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Racial discrimination against african americans
Effects race has on our society
Racial discrimination against african americans
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Edmund Drago’s book provides a look into one of the first black educational institutions, The Avery Normal Institute in Charleston Virginia. This book discusses how this school was made too elitist, due in large part to the high-class nature of Charleston, Virginia, which segregated the students from the white people of the town as well as the black people of the town. They were separated from the white people because, while they were more elite than the common black citizen, and getting an education, they were also black, so many southern people did not want to socialize with them. Black citizens who did not attend the Avery Normal Institute were not fond of the students there because they struck them as too elitist. Drago’s argument is that the elite nature of this school allowed for the development of black leaders, who were crucial to the later transformation of the town and the destruction of racial barriers so many years later.
What is the purpose and mission of universal schooling? Why are philanthropic white Northern reformers’ supportive of African-Americans’ goals of literacy and universal education? How can historians reconcile the educational advancement of African-Americans with their status as second-class citizens throughout the Eras of Reconstruction and Jim Crow? In The Education of Blacks in the South (1988), James Anderson explores the race, labor, and education questions through the lens of black educational philosophy. Anderson challenges the prevailing narrative that universal public education emerged from white Northern missionaries dedicated to civilizing newly emancipated Negroes in the South.
Postwar South was not accepting of the idea of black schooling. Planters saw the former slaves fight for education as a threat to their rule as well as the social hierarchy. Planters resisted in various ways but one way Anderson mentions is how Virginia planters threatened black families of eviction if they sent their children to school (1988, p. 23). Those for schooling argued what a benefit to planters by mentioning that this would affect the agricultural trade and create more productive laborers (1988, p. 82).
Black American’s financial situation was largely ignored, as were those of working class women. Blacks were the last hired and first fired adding to their plight; the government did little to remedy this situation. Women were driven out of the workforce and into deeper poverty because they were seen as taking jobs away from men. Additionally, the plight of the American farmer in the dust bowl went unresolved, as many migrated to California in search of some kind of relief.
To sum it up there were many struggles that people of color would go through just to try and get an education. For one a person would try to sneak out of their plantation into a pit school or trick a person into teaching them such as Frederick
Another major Form of racial discrimination was unfair wages. When it came to public works programs paying for wages, African American wages were 30 percent lower than the white workers, who at the time barely had enough money for subsistence (Sustar). For the most part African Americans were classified as “Unskilled”, even when they were skilled, stereotypes kept them from earning fair wages in most urban workplaces (Rose). One of the worst parts of the whole situation was that Working class White women, yes i said working class not rich, employed Black women for as little as 5$ per week for full time laborers in northern cities (Trotter). These White women had enough money to pay for, essentially what was a maid or housekeeper.
When slavery was abolished, Jim Crow laws were put into effect to keep African Americans and Whites separated. During these times black slaves were to receive 4 acres of land and a mule from the slave owner to repay them for the incarceration as slaves. Due to the split labor market, blacks had a harder time retaining their jobs, and the jobs that were approved for blacks were low paying. Despite the these societal disadvantages against the African American people, some slaves like my great, great, great grandfather, Wesley A. Settles who built the first school in Edgefield, SC where he taught African American children how to read and write, were able to rise and prosper. With his rise and prosperity, he became a victim of racism.
Struggles faced in the 1930’s Life was very different in the 1930’s compared to now. Americans often lived in harsh environments, with little money and a failing economy. They were forced to do anything they could to stay alive. The Great Depression changed the lives of many.
Throughout the 1900s, African Americans began to view basic education as a tool in gaining independence and further success in life. African Americans, who had been consistently treated as inferior humans and seen as slaves by the general population for the past two centuries, now strive to build an educational foundation to access aspects of society such as respectable jobs, high salaries, and housing. However, systematic discrimination and historical opposition against Blacks resulted in an inferior quality of schooling for Blacks in comparison to white people, which impacted important parts of their lives such as housing. Educational disparities between Black and white citizens encouraged segregated housing in America by Blacks not meeting
The lack of allocated money by the state to build Black schools shows that Blacks faced obstacles to increase their social mobility through education because Blacks had nowhere to go to obtain their education. The underfunding of black schools was due to Jim Crow laws in Alabama, whereby Blacks were systematically discriminated against because they were made to have separate schools that received less money and materials from the state than white schools in Tuskegee. However, Washington solved the problem of no schools in Tuskegee by using Black churches to teach students in, but the poverty of the churches, including poor heating, underpaid teachers, and lack of resources, stunted Washington’s ability to teach Black students to the best of his ability. The poverty in Black communities, combined with the lack of funding from the state, impacted the quality of education that Blacks received because they lacked
Honestly speaking, Miseducation of the Negro and The Black Revolution on Campus have caused me to arouse feelings of appreciation and inspiration. They have enlightened me to the hardships African American students had to endure in order to obtain recognition as elite students capable of academic success and leadership. It also revealed the passionate efforts of persistent pleads and drastic rhetorics these students had to utilize in exchange for the inclusion of African American histories/studies in the academic curriculums. All of the sit ins, riot, and other tactics that these students used to obtain their desired changes in the education system have inspired me. It required strong levels of courage to propel these students to rebel against
More job opportunities began to open up therefore, there was an increased need for skilled workers. Companies thought it was a great idea to hire African Americans who would be more than willing to work, grant them a smaller pay and have their business continue to thrive in the prosperous decade. The white leaders of the industry often took advantage of policies to ensure that African Americans would be confined to the least desirable jobs with the lowest wages (Phillips 33). Within the jobs, workers would also be faced with discrimination. The African Americans would receive death threats in their place of work almost daily and were made to feel as if they were only there to benefit the economy (Phillips 39) For many years in American History, African Americans only received training to be skilled workers, as it didn 't seem necessary for them to receive any further education (Blanton 1).
The 1930s was a trying time for colored people in the United States. During this time lynching had become a common practice. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) really started pushing for civil rights during this era. In the 1930s blacks were not the only ones being targeted and discriminated against. Communism was a threat in the United States and many people feared a communist attack.
The Great Depression is a dark period of American history. This period was earmarked by the implosion of a weakened banking system and resulted in the stock market crash on October 29, 1929. The ensuing years saw an incalculable amount of joblessness, extreme poverty and vast financial ruin. No community was hit harder by this period than American minorities. Still struggling from the unhealed wounds of the civil war, the scars of immigration and sexual discrimination; blacks, Latinos and women faced disparities unlike no other.
African Americans weren’t allowed to use the same public facilities as the whites, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools and most African Americans couldn’t vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests. Years of this treatment and dysfunctional habitat spawned what became a will in later generations of African Americans to rebel and finally erupted in the 50’s and 60’s of the 20th Century known as the Civil Rights Movement. This ignited what became one of the largest impulses to protest in all of American culture. In 1954, the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum when the United States Supreme Court made segregation illegal in public schools in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. This first major achievement of many highlighted that change was going to be made with this movement, exciting and encouraging some and angering
