Ethnic Groups And Discrimination: African Americans

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Ethnic Groups and Discrimination – African Americans NAME Axia College ETH/125 Cultural Diversity PROFESSOR'S NAME Ethnic Groups and Discrimination – African Americans I am a member of the African American ethnic group. African Americans were one of the only groups of people, besides Native Americans, that were actually brought here to be enslaved. Our people did not choose to immigrate to America to have a better life. (Schaefer, 92) We had no choice in the matter. This enslavement lasted from around 1619 to 1865. The first slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. During which time, African Americans were indentured servants. They had to work to pay off debts to the English settlers. Once their service was up, they were…show more content…
After the civil war, Democrats would stop at nothing to take away the African Americans’ right to vote. Excessive violence and massacres occurred, killing many blacks before the upcoming election. The prejudice, racism and segregation continued to strengthen with the passage of “Jim Crow” laws. Jim Crow laws were enacted to make voting more difficult so that African Americans could not participate and therefore would have no voice. Some blacks had to pay to vote through the use of “poll taxes” while others were discouraged by complicated literacy tests. The goal of white America at that time was to take away the freedoms of the African Americans and make them feel like they were inferior. They continued to segregate churches, mass transportation, schools, restaurants, and other public venues with increasing strength. The rise of supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) led to further manipulation, intimidation, violence, house and church burnings, lynching, and murders of African Americans. Blacks continued to be treated like second class citizens and were forced into their subordinate place in society that still perpetuates today. (African American…show more content…
However, Blacks continue to face some major racial issues in American today. Some steps have been taken to so-called “level out the playing field” such as affirmative action, which makes employers and educational institutions maintain certain amounts of minority held positions or vacancies called quotas. However, African Americans still feel the pressure from dual labor markets. A dual labor market is when the economy can be divided into both a primary and secondary sector. Secondary sector means that employment will be short-lived, have lack of internal promotion, and lower wages. These are typically unskilled jobs. It is interesting to note that through means of discrimination based on statistics, Blacks are still entering the secondary job market instead of primary. The hiring decisions are made by individuals who have a stereotypical view of African Americans and fail to hire or promote them for certain positions because they feel that Blacks will be “a certain way.” (Crutchfield, Race, Labor Markets, and
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