping can be used to dehumanize individuals and groups. It is essential to recognize the dangers of dehumanization and work to prevent it from happening in the future.

Alexander, Michelle. (2011). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press.

Department of Labor (n.d.) https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/statutes/civil-rights-act-of-1964 Retrieved: February 12, 2023.

History.com. (2021, October 29). https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation Retrieved: February 12, 2023.

Kredo, Adam. (2022, November 16). https://freebeacon.com/campus/report-anti-semitic-hate-crimes-on-u-s-college-campuses-skyrocket/ Retrieve: February 12, 2023.

Otsuka, Julie. (2002). When the Emperor Was Divine. New York

Wiesel, Elie. (2004). Night. New York, NY: Penguin.

Yong, Jade. (2021, May 11). https://www.unpublishedzine.com/film/its-time-to-talk-about-mr-yunioshi-in-breakfast-at-tiffanys Retrieved: February 12,

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