Abstract Discusses the relationship between fear and racial or ethnic discrimination as complicated. Connection to one's cultural world and values. Forms of discrimination against African Americans (workplace, community) & against other ethnic groups. Fear of social violence. Low self-esteem and the emotion of fear, and fear based on concrete situations. How differences trigger fear. Police reactions.
From the Paper "The emotion of fear is an essential part of human development and experience. For adults, fear sends crucial messages to the mind about potential dangers and reflects an individual's emotional vulnerability about certain issues or situations (Owen, 1998, p. 483). Various individuals can develop a wide range of fears towards many objects and situations, such as fear of heights and open spaces. However, while some fears can be considered a regular part of a healthy normal life, fears that are related to abuse and discriminatory situations can have a debilitating effect on the overall well-being of the individuals concerned (Owen, 1998, p. 483). In this essay, the complex connection between the emotion of fear and discrimination will be explored. Racial or ethnic discrimination is used because it is also manifested in other forms of..."
Abstract Discussion of stable slave communities established and maintained by American slaves even under the oppressive system they were forced to live in. Psychological, social, familial, religious and cultural importance of these communities in allowing slaves to cope with the terrible conditions of their lives. Impact of master culture & Christianity. Role of story-telling and music in creating the community.
From the Paper "Despite the terrible conditions under which American slaves were forced to live, they were in many ways successful in establishing stable slave communities and in maintaining their sense of wholeness both as individuals and as members of their original cultures by depending on what culture they could transport with themselves - mostly in the form of stories, songs, music and dance - an in relying on a sense of family (often based not on consanguineal or not only on consanguineal bonds but also affinal ones) as well as religion, often the adopted Christianity of blacks in the New World.
Most Americans of African descent originally were brought to the continent involuntarily as slaves, although of course others have immigrated to the United States since the end of the slave trade. The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade can still be seen..."
Examines how Smith's "Strange Fruit", written over 50 years ago, embodies racial problems that still remain unresolved today, yet takes a hopeful humanistic tone, despite its tragic story.
Abstract This paper discusses the novel "Strange Fruit" by Lilian Smith, published in 1947, showing how Smith builds her novel around the inability of both whites and blacks, to let go of age old prejudice and bigotry. Also analyzed are the ways is which Smith's themes and character depict not only southern racial difficulties, but also offer an optimistic vision of life as it might be, if humans could learn to live beyond limited color perceptions, and allow every individual to reach out for and embrace their own sense of acceptance, purpose and love in the world.
From the Paper "It's Maxwell, Georgia, a town where, according to appearances, people know their place. The whites, pretending only good will toward inferiors, treat the blacks like sub-human beings. The blacks, while on the surface behaving like they are too dumb to notice, only show respect for the whites out of fear. A young white man, Tracy Deen, who always disappoints his self-sacrificing mother, returns home from World War I. It is obvious that he loves Nonnie Anderson and she loves him, but he is white and she is colored. The respected position of her family in the town, and the fact that she has a college education, count for nothing."
Tags: black, conflict, south, southern, vigilantes, white
Abstract The formal structures of Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" and Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" operate in unusual ways. The paper shows that because both poets were African-Americans writing about the injustices suffered by their race, they were writing about fundamental feelings of rage and the struggle to avoid despair. It shows however that they were also writing specifically about the ways African- Americans face the white world that oppresses them. Ironically, they also wrote in the language and, at times, in the poetic tradition of the white culture.
From the Paper "Dunbar's poem is written in iambic tetrameter and contains very few words of more than one syllable. The short words emphasize the regular rocking rhythm that resembles a children's rhyme. And for the first three lines of the poem the reader, while aware that something is being hidden, is not fully prepared for the fourth line where the shocking image of "torn and bleeding hearts" emerges. It emerges only to have its intensity quickly suppressed as the line ends with "we smile," which rhymes almost childishly with "guile." But the true depth of feeling is established by the contrast between the "torn and bleeding" and the "smile." The smile, a feature of the mask, hides the true feelings of the people who are Dunbar's subject -- just as the "smile" in this line masks the intensity of the words that precede it."
This paper argues that the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment in "Plessy vs. Ferguson" hurt the fight for social equality in the United States.
965 words (approx. 3.9 pages), 1 source, 2002, $ 34.95
Abstract This paper discusses that, although the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to the former slaves, the Supreme Court's interpretation of this Amendment in "Plessy v. Ferguson", greatly harmed the Civil Rights Movement. The author explains that in 1896, "Plessy v. Ferguson" determined that the standard of equal-but-separate accommodations for black and white passengers on the intrastate Louisiana train system was not in defiance of these Fourteenth Amendment rights. The author believes that, by making social equality the problem of the community and not the government, the court effectively washed its hands of the problem of racism, deeming that phenomenon a social ill that may only be rectified at the grass roots level.
From the Paper "First, the Supreme Court maintained that enforced separation did not, could not, stamp the black race with a "badge of inferiority"(50). The nature of equal-but-separate legislation was mutually exclusive; a white man was as prohibited from occupying a black rail car as a black man was from occupying a white one. And, with both black and white cars being comparably furnished, the court reasoned that blacks and whites were therefore being treated equally under the law (34). By this interpretation, no privileges of any citizen were seen as having been abridged, and thus the integrity of the Fourteenth Amendment was ruled to be in tact."
Abstract This research constructs a narrative of the slave revolt led by Nat Turner in 1831, with reference to documents produced at the time of the event. The research sets forth the context in which the Turner rebellion occurred and then discusses the motivation of Turner, the causes of the revolt and the goals of the rebels.
From the Paper "By the time Nat Turner and other slaves killed more than 50 white people in and around Southampton, Virginia, in August of 1831, the slaveholders of the South had little experience that might have prepared them for the realization that the institution of slavery could place their lives in jeopardy. A conspiracy led by Denmark Vesey, a free Negro living in Charleston, North Carolina, had emerged in 1822, partly out of public discourse over the Missouri Compromise (1821), which settled the geographical boundaries of slavery in the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. When a "faithful retainer" revealed the plot, Vesey and 35 others were hanged, and another 34 were exiled (Wiltse 71). By 1831, public discourse of slavery and antagonistic North-South debate had heightened with the appearance of Garrison's abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. Nevertheless, Nat Turner's slave rebellion was not anticipated, and this fact is supported by the commentary that contained a good deal of speculation about the revolt's causes and Turner's motives."
Abstract The escaped slaves who fled through the Underground Railroad to Canada hardly found the promised land they might have sought or expected, but their experience in Canada was invariably better than they had had as slaves in the South or as frightened and endangered fugitives in the North. The paper shows that, at its worst, Canada offered a more free and humane life than did the South under the horrors of slavery. Canada itself was never a major player in the slave trade, although slavery was legal in the nation until well into the 19th century. The paper shows that Canada outlawed slavery more than twenty-five years before it was declared illegal in the United States, and its outlawing did not cause the national division it caused in the United States. The paper discusses how the "promised land" of Canada was still marked by racism and resistance to the influx of slaves fleeing the United States. While some blacks returned to the United States after the Civil War and the end of slavery, many remained in Canada and both benefited from the better conditions in that country (even after the end of slavery in the United States) and contributed to the culture and society of their new nation, Canada. The paper includes an annotated bibliography.
From the Paper "There is no doubt that a great number of slaves fled to Canada in the hope of finding a better life, which they did indeed find. The greatest period of flight to Canada by slaves was the decade from 1850 to just before the start of the Civil War. For example, the black population of New Brunswick doubled to 1600 in the decade in question, and by 1861 blacks in Nova Scotia made up 2% of the population and Canada West's black population had quadrupled from a decade earlier (St. James 1). Clearly, this is a sign that life in Canada was indeed an improvement over life under slavery in the United States or even over life in the North as runaway slaves. If this had not been the case, and if life were not much better in Canada, news would have reached either the fugitive slaves or their helpers in the Underground Railroad in the United States and immigration to Canada would have ceased or been reduced significantly."
Abstract The slave trade carried Africans far from their homeland, but the problem of slavery began in Africa as warring tribes captured members of other tribes and sold them into slavery. The paper shows that the slave trade in West Africa served the labor requirements of the New World and other areas for more than three centuries. The slave trade in West Africa began with the Portuguese in the fifteenth century and increased until it was a major trade linking Africa with Europe and North and South America. The paper examines how slave ships, heading for the New World, would stop at sites along the West African coast to pick up their human cargo, often purchasing members of one tribe from another. The Spanish and English would also become involved in the slave trade over the next two centuries and slavery in the New World in particular would be a matter of economic need because of an agricultural system that needed a large labor force for as little economic outlay as possible. The paper shows that when the Native American population did not prove viable as a labor force, the various European settlers turned to Africa and the slave trade to solve their labor problems.
From the Paper "The entry of the Portuguese into Africa came at the same time as the Turkish Ottoman conquest of Africa's Mediterranean and Red Sea areas. Portugal at that time expanded into Africa's Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts and introduced new weapons and new demands for war captives throughout the continent. Different communities and different kingdoms adapted in different ways to this new supply of guns and new demands for war captives, and at the same time, Spanish, Dutch, British, French, German, Scandinavian, and Arab armed ships joined the Portuguese in demanding increasing numbers of young Africans for the international slave trade. This was during Africa's "early modern" period from 1600 to 1800, at which time the gold, sugar, tobacco, and cotton produced by African slaves in the New World contributed toward making more capital available for the "commercial revolution" taking place in Europe in banking, corporate stock arrangements, insurance, and investment houses. This trade then helped fund European expansion in overseas trade, colonization, and the scientific and industrial revolutions (Khapoya 92)."
Abstract This paper examines the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which bars employers from discriminating against employees or prospective employees based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It discusses how enforcement of Title VII has transformed the American labor force into a diverse group that mirrors the multicultural society at large, though not without controversy. It provides some examples of court cases which highlight the inability of some courts to correctly apply the law.
Outline
Introduction
Title VII
Judicial Application
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Saucedo vs. Brothers Well Service
Garcia vs. Gloor
Jurado vs. Eleven-Fifty Corporation
Gutierrez vs. Municipal Court of the Southeast Judicial District
Garcia vs. Spun Steak Company
Problems With Garcia vs. Spun Steak
Misapplication of the Law in Garcia vs. Spun Steak
The Spun Steak Court Improperly Rejected EEOC Guidelines
Conclusion
From the Paper "The Supreme Court outlined the standards for such a cause of action in McDonnell Douglas v. Green and restated those factors 20 years later in St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks. First, a plaintiff must establish a prima facie case of discrimination. Satisfying that requirement is not too difficult. For example, in McDonnell Douglas, the Court held that the plaintiff could meet his burden by showing that he belonged to a group protected under Title VII, that he applied for a job opening with the defendant and was rejected, and that the position remained open after his rejection. "Establishment of the prima facie case in effect creates a presumption that the employer unlawfully discriminated against the employee.""
Abstract This paper is an examination of racial stereotypes in contemporary American society. It looks at how they are developed and how they influence interactions and attitudes, especially when individual actions do not fit the expected stereotype. Preconceived notions of what other individuals are like, based on their ethnic backgrounds, are common throughout society, reinforced by mass media images, sports, the news, and general ignorance. This paper's conclusions are also influenced by the fact that the writer is bi-racial (white and African-American) and has therefore experienced a broader range of exposure to stereotypes and the prejudices they represent.
From the Paper "Race continues to be an explosive topic in America, a nation founded on both the principles of universal equality and the shameful legacy of slavery. Particularly among races with obvious physical differences, stereotypes provide an easy way of dealing with differences without having to genuinely understand the distinctions that make each member of the alien group an individual human being. Stereotypes are an easy shorthand. That they are false generalizations, usually based on fear and misunderstanding, does not make them any less prevalent."
Abstract The paper looks at the issue of teenage pregnancy as it has affected and continues to affect the population of African Americans. The writer takes a look at the history of African Americans in American society and how external forces influence the number of teenage pregnancies. The paper includes an interview with a young mother, and concludes with a study of the causes and suggested solutions.
From the Paper "Melissa is a 17-year-old African American. She is a single mother with a two-year-old son. Last week, she had an abortion because she did not have the financial resources to take care of another child. According to Melissa, she ?is never lucky with men.? She asserts that she has unprotected sex with her boyfriends only when she feels that she is ?going to spend the rest of her life with them.? Yet when she gets pregnant, the relationship starts falling apart. In retrospect, she realizes that her boyfriends who are usually five to ten years older than her treat her ?like a plaything.? While they are affectionate during the relationship, the pregnancy and the prospect of a committed relationship frighten them away."
Abstract Certain ideas about the relationship between education, poverty, and employment opportunities are assumed by much of society. Firstly, it is assumed that gaining a formal education is a key to achieving advancement and to attaining employment opportunities. Poverty is seen as reducing one's ability to gain an education, just as gaining an education is seen as a way of overcoming poverty. The social importance of education is emphasized again and again in the literature on education and also in the literature on various social problems. This paper examines the writings of several writers including Jonathan Kozol in his book "Savage Inequalities" and Jean Anyon in "Ghetto Schooling". The paper discusses how these writers analyze these issues in various ways.
From the Paper "Education as it is formulated in theory is based on a number of familiar assumptions in American society, assumptions about intelligence, the profession of teaching, and public policy concerning the structure and financing of education, all of which enter into the sense of school as a fairness zone. The first assumption is that intellectual ability is a quality that an individual possesses as the result of biogenetic causes and that the individual develops or fails to develop as a matter of personal volition."
Tags: Supreme, Court, segregation, Sol, Stern, William, Henry
Describes how Frederick Douglass used his knowledge of the Bible in his narrative to show that slaves were not only humans, but also intelligent beings, capable of feeling and reasoning.
Abstract This paper discusses how Frederick Douglass used his text "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself", to publicize the horrors of slavery to the white Christian women of the North and to prove the humanity of those in bondage. The paper shows that not only did he strive to prove slaves were human, but that they were intelligent beings, capable of analyzing Scripture and applying it to the argument against chattel slavery.
From the Paper "Douglass? motives for addressing this reference and its interpretation run much deeper than the attempt to dispel an argument for the continuation of slavery. He is exposing the audience to a very disturbing question: If society has deemed slaves less than human, and incapable of possessing a knowledge and understanding of the Bible, how can this man, born into slavery, exhibit the ability to not only understand scripture, but also to apply it to the argument against the institution of slavery? And, if this man of dark skin has shown the ability to become educated in scripture, who is to say that his brothers, still suffering under the yoke of slavery, could not? Through this analysis of the story of Ham, Douglass begins to blur the line of distinction between African American slaves and the white, northern Christian audience, making their differences seem much less obvious than they once were perceived to be."
Tags: Story, of, Ham, African, American, slaveholders
Abstract This paper discusses racial profiling, which by most definitions is the targeting of a person for no other reason than his or her apparent race. It examines how those who are advocates of profiling believe it will increase the security of residents because it will allow the questioning of those who fit the profile of terrorists, drug dealers etc. It looks at how those who are against racial profiling argue that it not only will not stop terrorism, drug dealing etc, but it is against the very constitution that America was built on.
Outline
Introduction
What is it?
What is the Expert Response?
What do the Profiled Think?
History
Perceptions
Advocates of Profiling Point to the Stats
Conclusion
From the Paper "If one asks the general public when racial profiling became an issue many would point to the events of 9-11 when the New York World trade Towers came down with terrorist attacks. This event captured the world's attention and caused millions to rethink their position on the topic of racial profiling but that is not where the topic originated. There have been many years of argument regarding racial profiling and it has stemmed from accusations, trials, deaths and other events that happened well before the events of 9-11 ever did. Racial profiling has been an issue for law enforcement agencies around the world and in America it has come to a head with several widely publicized suits over it. Racial profiling has a long history in America as well as other nations. America, which is known globally as the most tolerant, diversity embracing nation in the world has spent years exploring and investigating racial profiling, it's uses and its occurrences."
Abstract It is ironic, but entirely understandable, that black slaves in the American south so readily embraced the religion of their oppressors. Christianity was used by the slaveholders as a justification for slavery as well as a tool of mental control. However, because slaveholders prohibited the practice of African religions among the slave populations, Christianity became central to the slave's spiritual, social and personal life. The paper shows that, moreover, a unique syncretic religious culture emerged in the antebellum South, one that differed from that which was born in the Caribbean or other parts of the slaveholding Americas. African religions were most noticeably combined with the dominant white religion of Christianity in the revivalist meetings and in the spiritual songs sung by the slaves, rather than in the rituals of Haitian Voudoun and Cuban Santeria. The paper shows that for southern American slaves, slave masters? hypocrisy did not interfere with a genuine religious faith and belief in an omniscient and benevolent God. Christianity offered for the slave a means to transcend the pain of mundane existence; the next world would offer the joy, abundance, freedom, peace, and love that slavery denied them. Religion therefore served as both diversion and divine intervention in the individual and collective African-American soul.
From the Paper "Praise meetings arose from the combination of Christian evangelism and the intense emotional experience of bondage. Blassingame notes that blacks had a "more intense emotional involvement with their God" than the whites who introduced them to Christ. The passionate longing for freedom and emancipation contributed to the unique character of black-led praise meetings in the American south. These meetings combined elements of traditional black religious practice such as music, song, and dance with Christian theology. Shouting and singing were methods of inspiring slaves and emboldening an otherwise degraded spirit. The tenets of Christianity were combined with themes of freedom to create a specifically African-American experience of that religion. This experience and the practice of Christianity differed from that of the white slaveholder. For a slave, Christianity had immediate relevance. Praise meetings served as direct communion with God, as a vehicle to transcend the brutal conditions of daily life. God was personal, not abstract. God was immanent and omnipresent. Praise meetings infused Christianity with emotionality, passion, and sorrow."
