These laws were designed to create a “separate but equal” environment for African Americans and whites to coexist peacefully, but in reality the laws actually led to treatments and accommodations for Negros that were usually inferior to those of white Americans. In many cases, African Americans could only play sports professionally if they created their own teams, and established their own leagues comprised of all black athletes. Due to the extreme racism amongst the sporting community, black teams were often banned from playing white teams, or the white teams just totally refused to play a Negro team. In the rare occasion that black teams actually played against white teams, they were always forced to lose because it was considered a disgrace to lose against a Negro team. In that time it was also rare for an African American to attend college because there weren’t many all black colleges
Segregation After the civil war in the USA, the African Americans gain “equal” rights. But the 14th amendment in 1868 (Absolute equality of the two races before the law) didn’t include “social rights” which meant that they didn’t get much choices in society, like choosing where you wanted to sit on a bus. This still made the African Americans feel inferior, knowing that within their home town the “whites” had the choices, and actual freedom. Blacks responded to their situation in 4 ways as their situation began to worsen from 1877. They would co-operate with any willing whites, migrate to the North or West, protest politically and would follow accommodationism.
African Americans wanted their voting rights, desegregation of schools and employment, and adequate housing. In the beginning, the movement was well organized as most African Americans rallied together in their struggle for those rights that were denied to them simply because of the color of their skin. Consequently, the movement began to falter due to differences of opinions and styles on how to best obtain those rights. In the late 1950’s and early1960’s racial tensions where at an all-time high. African American men were fighting in Vietnam alongside of white Americans, yet returning to a nation that was still treating them as second class citizens.
Many of these facilities were, education, healthcare, transport, cinemas, restaurants and churches and even housing and estates were segregated. This shows the extent white went to separate them from the ‘inferior’ race. Jim Crow laws limited black Americans from having a better way of life as they were made poorer, didn’t have the opportunity to managerial roles as they were only allowed the low paying jobs and weren’t equal to white people increasing poor conditions, also, led to unequal or no voting rights in coloured communities. Under the Fifteenth Amendment black people had legal rights to vote across America. However, many southern states found ways around the laws to disenfranchise the black populations.
BLACK LIKE ME PART A - Sociological Concepts and Illustrations NORM: A rule of expected behavior in any given situation . (Class Notes, SOCI 201, Fall 2011) ANOMIE : “ Anomie is the absence of norms” (Menzies, 1998:492) ALIENATION : “A feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other people and from oneself.” (Kendall, Murray and Linden , 2000:244) IDEOLOGY : “ When people refuse to have their understanding affected by research, they have an ideology. (Menzies 1998:488) An example from Black Like Me of a Norm is that Negroes in the South are treated by the white population poorly and with detest. They do not have the same amenities, rights or opportunities. Pg.
Why was the second World war a turning point for black Americans? In WWII, African-Americans served in segregated units known as the ‘Jim Crow army” and were not allowed to fight alongside whites. The Nazis also had a policy of racial discrimination so African-Americans were sent to fight an enemy who saw them as lessor beings, yet the side they fought for also saw them that way too. It was a contradiction. President Roosevelt, former governor of New York, did not believe in racial segregation of African-Americans and when African-Americans were hired to drive buses in Philadelphia during the war, some residents refused to ride the buses others threatened to burn the buses.
• Black and white people were divided by politics. • This meant that Black people were treated with less care whilst white people were cared for more. • Barriers were put into place so that Black people couldn’t vote for a new power due to their lack of education. • Tension amongst black and white people turned to hatred causing black people’s opinions and views to be irrelevant to any subject. • Southern school for blacks were poor standards which resulted in black people not being educated enough to vote or work for a living.
When your prejudice against something you stop it from growing. In the movie Remember the Titans the whites were racist to the blacks, they did not want to know each other, but the problem with this is that if they still carry this on, how can they move forward and work as a team. For example when they had a game Ray would miss a tackle on purpose because he couldn’t get over the fact that he was on a team with the Blacks. My thoughts about being prejudice are that being prejudice is useless and it does not get you anywhere. The football camp was made for blacks and whites to bond and respect each other.
According to Du Bois the prejudices of white people elicit “self-questioning, self-criticism, and lowering of ideals” among black people. The internalization of anti-black sentiment from the outside world thus begins to shape the black American experience. Through the concept double consciousness DuBois becomes better able to explore the social problems he studied in his earlier work “The Philadelphia Negro”. Double consciousness also creates an element of conflict within the black American, as they struggle (often unsuccessfully) to reconcile their identity as a black person and as an American citizen. Dubois cites the example of the black artisan in “The Souls of Black Folk”.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”. This quote reveals that Atticus is mainly focusing on the racial aspect of prejudice as it is the most dominant form of prejudice in TKAM. As well as showing that he understands the ethic of empathy and understanding, that he preaches to Scout and Jem. Atticus also proves how the people of Maycomb do not understand Negros as they have not experienced the abuse that comes with the colour of your skin. In the novel there is also the aspect of classism in prejudice with the hierarchy of families being instilled into the society of Maycomb.