African Americans Sociology

Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.

There are many open wounds in the African-American community that have not healed what so ever. Disintegration of family structures in the African-American community has been a persistent problem for far too long. High out of wedlock birth rates, absent fathers, and the lack of a family support network for many young African-Americans have led to serious problems in America's urban areas. The persistence of serious social problems in inner-city areas has led to a tragic perpetuation of racial prejudice as well. African Americans still face a litany of problems in the 21st century today.

Jim Crow laws were racial segregation, and black schools were poorly funded. The segregation laws did not exist in the North. Factory owners looked south and offered good paying jobs and low-cost houses. Many African -Americans decided to move to North and start a new life. According to Document 2 “ I am fed up with Jim Crows Laws, people who are cruel and afraid, who lunch and run, who are scared of me , and I of them.

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.

A social problem that arose was due Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws legalized racial segregation in all public facilities in southern states, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for African Americans. These laws were legalized in the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which stated that “separate but equal” was constitutional. This

1. What factors differentiate the history and experience of African Americans from those of Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans? The factors that would separate African Americans from racial ethnic groups would be their involuntary immigration and initial enslavement. Other groups came in hopes of political freedom and economic opportunity. While African Americans history and experience were based upon economic exploitation, the denial of freedom, denied their language, history, culture, ancestral ties and homeland affiliation.

During the early 1800’s, President Thomas Jefferson effectively doubled the size of the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. This set the way for Westward expansion, alongside an increase in industrialism and overall economic growth. In fact, many citizens were able to thrive and make a better living in the agricultural business than anywhere else. All seemed to be going well in this new and ever expanding country, except for one underlying issue; slavery. Many African Americans were treated as the lowest of the classes, even indistinguishable from livestock.

In the United States during the 1950s the federal government was forced to establish federal regulations to put an end to the segregation of society in the south along with the north. In the northern states segregation was a type of segregation call de facto segregation of which is segregation based on unwritten custom or by tradition. This was rather different than segregation in the south which was known as de jure segregation being the Jim Crow laws enforced segregation by law. These southern state governments however felt that the federal government could not control the segregation of African Americans in the states. Thus the southern states used many unsuccessful strategies to resist the compliance that included “The Southern Manifesto”,the creation of the “White Citizens Councils”,the conflict that erupted in Little Rock, and the James Meredith issue at the all-white University of segregation

After WWII, African-Americans refused to conform to the rules drafted in favor of the white society. The negroes of America used race music as a weapon to demonstrate non-conformity and performed music only to the African-American society. A famous race music in the 1960s was ‘Hound Dog’ performed by an African American blues singer, Big Mama Thornton. Elvis Presley, a white singer who sings like the blacks, would perform the same ‘Hound Dog’ to the white audiences because Big Mama wouldn’t perform for the white society [Rock & Roll, 1950s PDF]. Another instance that shows non-conformity of African-Americans is the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56).

The effects of black discrimination have haunted the nation for centuries. Despite cover-all acts and amendments, there have always been ways around anti-discrimination laws. Even following Union victory, some southerners withheld slaves until troops were at their doorsteps. The Black Codes, laws that outlined the rights of African Americans, are perfect examples. These Codes, were lists of societal restrictions meant to keep whites on top.

African Americans have systematically been deprived of equal opportunities and fundamental rights in America since the establishment of slavery. Although the Civil Rights Act banned the implementation of segregation and racial inequality over 40 years ago, the overall concept of racial and cultural hierarchy still lingers at the forefront of today’s society. White America’s history of racially oppressing, isolating, and segregating African Americans have led to present-day issues surrounding the political and economic forces that intentionally limits Blacks access to and opportunity from social, economic, educational, and political advancement through the institution of structural racism. Structural racism within America’s governments and

A big part of our history is the challenges different races had to face when fighting for their rights. There are groups in today’s society that are still battling oppression, even though they were granted rights by our government. It seems like when one door opens, another closes right in their face. One race that had to deal with oppression, and is still dealing with it today, is African Americans. Africans Americans were brought over to the United States to be slaves for Caucasian people.

Although the African American vote did not really matter, it was still the principle of them having that right that upset the white man. Some of the crimes that resulted in lynching were rape, arson, murder, and robbery. The crimes that could result in lynching started out simply regarding to lynching for rape or any form of disrespect towards a white woman or child. Then, the reasoning would change to make the lynching fit whatever condition was happening. One of the saddest discoveries from reading was that some people were lynched for no reason at all.

Particularly in the South, they continued to seek opportunities to legal slavery. As a result, Southerners pass a state law, Black Codes, during reconstruction. This law restricted the civil rights and public activities of legally freed African Americans. Owning weapons, freedom of movement, and land ownerships were against Black Codes. Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), the court case that upheld authority of the state law claiming, “separate-but-equal facilities for whites and blacks” , led up to another significant factor, segregation, which arose to be controversy in mid-1900s.

Between 1910 and 1930, African Americans migrated from the rural South to the urban North in search of better economic opportunities and as a means of escaping the racism of the South, but they were disillusioned with what they encountered. To begin, African Americans still experienced racism—segregation, profiling, and unjust law enforcement—In the North, though it was more subtle. As a result, blacks were forced into lower-paying jobs than whites. Thus, while the northern white, middle-class population grew wealthier during the post-WWI economic boom and were moving to the suburbs, blacks and other poor, working-class groups were left in the cities, the state of which grew progressively