Struggles African Americans Face in the United States

African Americans are among many groups that immigrated to the United States. According to The American Journey (2005), conditions were sometimes a problem in Africa and some natives of the area wanted to start a new life in the newly settled world. To pay for passage to the New World, they signed agreements to work for a set number of years and to be free individuals afterwards called indentured servitude. Things went smoothly at first. However, after a while, rulers of Africa began capturing and trading slaves with white colonists of Newfoundland. From 1654 to 1865 it was legal to own slaves permanently in North America, the majority of slaves being African Americans. Thousands of captured slaves came by large ships where they were traded in the southern colonies for agricultural farming on large plantations with no pay. African Americans faced prejudice, segregation, and racism. In today’s society African Americans still deal with prejudice people. There are many white Americans that mistreat blacks or treat them unequally based on their race. African Americans are still treated poorly in many parts of the world, including the United States. Many African Americans believe they do not receive the same job opportunities, pay rate, or educational opportunities. African Americans seem to think the reason for this unequal treatment is due to the color of their skin. African American women tend to be paid less money than that of a man despite the color of his skin. African American men and women are stereotyped by the color of their skin, where they live, or the jobs they possess, just to name a few. Many people especially whites believe that blacks are ignorant. That is one of the biggest stereotypes we face as black people. It is perceived that blacks are not intelligent enough to co-mingle with the dominant race, the dominant race being whites. African Americans are viewed as being incapable of doing the same job as a white person, or carrying on an