In Lowndes, African Americans attended separate and unequal schools, lived in homes that were more like hovels, and were forced to work as underpaid and overworked domestics and laborers. In Lowndes, African Americans were completely shut out of the political process; “there were five thousand African Americans of voting age in the overwhelmingly black rural county, but not a single one was registered.”(Jeffries, pg 1) Jeffries main argument throughout the book is that winning the battle for racial equality in Lowndes County, and other towns like Lowndes, is what lead to the black masses winning the war for civil rights. “Their bold bid to take over local government transformed Lowndes County from an unheard bastion of white supremacy to the center of southern black militancy.” (Jeffries, pg 1) Jeffries argues his thesis by focusing on three important areas where the black masses took control; grassroots organization, education, and independent black
They had jobs such as railroad track layers, brick layers, grave diggers; fruit, vegetable and cotton pickers, doormen, elevator operators.Almost 1 million black farm workers lost their jobs, many moved to the cities where they shared similar experiences with the immigrants; low paid jobs and poor housing conditions.In the northern states, decent jobs went to the white population and discrimination was just as common in the north as it was in the South and many black families lived in ghettoes in the cities in very poor conditions. On the other hand one reason that black Americans did benefit as before the war less than 2% of the population in the southern states could vote but by 1945 around 15% of black Americans in the southern states had been registered to vote. Another reason that the black Americans did not share in the economic boom was that the living situations for them was appalling. 40% of housing available to black Americans in Washington DC was found to be sub standard where as only 12% of white housing fell into this category however as a result of boom the amount of unemployed black Americans fell. It fell from 937,000 to 151,000.
For instance, on any given day in downtown Chicago you can find about fifteen to thirty people begging for change on the sidewalks. However, Chicago is home to somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 homeless people; the vast majority never begs (Homeless in Chicago.) The beggars and panhandlers have come to be seen as the face of homelessness. These faces make up probably less than one percent of all homeless people. The people who beg are often those with mental illnesses or addiction issues, making the face of homelessness a very disturbing one.
In the South, only 15% of southern blacks were allowed to vote and this marked as a contrast to their black’s political situation. Secondly, there were economic differences. Black people in the south worked in the agricultural sector as well as in domestic service jobs which were very poorly paid. Blacks earned less than the whites; 53% of whites’ wages. It was rare for African Americans to be promoted, as the white workers would walk out or even cause a riot.
88 tracts had at least 1% African American population, and only 4 were above 50%, with none being above 61%. Spear also describes how African Americans were discriminated against during the turn of the 20th century. He tells of how real estate agents were often told by whites in a neighborhood to not sell to African Americans. If African Americans were already living in a ‘white neighborhood’, whites often attempted to band together and buy out the African Americans, and if that failed, they sometimes resorted to intimidation. It was also very difficult for an African American to get a job as anything but an unskilled laborer.
Also, the vast majority of black Americans were disenfranchised by grandfather clauses and literacy tests which made it very hard for black Americans to vote. Finally the Ku Klux Klan terrorised black Americans using techniques such as lynching. By contrast in the Northern States, segregation was rare. What is more, Black Americans has greater access to higher-paid industrial jobs and many were organised in unions. However, on average black workers earned 50% less than their white counterparts.
The history of sagging pants started in the American prisons during the late 80’s and early 90’s when there was a significant overflow of young African Americans in the system. Because it is important to keep the cost of prison garments on the lower cost margarine, many people were given ill fitted uniforms. Also, belts and shoe laces were omitted from any attire due to their pretense for being used as weapons or for a means of suicide. Without any article of clothing to help hold your britches up, sagging became a way of wearing your prison attire. When hip hop, during this time period adopted this look, it fit into the notion that one was not cool unless one did time.
One of the characters in the Tattooed Soldier, Elena, Antonio’s wife was driven by empathy and morals. For example, lots of kids died every day in her surroundings. She empathized with the pain of other people’s babies who become victims of this contagious sewage system. Immediately, Elena realizes the same incident is going to happen to her baby very soon. Elena agrees with Martin Luther King Jr, leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movements, who stated that, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” (King 1).
Nevertheless, she refused and she wanted to work for herself and enrich her mind. Therefore, she kept going to school, despite his beatings, ragings and threats. Nevertheless, one day, her husband and his brothers carefully gathered up battery acid, pinned her down and poured it into her face. She ended up in the Acid Survivors' Foundation in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, acid attacks on "uppity" women are an epidemic, peaking in 2002 with 500 women having their faces burned off.
Bristol was experiencing the same issues highlighted by the local populace of Brixton – heavy handed policing using sus law, a lack of adequate housing and job opportunities. Benyon and Solomos (1987) described the Bristol riot as a “turning point” due to the relative lack of riots seen in Great Britain in the post war period and how many followed. On the following day of the disturbances in Bristol, the Daily Telegraph carried the headline “19 Police hurt in black riot” (3rd April, 1980), showing the perception and lack of empathy from the predominately white, middle to upper class establishment. The Financial Times took a pragmatic view of the violence, commenting that the violence represented the “worst communal violence