How far did the position of Black Americans improve in the years 1945-1955? During the decade after the Second World War, many political, social and economic changes took place in the USA. Some of these were influential in improving the position of Black Americans whereas others were not so effective. The Second World War transformed the American Economy and had extensive effects on both North and South. In the South, $4.5billion was spent creating factories that produced war goods.
This meant that the American workers left their jobs to join the army, which created many job opportunities for black Americans, which were needed especially in the defence industries, which now grew in importance as they had to make supplies for the Army such as guns and tanks. This resulted in a big movement of 6 million black southerners to Northern cities between 1910-1970, such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit, which then became known as the Great Migration. However, Blacks were given the worst pay. Secondly, the Black Civil Rights organizations grew in membership after the great flow of Black Americans into the Northern cities. The organization of NAACP grew from 50,000 to 450,000 by the end of the war.
Rhetorical Analysis of Sicko In Sicko, Michael Moore presents a relatable documentary of the disintegrated U.S. healthcare system which deprives a lot of Americans the health treatment that they need. As the film progresses, he fulfils his argument that Americans need to fight for Universal healthcare by unfolding the flaws of the American healthcare industries and contrasting it with the socialized healthcare in other countries such as France, Canada, Cuba, and Great Britain. Moore further supports his argument by showing real life horror stories and testimonies of insured working class Americans and the healthcare workers. He also uses rhetorical appeals to persuade the audience such as showing them (the insured or uninsured people) the agony and even death that the ordinary people had to endure all because of the American healthcare system that is inhumanely declining health treatment for making profit. This gives the audience an emotional response mainly anger, hatred towards the American healthcare companies, sympathy towards the afflicted and fear of being one of the victims of American healthcare system.
The source details illustrate the doctor’s opposition the NHS through the sick faces and general unhappiness of the cartoon doctors as they line up to take their ‘medicine’ from the NHS labelled pot. “It still tastes awful” this quote shows the doctors unwilling acceptance of the NHS as they are swallowing the ‘medicine’ but the nasty taste it leaves in their mouths show that it wasn’t happily done. Source two has the same impression as source one; medical professionals were forced to accept the National Health Service by Bevan. Details from this source show this as it says, “…there will be a considerable degree of ratting…” This means that the doctors will give up the fight because Bevan is too powerful to stand up to. Source 3 also referrers to Bevan being powerful as it says ‘I won only by stuffing their mouths with gold” This implies that the doctors had no choice with the language used, for example ‘stuffing’.
Discuss the European motives for expansion and colonization in the New World. There were several reasons that Europeans migrated to the New World. Some of the reasons were, the population growth, the thought of lucrative financial opportunities, and religious difference to name a few. In England there were several epidemics that threatened the life of the population like the Black Death and the bubonic plaque (Brinkley, 2012). In my opinion, this caused families to produce more kids than usual to account for the ones that would become victim to illness.
In 1913 the value of American trade was about $2 billion, but by 1916 it had risen to $6 billion. Due to the war new markets developed. The British navy blocked German food exports leaving America to experience a 300% rise in food exports. With the introduction of new markets came; reduced unemployment, new foreign investments and an increased reliance from Great Britain on US loans which were raised in New York. This meant the US became the world’s Creditor nation and the financial capital moved from London to New York.
Immigration: A Problem Increasing Every Year Immigration Immigration started back in 1492 with Columbus and the pilgrims when he wanted to discover more land. He was really looking for a quicker route East when he stopped on what is now called America, and people have migrated from that point on. So mostly everyone in America back then was an immigrant. But it wasn’t until the year of 1892, when more than 12 million immigrants made their first stop in America at the Ellis Island Immigration Station. As a matter of fact, more than 40 percent of Americans can trace their family history back to Ellis Island.
Did Life Improve During the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a series of changes in the 18th and 19th century that affected the way that most people lived in Britain. Some of these changes could be seen as positive, such as the building of a railway network which improved transport significantly, but some of these changes could be seen as negative, such as the building of factories which increased the amount of pollution in large cities. There were many medical advances during the Industrial Revolution. For example, in 1796, Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine for smallpox. This was significant because smallpox had a mortality rate of up to 35% so this vaccination would have saved a lot of lives and it would have made life considerably better for those who could afford to be vaccinated.
Laws regulating work and production were limited. Additionally, most manufactured goods were imported, subsequently limiting the quantity and selection of available goods. In response to this industrial growth and prosperity, drastic changes in the lives of Americans took place. The population increases in cities across America were astonishing and contributed to a decline in rural population. By 1890, several cities touted populations over 1 million people and by 1900, New York City was the second largest city in the world, outranked only by London.
The Klu Klux Klan was active and the Nativist Movement against blacks, Jews and foreigners was growing (Williams, 1954). The so called ‘new immigration’ of over 800 000 foreigners in 1920 furthered the dislike of foreigners. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was passed, establishing a yearly quota limiting immigration (Williams, 1954). This was later replaced by the Immigration Act of 1924, further restricting immigration. The US government also raised tariffs on US exports and imports, to and from Europe in an attempt to strengthen the economy and establish the US as economically independent (Williams, 1954).