ipl-logo

Racial Slurs In The 1920's

764 Words4 Pages

Throughout the 1920s to early 1930s postcards were a popular item of mailing. People would mail family in different locations of the United States or a different country. Besides postcards there was a bigger issue going on throughout the United States, segregation. African Americans were being targeted because of the color of their skin and history they have in the United States. Since 1619, when slavery was first introduced to the United States, African Americans faced the hardship of being targeted by the world and being involved in hate crimes. This postcard outlines what racial slurs were being used in the media during the 1920s and early 1930s. During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson was trying to segregate the Federal government. Wilson started to invent policies that would keep African Americans from holding …show more content…

The man on the postcard says “is yo dat bimbo wot dun sold my Lilymae shoe polish fo face cream?” (Postal Service, Postcard. This is entitling that the woman was foolish or idiotic for buying shoe polish and putting it on her face, hence the man’s alpha role in the postcard of defending his woman’s honor. During the 1920s women were looked at as a possession for men, all women did during this time was cook, clean, and watch the kids. Even past the Women’s Rights Movement there was still the Women’s Suffrage which happened for a bit in the 1920s. However, because she is black she is portrayed and dressed like a floozy since her dress is way above her knees, which was violating one of the requirements for a postcard to be published. However, since Wilson had control of the postal authorities he was able to get away with it. Unfortunately there were fewer attempts to hide racism in content because of its acceptance with the public. This led to public authorities publishing racist content and targeting certain communities because of the race of the people who live

Show More
Related
471 Words | 2 Pages

The most crucial change that occurred in the 1920s was the passing of the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. Continuing the chain reaction, women found more opportunities for employment. For example, advertisers exploited sexual allure to sell everything, which many “old-timers” regarded as a veritable errotic eruption. Although a women’s lifestyle took a giant leap forward, African Americans were still in the same spot.

Read More
147 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout 1865-1900, the African American community had to deal with numerous social limitations. They were often attending different schools from white people. When they were attending the same school which was quite scarce, they were given shabby and already worn out supplies. They were indeed segregated, such as being forced to use different bathrooms or being forced to use different water fountains from white people. Throughout 1865-1900, there were many occurrences of public lynching.

Read More
567 Words | 3 Pages

It was not uncommon for African Americans to be found lynched or beaten for just walking down the street. Furthermore, it was common to find African Americans with low income jobs that made it hard for them to make ends meet for their family.

Read More
270 Words | 2 Pages

Racism in the the 1900s The John. F.Kennedy story was one of the greatest president moments caught on camera they even called his finest moment because that was the day that he told the white man get out of the way of the black people that have come to participate in school. That was a big deal back then because racism was a lot bigger than what it is today the reason is because back then were a lot of problems with racism but one of them that pop up most is the story of William Minner, that day his dad and him went to the spring’s to get water this spring was open to both white and black. When they were in line two white men grabbed his dad the reason was because the line in front of them were only white people they told him that

Read More
1170 Words | 5 Pages

In April of 1966, James Brown sang that “this is a man’s world”, however only four decades before women had been working to prove their value and social power, by challenging the social norms, and showing that it truly would be nothing with the women of the nation. Though, in reality, to what extent did they challenge the social norms of their time? There were limitations facing the women of the 1920s regardless they changed society for the better. Even before the 1920s, women were making a new name for themselves in society. The First World War was a pivotal moment for women’s social status.

Read More
1447 Words | 6 Pages

In the 1930’s, racism was prominent throughout America, but especially in the southern states. African Americans were outcasts, not being allowed to attend the same schools or churches as whites and being turned away from businesses. Segregation caused a number of

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

In social settings, African Americans faced many challenges due to what the US had planned

Read More
593 Words | 3 Pages

One of the most prominent social biases, both in the 1920’s specifically and throughout American history, is race. In the period after WWI, race tensions were heightening. Tom clearly does not approve of the idea that black people could rise socially and “infiltrate” his world. Even though Tom himself has a mistress, he says, “Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white. ”(Fitzgerald p130)

Read More
928 Words | 4 Pages

The 1920s was a time of great change. From fashion to politics, this period is known as one of the most explosive decades in American history. After WWI, America became one of the world’s most formidable superpowers. The rise to power prompted the 1920s to become a decade of evolution for women’s rights, African American’s rights, and consumerism. In the early twentieth century, women’s status in society was continuously evolving.

Read More
1075 Words | 5 Pages

1920’s Slang Language is important in everyone’s lives: from small talk, to speeches, to ordering food, to teaching, and everything in between. Language never stays the same, though, as it is constantly changing with every day that passes. The changes on language from the past have big effects on the language of the present. Slang from the 1920s has impacted language used in the current era.

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

What is the purpose of racism? In Theorizing Nationalism, Day and Thompson discuss how racism and nationalism are precisely the same. Racism has the ability to help build nationalism, especially in our young country. LeMay and Barkan in U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Laws & Issues talk about how this racism is used during a specific time period, 1880 to 1920, in the United States of America. Both of these articles argue that when the United States was in a time of peril, they used racism as a unifying factor to bring the country together and as a way to put a group of people lower than themselves to bring their status to a higher point in society.

Read More
1236 Words | 5 Pages

African Americans were able to work for their own money now and gain confidence while living in America. They began to publish newspapers which increased the awareness of racial violence and express their freedom from restraint through art (O’Neill). This “negro fad” in the United States influenced art and drama that focused on the depiction of an African American in the 1920’s. African Americans were revolutionizing the way they were perceived in the U.S.. They gained confidence and made efforts to achieve their ultimate goal,

Read More
1091 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1200 Words | 5 Pages

Censorship is an extremely debated topic in America, with people saying it contradicts with what the Bill of Rights has allowed the American people and how it may deny people use the Freedom of Speech. Yet, the censorship of books in American public schools is one of the most controversial topics today because of the use of racial slurs in classic literature, this is the case with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Opinions on this topic vary, with some of them being: schools should have the right to censor books because they have racial slurs in them, schools should have teachers open up a conversation about race and the use of racial slurs with these books, or schools should not have the right to censor any book. I firmly believe that schools

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

The early 1900s was a very hard time to be a black female as both minorities and females were “lesser” in society. In this case, it took 100´s of years to get rid of racism and still it hasn't fully been eradicated. Some events that slowed this process down a lot were the Jim Crow Laws. These laws separated African Americans. “These laws pretty much oppressed minorities and were enforced by the people and officers, for example, “It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.

Read More

More about Racial Slurs In The 1920's

Related Topics

Open Document