...society. Unfortunately, for African Americans, one of the largest minority groups within the United States, this is not a reality. In fact, life has been altered from the moment their lives began as an individual of color. Today, many people tend to remember the victories of African Americans that include abolition of slavery, desegregation, the civil rights movement, and the right to vote before women. People tend to forget the centuries of ugly racism, oppression and violence. The times of slavery, Jim Crow laws, lynching and segregation along with the hardship of having no political voice. Many disregard that for every social policy throughout history with what appeared to be an open door, just became another obstacle for Blacks and step up for Whites. Social policies and government programs have neglected and shortchanged African Americans for decades. Today, African Americans continue to face economic, social and health disparities within society when compared to its white counterparts. African Americans are struggling with unemployment and poverty. According to Fletcher (2013) in 2012, the black unemployment rate was 14.0 percent, 2.1 times the white unemployment rate (6.6 percent). This rate is higher than the average national unemployment rate of 13.1 percent. For those African Americans who are employed, many are unable to support their families. The minimum wage today is $7.25. This is far from a living wage. In 2011, a full-time year-round worker needed to earn...
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...Poverty in America is nothing new, we as citizens have an inkling as to what it means to be in poverty. Poverty surrounds everyone, even though many are blind to it. The subject of poverty has been unsettling to say the least. The topic of poverty is often dismissed, or belittled. Many Americans are blind to the poverty that lives around them, but ironically are aware of poverty by the numbers. Sadly numbers do not expres the entire truth of being impoverished. Every race in the United States has felt the cold relentless grip of poverty to some degree, many more so than others unfortunately. One of the highest impoverished races in the United States, are Native Americans,and following them is African Americans, then Hispanis and Latinos. After...
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...there are five main ethnic groups Caucasians, Latinos, African America, Asian, and Native Americans. All of the ethnic groups are different when it comes to things such as education, poverty, religion and politics. However, at the same time a lot of the groups populate the same states, but stay away from almost the same states. To begin with I will start with the different education rates from groups. African American ethnic groups have a relatively high education rate from what they were in the 1900’s with three point nine million (3.9 million) going to college. I broke down Asian American to three...
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...The Effect of African-American Students Socioeconomic Status on how it Affects College Retention and Graduation Rates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities Abstract With Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) graduation rates at the lowest they have been in the last decade I have become concerned. It makes me wonder what is causing this and what needs to be done in order to change this. While reading an article from The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE) I found out that out of the thirty-seven of the four year HBCUs only four of them have a graduation rate over fifty percent. These institutions are Spelman College with a rate of seventy-nine percent, Howard University with a rate of sixty-four percent, Morehouse College with a rate of sixty-one percent, and Hampton University with a rate of fifty-four percent (JBHE, 2012). The purpose of paper is to find out what are some of the factors that are playing a major role in the graduation and retention rates of African-American students at HBCUs and what can be done to help increase these numbers. The Effect Students Socioeconomic Status on High it Affects College Retention and Graduation Rates The first thing that I wanted to look at was the family background of the average African-American student attending a HBCU. I wanted to know how their socioeconomic status directly affected their overall performance, and if the parental educational attainment affected the student’s success while...
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...care for over hundred of years. Health disparities between minorities always have been a problem, with little improvement over time. There are many reasons for these disparities, including socioeconomic status, health behaviors of the minority groups, access to health care, environmental factors, and direct and indirect manifestations of discrimination. Other reasons for health disparities include; lack of health insurance, over dependence on publically funded facilities by minority groups, and barriers to health care such as insufficient transportation, geographical location (not enough providers in an area), and cost of services. According to the 2010 Census data, more than 25% of the U.S. population is composed of ethnic minority groups: 12.1% African American, 9% Hispanic, 2.9% Asian, and 1.0% Native Americans. If current birth and immigration trends continue, it is expected that the Hispanic population will increase by 21%, Asian 22%, African-Americans 12% and the White population 2% by the year 2040 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2010). With the increase in population, also increases the disease. African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian Pacific Islander are the four minority groups with poor health, high morbidity, and mortality rates than their white counterparts. Native Americans are high in diabetes, more than twice that for white. Their life expectancy is five year shorter (Satcher, 2000). African Americans have higher rate of developing cardiovascular...
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...Homeownership Unemployment Occupations Income Poverty Transportation Pittsburgh’s Racial Demographics: Differences And Disparities 39 © 2007 University of Pittsburgh Section 4. Economic Disparities HomeownersHip Homeownership is an essential part of the “American Dream”. Homeownership provides many benefits to families, children, and communities. These benefits include wealth building, tax reductions, a source of equity for education and other major expenses, a stable residential population, and greater neighborhood safety. Although the number of minorities owning homes has increased over the years, the nation is still far from achieving racial parity in homeownership. Figure 4.1. Homeownership Rates by Race and Ethnicity, 2000 100 80 60 Percent 72 75 73 60 39 34 25 20 16 43 40 38 50 36 53 46 46 40 0 Pittsburgh City Allegheny County White Source: Appendix 4.1 Pittsburgh MSA Asian Hispanic United States African American • Homeownership is lower in the city of Pittsburgh than in the other geographic areas for all of the racial and ethnic groups. • Whites are significantly more likely than African Americans, Asians, or Hispanics to own their homes across all of the geographic areas. • In the Pittsburgh region, Asians have the lowest homeownership rates in the city, county, and the Pittsburgh MSA. Only in the U.S. does the percentage of Asians owning homes exceed that of African Americans and Hispanics. Pittsburgh’s Racial...
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...these policies may have created a permanent shift in American society which, as a result, disenfranchised minorities since they went into effect over thirty years ago. This particular idea or theory is exceptionally contradictory and has been distorted by not only various media outlets but by subsequent pro-Reaganomics politicians over the years. A closer look at the actions taken place under Reagan’s administration will explicate Reagan’s administration detrimental effect on members of minority groups which, in some cases, still affects these groups today. These policies include but are not limited to the reduction of social programming, the impoverishment of black people, the “War on Drugs”, the administration’s response to crises such as AIDS, and its approach to Civil Rights and LGBT rights (or lack thereof). When former President Ronald Wilson Reagan was first elected into office in 1980, the country’s inflation rate was the highest it had been since 1947. After his election, President Reagan wasted no time in implementing his domestic policies for the economy. His economic policies were based on a school of thought called supply side economics. His economic plan included the following propositions: “reduce the growth of government spending, reduce marginal tax rates on income from labor and capital, and reduce regulation, and control the money supply to reduce inflation”. As a result, the administration afforded the American taxpayers the...
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...standards. The aproach of NCLB is based on theories in education that high expectations and goal setting will result in greater educational achievement for most students. High standards for all students as well as educators are quality goals, however, using standardized tests to measure success is not the most effective method. Having high standards is a necessary part of our nation's success, it sets a high level of accountability and provides benchmarks for both the student and educators. Those schools that are categorized as performing poor are required to have supplemental asistance like tutoring, after school programs or even replacing teacher completely. Schools risk being restructured or even taken over by the state is after five years of not making adequate yearly progress. But standardized testing is an ineffective way of assessing individual student performance. This type of test gives reason to teach according to what is on the test, rather than for authentic learning. When using standardized tests there is no room to account for differennt learning styles and strengths of each student. Everyone learns differenntly but with this type of test doesn't allow for individuality. NCLB believes that boosting standardized tests scores should be the primary goal of schools, this asumption leads to the one size fits all teaching aimed primarily at test preparation, and it works against efforts to give all children a high quality education. The Elementary and Secondary...
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...Running head: AIDS/HIV IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY MBA 530 Community Health Evaluation/Epidemiology Dr. Patricia Pierce Latoya Blain 06/17/2012 AIDS/HIV in the African American Community Of all the ethnic and racial groups of the United States of America, the African Americans are the ones who have been to a larger extent faced with the HIV/AIDS burden. Statistics show that more than two hundred and thirty thousand African Americans have already passed on as a result of AIDS- a figure which represents 40% of the total deaths in the U.S. Besides, it is estimated that those living with HIV in the U.S. are more than one million, half of whom are blacks (NASTAD, 2005). The probability of having been infected with HIV/AIDS among the African Americans is one on every 16 (for the black males) and 1 in every 30 people (for the black women). Washington D.C. has the highest prevalence of HIV infection, at three percent; with 75% of the infected people being African Americans. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy has reported that African Americans form the greatest proportion of the many cases of HIV/AIDS in the various transmission sorts, including among women, injection drug users, infants and heterosexual men (The White House, 2010). From the above statistics, one may, therefore, wonder African Americans as affected by AIDS in such a disproportionate manner. Historically, it was back in the early 1980s...
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...Poverty in America: An Overview Stephanie Tran Pol S 310 Professor Strohman Iowa State University Some people may argue that the American dream is no longer achievable. Perhaps it was, but as time lapses and history takes its course, the pursuit itself may appear meeker. Today, most people would agree that the economy “is bad,” but what does that truly mean? A “bad economy” may impact some families on a more personal level than it appears. There are 20.6 million people in the United States who live in deep poverty, 6 million of whom have no income (Edelman). A family that lives in poverty is not always obvious to the eye. When a person thinks of “poverty,” he or she may think of developing countries with people who live with little to no food, shelter, or clothing. They may think of the too-thin African children in black and white commercials with the sad music trying to guilt viewers to send money. However, in America, poverty is a little more complex than that, and standards for poverty here are different than that of Africa, Asia, or Mexico. While poverty in the United States may still include an income, free education for children, and a place to live, it still may entail food insecurity, debt, lack of basic necessities, and the weight of stress and pressure from society that can take a huge emotional toll on a family. Poverty in the United States is a very real problem, and many people are unaware of the impacts of it. In the United States, the poverty rate...
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...Mississippi Needs Assessment Kana Crumby Liberty University Abstract This paper looks at the history of the state of Mississippi. Mississippi is a poor state with little resources. This paper details the risk factors that lead to poor mental health in the residents of the state as well as areas of weakness in the state. Using statistics from various sources, the author breaks down population data to form a needs assessment and summarize the state’s condition. Mississippi Needs Assessment The state of Mississippi is located in the southern portion of the United States and gets its name from the Mississippi River, which flows next to the state’s western border (Mississippi, 2011). The capitol of Mississippi is Jackson. It has a subtropical climate with the southern part of the state being at risk for seasonal hurricanes. Thunderstorms are also very common in Mississippi with about 30 tornadoes annually (Mississippi, 2011). Mississippi is blessed with very fertile soil. It is especially rich in the Black Belt and Delta areas. The landscape of Mississippi is flat with little variation across the state (Mississippi, 2011). Mississippi has a rich history rooted in cotton farming that began in the early 1800’s. The cotton industry made Mississippi one of the wealthiest states in the Union before the Civil War and necessitated the use of hundreds thousands of slaves. Because of this, Mississippi was the second state to join the Confederacy during the Civil...
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...Community Health Practice Aline Prosper HAT 1 November 2, 2012 Western Governor University Community Health Practice The community we are introducing today is the people living around McGuire Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Richmond Virginia. A decade ago, African-American and European-American populated Southside Richmond only. Southside Richmond, like the whole state, is experiencing increasing racial diversity with the rapid growth of Hispanic and Asian populations. African-American population remains the largest minority group in Southside Richmond. McGuire Veteran Affairs Medical Center is a very large hospital-serving veterans from many different states. This large medical center has thousands of employees and hundreds of patients daily in the main facility and various outpatient clinics. In the beginning of this assignment, we decided to ask veterans, nurses, doctors, and any other employees of the McGuire Veteran Affairs Medical Center how long they drive to be at the hospital. 60% drive 30 to 60 minutes to get there. The first 20% lives in the community and drives 10 to 15 minutes or takes the city bus. The other 20% drives 60 minutes or more to come to work to the hospital. We did a focus group based on the 20% who live in the community around McGuire Veteran Affairs Medical Center. These coworkers, including this writer, and patients who live in this community have low income. They are mostly housekeeping, dietary, and nursing assistance staff...
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...didn’t come easily although the civil war of 1861 isn’t something we can experience today we can feel the tension from just reading history. Life for both confederate army and union soldiers in army camps were about fighting for their cause, their country. for the same reason their life was on line. this quote explains how they lived through the camps “army regulations called for washing one’s hands and face every day and taking complete bath once a week, many soldiers failed to do so. as result, body lice, dysentery, and diarrhea were common” and adding to that many starved, they didn’t have a proper meal or constant pays. they had to camp through extreme weather, they weren’t able to see their family and loved ones for months, sometimes a year too. On the other side civilians were mostly women, children, elderly, slaves and rich people in the in both states. women had to work in the place of the south men and it was like that in north they had simple jobs, a lower pay than men. most women in the civil war experienced the loss of father, son, husband cousin or friend. it wasn’t easy for anyone except rich people because they had the choices, not to go to army. in the south if you had more than 40 slaves than you didn’t have to go with army. in north...
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...Race and Poverty: Factors of the African American Achievement Gap Abstract The proposed action research study will pinpoint factors that contribute to the African American academic achievement gap. These factors impact not only the lives of families in the African American community but continues a vicious cycle of generations of poverty that hinders our country’s ability to effectively compete economically and also threatens America’s capacity to provide social equality for all. The participants in this study will comprise of parents and students of highly concentrated poverty - low academically performing African American public schools. Thirty two parents and thirty two students from eight low performing-poverty schools in the research study will be interviewed and surveyed online. Collected information and data will be researched employing qualitative and quantitative practices. Introduction There was a time when children of color were denied the hope and expectation of equal education because of racial isolation and discrimination in America’s education system. Although it’s been well over 50 years since Brown –vs.- The Board of Education which established equal education for all, today we are still faced with large racial disparities in reading and math proficiency between African American children and their thriving white contemporaries. This purpose of this study is to illustrate the connection that occurs between race and poverty with the academic...
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...HIV in the African American Population HIV in the African American Population The year was 1981, and the first discovered cases of PCP, Pneumocystis Cabrini pneumonia was discovered in five young males who did not fit the norm for being diagnosed with this disease. In 1983, the isolation of a T lymph tropic retrovirus was found. In January 1983, the CDC reported a new disease which could be sexually transmitted both homosexually and heterosexual, passed from mother to infant, through blood and blood products. A note was made that the disease could also be passed from a negative host, who carried the disease asymptomatically. On February 7th, the world takes notice of the African American blacks and their relationship with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2006, blacks composed approximately 12% of the United States population over the age of 13. Out of that reported number it was estimated that 46% of them are living with HIV/AIDS. 63% of those cases were from between male to male cases, with 83% new cases being from high risk heterosexual black females. The numbers from the CDC report it is an estimated 12.3 per 10,000 blacks that are currently affected yearly. Of all the ethnic and racial groups of the United States of America, the African Americans are the ones who have been to a larger extent faced with the HIV/AIDS burden. Statistics show that more than two hundred and thirty thousand African Americans have already passed on as a result of AIDS- a figure which represents...
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