Little Rock Central High 50 Years Later Essay

Over the short span of the United States being a country, ways of life have evolved. Whether that is a religious, cultural, or even prejudicial idea. The word ‘racism’ reminds many Americans of all the horrors their youthful country has gone through. Racism evolved quickly; compared to seventy years ago, it looks different. This topic is shown in many different sources. In the documentary Little Rock Central High: 50 Years Later, the directors highlight the stark differences academically, scholarly, and socially between Black and white students. In current media, Black man George Floyd was innocently killed in the streets at the hands of police. His death sparked the start of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. There are many examples of racism

In more recent times, stereotyping people solely based on race has been more normalized, leading to harmful prejudices and imbalances between the races. Racism over time has not improved, but instead changed its ways. Little Rock Central High: 50 Years Later informs society of the social segregation the students create in current times. In the 1950s, a group called the “Little Rock Nine” integrated a school in Arkansas. Each day when the nine students went into the building, they were faced with verbal and physical assaults, threats, and overall discrimination. The Little Rock Nine made a huge impact on the civil rights movement, which was eventually set into law in the 1960s. Fifty years after the initial integration, the social and scholarly differences between white and Black students were still present. Former student Minnijean Brown returned and spoke with a group of students. Upon walking into the room, she noticed the white and black students sitting on different sides. Her observations of the current state of the school disappointed her as she said, “This room disturbs the hell out of me. look at this

His death was the start of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, whose sole purpose was to try to resolve the racial issues still present. The racist prejudice George Floyd faced shows the true evolution of racism. The unjust killings of Black people have always been present, but the impact has evolved. Seventy years ago, society would have turned its heads to the innocent killing of a Black person, but in current times people want to improve the injustice. George Floyd’s death opened the eyes of many Americans to the injustices minority groups still face today. The awareness of racism has become more apparent in society today, as the ways it acts has changed. The start of Jim Crow Laws dates back to the 1880s, directly after the abolishment of slavery. Black Codes were created for the states to marginalize Black citizens. Later on, the racism African Americans were facing evolved into the government enforcing segregation on a national level. These laws forced the segregation of places including bathrooms, restaurants, and bus stops, to objects such as water fountains. The twenty years between the state law and the national law show how fast racism can change its