“Progress had been made by black Americans in the period 1900-1945.” How valid is this statement?…
In Michael Harrington’s The Other America, he describes how the evolution of the American welfare transformed the aspect of the federal government. Furthermore, Harrington lays and points out that poverty is an issue being hidden and disguised. In the mid 1960s, President Johnson with the assistance of an evolving U.S economy were able to gain new laws on health,education, poverty, and housing. Recent and larger programs of the Great Society were nonetheless amongst the uttermost critical and significant adjustments in the American government. This modification ultimately changed the lives of countless Americans. In spite of the rate of poverty decreasing, President Johnson issued a call for an “unconditional war on poverty.” Conservatives…
Since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, much has been done to address poverty in the United States. Over time, there have been both changes and continuities. One continuity is that politicians have kept Medicare, Medicaid, and the Education subsidies from LBJ’s plan largely intact. One change is that LBJ’s plan focused on directly providing money to those in poverty, while later plans focused on getting people jobs.…
The time from 1865 - 1877 was called the Reconstruction period. Abraham Lincoln started planning for the reconstruction of the South during the Civil War, he wanted to bring the Nation back together as quickly as possible and in 1863 he offered his plan for Reconstruction which required that the States new constitutions prohibit slavery. In January 1865, Congress proposed an amendment to the Constitution, which would abolish slavery in the United States. On December 18, 1865, Congress ratified the Thirteenth Amendment formally abolishing slavery. The freed slaves still didn’t have citizenship and wanted wages, real estate, and voting rights. Black codes were adopted to regulate or inhibit the migration of free African-Americans to the mid-west. Southern legislatures passed laws that restricted the civil rights of the emancipated former slaves. Other states quickly adopted their own versions of the codes, some of which were so restrictive that they resembled the old system of slavery such as forced labor for various offenses. Congress passed an act in March 1865 to establish the Freedmen’s Bureau, which was organized to provide relief and assistance to the former slaves, including health services, educational services, and abandoned land services. In 1866, the Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress, which outlined a number of civil liberties including the right to make contracts, own and sell property and receive equal treatment under the law. Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1867. The amendment was designed to provide citizenship and civil liberties to the recently freed slaves. The first Reconstruction Act was passed by Congress in March 1867. Five military districts each under the leadership of a U.S. general were carved out in the south and new elections were held which allowed the vote to black males. In addition to the Reconstruction Acts, Congress also passed a series of bills in 1867 to limit President Johnson’s power,…
So far I have talk about how racism and Roosevelt refusal to be involved caused the New Deal downfall. Even with the failure of the New Deal there were some good things to come out for African America. One program called the National Youth Administration (NYA) created in 1935. A program of the New Deal within the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The goal of the program was to provide economic relief yo young people. Giving them educational aid, job training, and employment opportunities. In order to help blacks further President Roosevelt appointed Mary McLeod Bethune as Director of the NYA's Division of Negro Affairs. This appointment made Mary McLeod the first black female administrator in the federal government. She worked closely with…
Looking at whether or not individuals living in poverty are considered to be a minority group by our contemporary culture is an interesting scenario. I’m a social work major so of course I want to think, yes, individuals living poverty are most definitely an oppressed group in society. Minimum wage is nowhere near to what could be classified as a living wage, and these positions often have little room for career advancement within the company. But I assume that what the question was getting at was whether or not those living in poverty are viewed as a minority group by America’s contemporary culture. The answer to that I believe is a “no.” People who belong to the upper and middle classes often don’t consider the fact that you can have a job yet still be living in poverty. A single parent may hold down two minimum-wage paying jobs, but still need a little help to make ends meet. And because they receive government assistance their hard work is ignored and they are simply viewed as lazy nuisances who are mooching off the middle classes’ tax dollars, not an oppressed minority group.…
In the 1890s, social divisions in America were at their lowest wages. The Industrial Revolution happened before labor laws. Children as young as eight were working fourteen hour shifts in factories. Wages decreased until unions appeared. There were three different class divisions; the rich class, the middle class, and the poor class.…
In Chicago, a population of 2.722 millions of people has been a segregated community impacted by redlining and the idea of segregation still happens today. One example of knowing the maintenance of a home in a slump area today is by going to Chicago because they still have a very divided community that has turned into severe discrimination between all different kinds of races and this issue still hasn’t been fixed in a number of years According to the RATA Association article, the author states, “Although open redlining was made illegal in the 70s through community reinvestment legislation, the practice continued in less overt ways., and many allege that the redlining target group has shifted from African Americans to the LGBT community.”…
During the Great Depression all Americans suffered economically, but the African Americans suffered disproportionately. If someone were to be fired from a company the African Americans were the first to be let go which caused an unemployment rate up to three times that of whites. Because of segregation they received less aid from charitable organizations. Overall they suffered economically and socially more than their white counterparts. The 1930's were a turbulent time for race relations in America.…
In the early 1950’s, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware schools were segregated by race. Black students were only allowed to attend schools for blacks only, and white students were only allowed to attend schools for whites only. In 1954, most of the U.S. schools were also racially segregated. This was bad for both black and white students because they both don’t received a good equal education. The U.S. District Court of Kansas found out that segregation had a harmful effect on black children. However, they felt that it didn’t violate the 14th Amendment. The Brown v. Board case was parted with others from Virginia, South Carolina, and Delaware. Due to this, this case bypassed the circuit court. This case then makes its way to the…
The Jim Crow era was at an extremity in the 1930s. Segregation and discrimination was the norm across the whole country and white people in the South had a desire to keep races “separate”, but far from “equal” as possible according to the Plessy v. Ferguson standards. 1931 was not such a good for the country after suffering from The Great Depression, but it also was not a great year for nine young African-American males in Scottsboro, AL. On March 25,1931 nine African-American teenagers boarded a train to travel through Alabama and a young black male by the name of of Haywood Patterson and a young white male had an altercation. The young white male stepped on Patterson’s hand. Patterson had friends that was aboard the train that was also African-American…
What happened 52 years ago? What was going on 52 years ago? Segregation, Inequality and The Civil Rights Movement. 52 years ago on August 28th 1963 Martin Luther King Jr made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He did not change everything, but he changed a lot. Although some people believe equality is acquired, in reality it has not been achieved according to Martin Luther King Jr's dream. This is evident due to Martin's figurative language, diction, and effective lines.…
The civil rights movement was one of the most pivotal periods in United States history, and Martin Luther King was one of the most influential. In Martin Luther King's speech, "Segregation and the Future", to convey the theme of freedom he uses rhetorical devices such as repetition and metaphors.…
While the clause required states and other public facilities to treat both racially separate buildings to be operated and services be kept equal, the reality showed otherwise, and many African-American facilities became rundown, were underfunded and sometimes were limited. Segregation, forcefully put two perspectives on American society for both white and black populations. Much of the segregation lead to lower education rates for blacks because many of them who were former slaves were not allowed to receive any literacy of any kind. Even after the Emancipation, funded was low for black schools and were still struggling to keep up with the rest of their white counterparts. The former Jim Crow laws did everything possible as well, even in the…
Within the span of a few decades from the late 19th to the early 20th century, the United States was transformed from a predominately rural agrarian society to an industrial economy centered in large metropolitan cities. Prior to the American industrial revolution, most Americans were reared in largely isolated agricultural households and small towns that were linked to the external world by horse drawn wagons. Except for towns that were connected to railroads or water borne shipping, isolation and the costs of overland transportation meant that many rural communities were largely self sufficient in food, clothing, and many other essentials of everyday life. This changed as many products became mass produced and shipped over the growing national network of railroads and highways. This was made possible or at least greatly enhanced by the millions of immigrants that were coming into America from Southern Europe who moved into cities and began working in factories. This huge influx of workers allowed employers to lower wages. Coupled with this great industrial and economic change was a large social change. Even though slavery had been abolished in 1865, there was nothing stopping segregation against the black population. They were forced to use separate facilities than whites and were kept from owning their own land. Some employers wouldn’t hire them so it was hard for them to find jobs. They were also treated poorly within their communities. There even laws enforced to keep them oppressed. The greatest example of this is the Jim Crow laws which remained in effect from 1876-1965. These laws were used and interpreted to oppress the black population in the South in legislation and custom. The African-American response to these laws and their establishment differed in idea and intensity. Some thought it appropriate to maintain some forms of segregation as long as they were treated equally, which was shown in legislature by the “Separate but equal” act that was passed.…