Preview

The Condemnation of Blackness

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1880 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Condemnation of Blackness
The Roots and Deceived Perception of Racism in the History of America America is a nation “from many, one” as stated in our country’s original motto. We pride ourselves on the granted equal opportunity and freedom afforded to each citizen. But are these premises held true and adequately carried out? My answer is a resounding no! Our country’s intricate history provides us with the foundation that explains why and how discrimination has infiltrated and given the upper hand to the white race that has dominated the American society, while suppressing races of color. Dating back to the discovery of the new world we know as the contemporary United States, the African American race has been segregated and mistreated as exemplified through slavery, falsely relayed “scientifically findings,” and the detrimental habit of forming stereotypical judgements. This has affected African American’s ability to flourish and homogenize into in the diverse culture of the United States. Throughout this writing, I will focus on the late nineteenth century racial discrimination issues, and how they were created, through the eyes of many influential sociologists that had a firsthand look at this period of ethic divide. Citizens of the colonial era encompassed an attitude of automatic entitlement and superiority due to their perceived advanced societies. Their abundant use and cruelty to African American slaves is the stem of the sectarian activity that swept across America for hundreds of years to follow. Slavery created a direct path for abuse and lack of opportunity for African Americans as soon as they stepped onto American soil. As a result, blacks were forced into manual labor with death as the ultimate consequence if they tried to resist. Slavery gave the entire black race the stigma of inferiority and unworthiness of freedom. This social norm of the time, was widely accepted, and only supported the superior attitude of White America. In years to follow, several active


Cited: The Color of Courage. Dir. Lee Rose. Perf. Linda Hamilton, Lynn Whitfield and Bruce Greenwood. 1999. Tv Film. Harris, Cheryl L. "Whiteness as Property." Harvard Law Review 8th ser. 106.June 1993 (1993): n. pag. Print. Lipsitz, George. How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2011. Print. Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2011. Print. Takaki, Ronald T. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown &, 1993. Print. Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. Dir. Ed Bell. Perf. Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Basset and Michael Boatman. 2003. DVD.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    People of America never got off on the right foot. The colonial elite began tormenting those in the lower classes the minute they arrived, as “…huge numbers of white servants didn’t live to see the day of freedom. In the early days, the majority of servants died still in bondage”(Jordan and Walsh 111). The indentures, enslaved, and non-elite were set in bondage and many did not live to see freedom. They were treated like animals, not humans. The elite kept power and control over the lower class and enslaved them. They did this by torturing them and making examples of them. Although we like to believe our country was founded on truth, liberty, and equality, the elite members of society used law enforcement, monetary authority, and physical dominance, such as whipping, years in bondage, loss of body parts, and torture, to keep control over the non-elites.…

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the last two centuries, our society has grappled with the perpetual strife of perceived racial discrimination. Inalienable Rights and founding principles of our nation have been tarnished by the belief that these are mere privileges, reserved for a select few fortunate enough to indulge in such luxuries. However, the last few decades have ushered into existence a transformed nation, where Supreme Court cases and social revolutions have seemingly eroded the dichotomous barriers of race. On one end of the spectrum, open wounds of our nation’s tumultuous past have been stung by the racial inequities of household income and a maliciously disproportionate incarceration system. On the other end of the spectrum, patriotism and unity swell to heights of exuberance at the sight of the increasingly diverse entertainment industry and…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Freedom to African Americans in the 19th century meant the reestablishment of family connections, the achievement of literacy, the exercise of political rights, and the ability to be economically and socially self-sufficient. The road to achieving such freedoms is usually told from a male’s perspective, yet women participated in such liberating activities just as much if not more than their male counterparts. African American women have faced an abundance of particular adversaries, especially in postwar America, yet they have combated these challenges in unique and effective ways that solidified their rights as colored women for years to come.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Weekd 5 Historical Report

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In this paper, I will be writing about the African American racial group. The paper will be written from the perspective of a news reporter. Topics which will be covered in this paper include: experiences of this racial group throughout U.S. history; Political, social, and cultural issues and concerns of this group throughout U.S. history; legislation aimed at constraining race within prejudicial boundaries and how various groups fought the legislation; and legislation aimed at alleviating prejudicial boundaries and how various groups promoted this legislation.…

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life Under Slavery

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As America grew in prosperity, extra labor was a new necessity. To cure the demand for much needed workers, American settlers turned to slavery. African slaves were exploited from their homeland and were forced to work under poor conditions. They were greatly suppressed by their owners and were thought of as miniscule beings. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, African Americans were viewed as uneducated savages who were bent on slaughtering and raping the whites of America. Many slave owners were cruel and viewed slaves as inferior. However, slave owners were kind and developed personal bonds with his or her slaves.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Twenty-First Century, modern America one can trace the effects of various actions and decisions of past government leaders and ordinary citizens in the shaping of the America we see today. Throughout human society, the conflicts, issues, and divisions among peoples, which one observes at any point in time, are not matters of chance, but are products of history, and forces of human undertaking. Today, American society is faced with a residential, geographic phenomenon among urban and suburban communities that disadvantages African American citizens through the discriminatory denial of residential and economic freedom, a Constitutional promise that is guaranteed to all Americans. Modern America is confronted with a socially and geographically segregated society structured on the hierarchies of race, having the greatest consequences for African American communities, the most segregated racial group in American society.…

    • 6457 Words
    • 26 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Kingsolver, A. (2008). Capitalism. Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. J. H. Moore. Detroit, Macmillan ISBN 0-02-866021-8 pp. 268–271.…

    • 2833 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black Nationalism

    • 2323 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Throughout the history of white suppremacy, the notion of the color line and its complexity has been a key issue and defining force in U.S society particularly. This intentionally placed barrierserves to seperate white privelege and values from whites and non-whites. The existence of the color line depends on essentialist ideals that have also been produced to make a solid distinction between non-white and an inferior "Other." This static essentialism is upheld by cultural and structural ideologies that serve to rationalize and justify social and political agendas. The ideologies were formed long ago, but have been passed from one generation to the next and still exist but in different incarnations. This essay will look at the way African Americans have either negotiated, broken-through or redefined this line and by doing so, have trampled fixed and absolute notions of blackness and black identity.…

    • 2323 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freedom and equality have been the most debatable issues of the nineteenth century. The main question fueling this debate was centered on which social groups in American society would be entitled to freedom and equality. In this week’s readings, the authors show the constant changes/shifts in the standard for freedom, with multiple meanings and levels of freedom which occurred for each group, while creating separate class systems and causing equality to subside over time. The readings provide an in-depth look into how the federal and state governments pushed for the diffusion of rights and social oppression of African Americans; the removal of Native Americans in the south, and the opportunities for women in the nineteenth century. The…

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Institutuional Racism

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Kivel, Paul. Uprooting Racism, How White People Can Work For Racial Justice. New Society Pub, 2002.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Schmidt, A. J. (1997). The menace of multiculturalism: Trojan horse in America. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Praeger.…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Murray, C. (2013). Coming Apart: The State of White America. New York, New York: Random House Inc.…

    • 2755 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Racism in America

    • 3527 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Welsh, D. (2009). Racism and the law: Slavery, intergration and resegregation in America. Utah Review, 2, 479-487.…

    • 3527 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    West, Cornel. Learning to Talk of Race. New York Times Magazine. New York: New York Times, 1992. 350-55. Print.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Color-Blind Society

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The color of a person’s skin has played a vital role in determining the legal and social status of certain individuals and groups throughout American history. Slavery within the United States developed as a racial institution in which the darkness of a person’s skin defined their status as a bonded person and the distinction between black and white facilitated the establishment of the social control necessary to maintain the effectiveness of this mode of economic production. When blacks and white started getting together during the Slave Era it resulted in creation of biracial babies, and these interracial groups were components of a racial hierarchy based upon skin color. The status of a free black man at this time was above a slave but below interracial groups, thus reflecting the color-based status differentiations that informed the social structure of antebellum American society. Throughout history, even though it is said that everyone has equal rights, it has never really been that way. Everyone whose skin is not white is classified in a lower social class and negative things are automatically thought about people and groups of other races. The negative thoughts about racial groups or people of different skin colors are not changing; instead they are being passed down with every new generation to keep the thought of whites being the superior race.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays