Race in America

Associate Program Material

Racial Diversity: Historical Worksheet

Answer the following questions in 100 to 250 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use.

Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, what race has been in the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group?

White Americans have been the majority race and I believe because since the development of America; from the the Chistopher Columbus period leading Colonial America, I believe that most Whites viewed themselves as the superior race. This is seen evident through the acts and elimination of the Native Americans as well the institution of slavery with the Black people. The White Race came from England and was the one the largest groups to come to America since the colonial days, the number Europeons immigrants increased during the mid 1800s.

What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group?

African Americans and Mexican Americans have many similar struggles in America throughout history and today both have been forced to be slaves and give up their rights, land, and live with hate and prejudices, discrimination, and stereotypes. African Americans first came to America from Africa around 1619 when the first African slaves were shipped to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia. African Americans in the history of the United States played a huge role in building this country as slaves and since the beginning and today African Americans have contributed to this country in all areas; economically, academically, politically, sociallaly, and in music, sports, religion, arts, and enterainment.

In what ways have laws been used to enforce discrimination? Provide examples. These laws were intended against which racial minorities?

An 1896 decision by the Supreme Court, Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 16 S. Ct. 1138, 41 L. Ed. 256, upheld the constitutionality of an 1890 Louisiana statute requiring white and "colored" persons to be furnished "separate but equal" accommodations on railway passenger cars.

In what ways have laws been used to eliminate discrimination? Provide examples. Did the laws work to eliminate discrimination?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, but the issue that would be the main focus of this paper would be the issue on race and color. Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged. Title II prohibits segregation or discrimination in places of public accommodation involved in interstate commerce. Title VII bans discrimination by trade unions, schools, and employers involved in interstate commerce or doing business with the federal government. This section also applies to discrimination on the basis of sex and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce these provisions. The act also calls for the desegregation of public schools (title IV), broadens the duties of the Civil Rights Commission (title V), and assures nondiscrimination in the distribution of funds under federally assisted programs (title VI).