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Pros And Cons Of Fighting Systems Of Oppression

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Systems of oppression are beliefs or ways that discriminate against others by factors such as race, biological sex or social class. They have been used throughout history and some have lasted hundreds of years. Power is the amount of control someone has over someone or people in a community. These can be via physical force, wealth, social norms, etc. When combined, these can create very difficult lives and times for people of certain classes and can even cause famine. Past and present social movements have challenged these systems of oppression, and this requires patience, confidence, protests, and a challenge of law.
Fighting systems of oppression requires patience. Getting your freedoms is not always a straight path. Systems of oppression are layered and hierarchical, they are not easily deconstructed, hence why we challenge them. It could take decades, even centuries to make a change. In the text, ¨The Zigzag Road to Rights¨ by Dr. Gerald …show more content…

Oppression and inferiority did not only affect African Americans, but also women. In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott convened the first womens rights conference to demand that women be given basic human rights, including the right to vote, own property, and equal status under law. They argued that women should have the same inalienable rights as men because they are also endowed by their creator. According to Stanton’s document “Declaration of Sentiments” she says that, “he has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her (3).” Basically women did not have the same educational freedoms as men did, which granted them less opportunities in the world. Elizabeth also says how women feel oppressed and deprived of their essential and sacred rights, and they should share the same rights and privileges which belong to men and citizens of the United States (4). You can see how this mentally affects a woman's

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From 1815 to 1850, many issues occurred including the racial prejudice of African Americans and unfairness towards women. Starting at the beginning of this time period, African Americans were either born into, or later sold into slavery. On the other hand, women were treated unfairly because they had much less rights than men had. For example, women were deprived of their natural rights and were unable to vote, work in the fields, or own property. The U.S. did not fulfill the ideals of the Declaration of Independence for all people by 1850 because, slavery was still going on and women's rights were not fully accepted into the society.

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Ever since the first Africans came to America in 1619, black people have been treated differently than whites. For more than 200 years, African Americans served as slaves who worked for their masters and were often treated cruelly in that they were whipped, beaten, and separated from their families. After slavery was abolished, African Americans still experienced second-class treatment in the form of segregation. During this era, women were also treated unequally in that many people did not believe they could do the same tasks as men. It was difficult being an African American, and it was difficult being a woman, but it was especially difficult being an African American woman, which was the case for Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary

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Queen Elizabeth I spoke about her faults as a woman and the fact that she, a woman, has a “heart and stomach of a king” (6). This shows that women were aware they were being looked down upon as they compared a strong heart and stomach to one that only a king could have. This speech shows that its

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Throughout American history, minorities have been discriminated against for numerous things relating to race, gender, religion, etc. One group that was discriminated around the time of the Civil War were the Blacks. Throughout American history, they were thought of as inferior to whites and treated like animals. After the Civil War, laws started to change in favor of Blacks, things like making it illegal to enslave them, making them citizens and giving them the right to vote. These laws didn’t eliminate discrimination, though, and failed to change the opinion of what most thought of the Blacks.

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The American Revolution and the founding of the United States were a catalyst in opening up new opportunities for African Americans as, before this, they were treated as mere boosts to the economy. Thomas Paine’s common sense argued for African Americans as slavery denied their natural rights,the revolution marked the time of equality and liberty for the masses, and Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson marked a time of enlightenment and pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Paine’s common sense passionately advocated for independence from Great Britain and pushed for enlightenment ideas. Millions of African Americans pre American Revolution were subjected to slavery as a sort of necessary evil with their owners having a conscious awareness of how brutally sadistic and unethical slavery is yet still used slaves as a means for economic gain.

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African Americans have had a troubled past in the United States. They had to endure slavery and fighting for their rights, and still aren’t always seen as equals today. Two major movements happened that paved the way for rights for African Americans, in the 1890s to 1920s, and in the 1950s to 1960s. African American leaders in the 1890s to 1920s laid a foundation for future civil rights movements by unifying African Americans and trying to get full rights and equality at once, while leaders in the 1950s to 1960s built on this foundation by taking a hands-on approach towards accomplishing smaller goals to achieve rights. Civil rights leaders of the 1890s to the 1920s led some of the first movements to obtain rights for Black people.

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African Americans have been oppressed since slavery, and have been trying to change that one step at a time. Public facilities before 1896 were heavily segregated due to the fact that the social class system placed one race above another. Education had, and still has, a huge impact on a child's life. Everyone wants an equal opportunity to succeed and prosper in life, and to do that, a good education is needed. Just before Brown v. Board, only one in every seven African Americans received a high school degree, whereas one in every three white people received a high school degree (Brownstein and National Journal).

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To make it even worse the Reconstruction Era brought in many groups of racist supremacists who did not support the freedom of blacks nor did they want a nation full of mixed races only whites in the country. One of these groups being the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK aroused in the south in 1877. This group would go out and terrorize any blacks who took part in voting for the United States. Eventually, things would slowly move down making racism and discrimination go away with the civil rights movement in place. African Americans had a tough life for many centuries and eventually they received their freedom.

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It is stated in the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. However, during the Gilded Age, many different crowds of people were not being treated equally. The new immigrants traveling to America had to deal with the pain and sorrow from the multiple challenges that came with Ellis Island. After all of it was over, they ventured out into the country, but had to face overcrowded living quarters, long work days, dangerous jobs, poorly paid jobs, and the threat of disease. During the same time, African Americans had a lot of limits on their rights; including, limited social rights, limited political rights, and limited economic rights.

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In "The Ways of Meeting Oppression" Martin Luther King, Jr. states how people deal with oppression and how effective those responses are. He states that people deal oppression in three characteristic ways. The first one being acquiescence. The oppressed accept their way of life and become accustomed to it. He compares the civil rights movement to Moses leading out the slaves from Israel in which the slaves at the time did not want to escape.

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Education brought the means of comprehension and communication for all people, not exclusively the rich white children that could afford going to a high quality school house. Simply being able to understand the documents in which the United States was built upon is vital for any citizen. In the Declaration of Independence it states “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” If African-Americans had access to education, they would be able to fight for the fact that they should be equal to whites. Instead, it was made illegal for slaves to learn to read and write for fear that the slaves might become smart enough to know their rights and fight for

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Hello Emily great post, I agree with you that oppression will sadly occur when people are not allowed to attain possession or opportunities that the Lord has for them in life. There are a few common components that are associated with all oppressions. Oppression by deprivation is considering a dominant group that manages and increases their connection to resources to have control over others. This is because the dominant group makes up the majority and the minority groups that has no voice and therefore has no power to access control and manage resources (Hays & Erford, 2014, p.60). Oppression by force and primary force are similar in economic exploitation of the minority as in being selfish.

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There have been many forms of oppression throughout history. While many forms of oppression have been eradicated, many forms still exist in today’s society. Concerning the forms of oppression that have been eradicated, the question that comes to mind is how these forms of oppression were dealt with and what led to them being eradicated. The process of dealing with oppression in turn brings to light another question in how successful are the resistors’ approaches in dealing with oppression. There are two main distinct approaches to oppression which are violent and nonviolent resistances.

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