...Colorism "Your eyes are blue, but you ain't white! Your hair is straight 'cuz you pressed it last night!" -School Daze Dehumanization comes in its most rampant form, towards black women, as colorism. A community of African American women stand by with broken self-esteem from a history of colorism creating stigmatism on the ideal body image of an African American female in today's society. The quest for straight hair was often a torturous obsession for the slaves, but it was not just about conforming to the prevailing fashions of the day. Straight hair translated to economic opportunity and social advantage. Because many of the more than one hundred thousand free Blacks in nineteenth-century America were the mulatto offspring of the first African arrivals and their European companions, lighter...
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...The purpose of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is for the author to expose the evil doings behind slavery. In the nove,l Douglass plays the role of the narrator and the main character. Douglass chooses to have both roles so that he can add his own personal account as well as make his own public claims about slavery. In chapter one, Douglass takes the time to write about the relationship between the master and his slaves. For my response I want to focus on the Douglass’s portrayal of slave women. In Chapter 1 Douglass describes the relationship between his mother and himself. He states that “it was a common custom, in the part of Maryland… to part children from their mothers at a very early age” (1) and as a result of this many...
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...for African Americans. The racial inequality among African Americans in America is not the same as that of different workers or exiles. As far as the broadened time of the establishment of subjection and the issue of skin shade as a representation for dehumanization of dark individuals. For four centuries (1619-2002) African Americans have battled through bitter times of subjugation, isolation, and separation (Bennett, 1993). Topics of race, prejudice, and racial separation are established in the consequence of servitude and endure throughout present American life. Calculated by a mixture of components such as education, income, and occupation, socioeconomic status; viewed as the social status of an individual or gathering of people. The effects it has on the African American population can range from poverty, poor health to low educational levels. Research has demonstrated that race and ethnicity regarding the stratification frequently focus an individual's financial situation (House & Williams, 2000). Besides, groups are regularly isolated by SES, race, and ethnicity. According to statistical data, socioeconomic factors have an impact on many ethnic and racial minorities. The data shows that: African American kids are three times more prone to live in poverty than Caucasian youngsters. American Indian/Alaska Native, Latino, and Native Hawaiian families are further probable than Caucasian and Asian families to experience hardship. Regarding the education of African Americans...
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...The Black Lives Matter movement was a movement that was created in 2012 after the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida by a man named George Zimmerman. However, after pleading innocence, he was released. His reasoning behind the shooting was that it was done for self-defense. This caused for an outrage amongst the African-American community all over the nation and caused for the creation of the Black Lives Matter, or BLM movement for short. Now, the intentions of the BLM movement are to resist dehumanization and fight against violence and systematic racism toward black people. They fight to secure the rights that black people are denied in society which a person of another color normally has. According to their official site, the BLM movement, “…centers those that have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.” They do so mainly by protesting, and at other times, joining other civil rights groups. For instance, recently, BLM joined forces with the minimum...
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...So as part of the requirements for this paper I was required to attend an art show. Consequently I found one at Crystal Bridges called soul of a nation. This show/Gallery was quite fascinating it really spoke to me about the injustices the strife and the overall inequality that African-Americans faced in this country. The show itself was rather moving it really shows the struggle of a people kept down and it's voice was very loud very strong in very concise in it's message upon viewing such works I found myself question the narratives that of been fed to us also found myself inbuwed in the sense of amazement as always works we're alive and had great soul in them hence the name. Of course no words I can put on paper could ever come close to experiencing it or experience in the thing that inspired them which was the Complete dehumanization and destruction of the entire peoples rights culture history pretty much everything was stripped from them and yet their resilience and their resolve and their creativity always a thorn in the side of the oppressor trying to keep them down....
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...that slavery was as awful as others had said before him. Rather, Douglass wanted to capture the process of dehumanization that occurs during a slave’s childhood, in order to give a missing perspective to his mainly white audience. One of the most important discoveries of Douglass’ life was overhearing a slave owner mention that slaves are not in their condition as a result of their lack of humanity or animalistic qualities, but as a result of their environment. This is where Douglass makes his second point–allowing him to transition of the second half of the story– in which he explains how he became literate. 2) What were his audiences and how do you think they responded to the messages he aimed towards them? As was previously mentioned, Douglass’ audience was mostly white, mostly northern folk, and oftentimes skeptical of his authenticity and motivation. Because of the organizational structure of the Narrative, I feel like I would have believed him if I were skeptical. He doesn’t talk about his life in order to prove that it happened or to gain credibility for himself; it’s meant to inspire people on the fence about slavery to actively speak against it, and to me he accomplishes not only that but more. Douglass did of course have an African-American audience, but it was much smaller. With that in consideration, it’s clear his main audience wasn’t for African-Americans, simply because of how much time he focuses on the foundational aspects of a slave’s life. He knew the...
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...controversial and offensive word for many people, especially, African American. The word is still being used, is still used offensively, and why the word has to be talked about early enough so that people know the sheer amount of weight behind this word. But, the problem is that the n-word is not been substituted with an inoffensive word, instead the substitution is the word “slave” which is another offensive word. The word is obviously part of our history and that history shouldn’t be forgotten. It shouldn’t be used pejoratively, but some do and people always will. Now a publisher has attempted to whitewash Huck Finn by replacing the word “nigger” with “slave.” Why? "The n-word speaks to a society that casually dehumanized the black community. Slave was just a job description. In the debate of whether to replace the “N” word with slave, we must ask ourselves, “is that word any better?” Would we want to be called either word? It is a word created by man, and really was not originally created for its current use. But of course, now that it has been labeled a “bad word”, and has a condescending affect, its meaning is offensive. To edit the original version that changes the entire nature of the book is just wrong This may be risky because the new version of the text might replace all previous ones. In attempting to win new readers with a school friendly version all past and potential readers could be deprived of a piece of American literary history when the publishing company decides...
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...Introduction Oppression and resilience of people have been in practice since the beginning of human existence. Oppression can be defined as a person or group of people weighted down by a dominant force. This force has the power to define and label groups. They control societal ideologies of every aspect of our lives including sexuality, family relationships, and self respect. Those who have this power hold it sacred and dear. Their fear of a power shift from the dominant to the subordinate or the majority to the minority continues to guide them in enforcing ideas and laws within society that a particular gender or race has little or no value. Resilience is the ability of those oppressed to continue surviving after being compressed by such a powerful force. It is the oppressive forces of the majority group that have smothered minority groups (women and people of color) for hundreds of years and it is the resilience of those oppressed who continue to inspire change throughout history. Historical Oppressive Forces The Noel Hypothesis is a social learning theory that explains the development of a minority group. It suggest that if two or more groups come together characterized by a differential in power, ethnocentrism, and competition the result will be ethnic/racial stratification (Guadalupe lecture notes, 2008). This theory can also be used to explain the development of gender stratification as well. The majority group in relationship to this paper would be...
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...and the ‘champion’ of human rights in the world. The United States of America is at a critical stage in its historical development poised between political regression and economic decomposition. The year 2014 was marred with a myriad of African-American shootings, incarceration of protesters and other deplorable acts of police brutality. It is my view in this paper that these incidences are much more profound and anchored in historical aspects the most astounding being racism and oppressive legislation proffered since the days of slavery and Black oppression. I will deliberately use the ‘Black and White’ epithet so as to traverse my arguments. The years in between the Occupy Wall...
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...Audre Lordes is analyzed together with the article "Can Hip-Hop Be the New Driving Force behind Increased Racial Integration?" by The JBHE Foundation to find a common theme that relates to both articles. The first essay talks about poetry and women while the second essay talks about hiphop. Poetry is something fundamental and important to the human (particularly female) condition as opposed to a recreation movement. It is the path of womanhood, and the feelings brought by poetry is so effectively ready to express an immediate connection to the aged society. This aged association is kind of antitoxin to the ills of present-day life, which incorporate an unfortunate concentrate on the benefit, direct power, and the institutional dehumanization. Is poetry a luxury? What does poetry relate to women? How does Hip hop music affect the increased racial integration? What if there was no poetry and hip hop music. These questions can be answered and analyzed through Lorde’s and The JBHE Foundation, Inc articles. Both Hip hop and poetry ventures in the framing of ideas, instead of the statement of an officially structured thought. Trusts and dreams are changed into language through poetry, which then turns into a sound thought that can...
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...A COMPARISON OF: - It was like All of Us had been raped: Betty Jean Owens - My Story/ We Fight For the Right to Vote: Rosa Parks - Give Light and the People Will Find Away: Ella Baker - The Problem that had no name: Betty Friedan (For Prof. Jeanne Theoharis –History 43.14) “It was like All of Us had been raped- Betty Jean Owens a catalyst against sexual violence in America A thorough knowledge of American history brings enlightenment to the struggle of African American women to have their bodies, be termed as their own and not for these women to be characterized as beasts for the sexual gratification of white males or any males. Betty Jean Owens (1959) was a young black college woman who was viciously raped repeatedly by four white males at gun point whilst her female friend had escaped and her male friends were allowed to leave. The men that were allowed to leave reported the incident to the local authorities and were involved in a chase to apprehend Owens’s rapist. After the apprehension of the four white males, they gleefully admitted to the crime. Ms. Owens pressed charges, and the men were trialed and found guilty but were saved from the death sentence. The Owens case is not an isolated incident for prior to her case they were hundreds of black women that were brutally raped and beaten but the culprits were never charged, in fact Lisa Bramlet’s is said to have borne twenty three children, twenty of which were...
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... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not long ago, I was having lunch in a KFC in Harlem, sitting near eight African-American boys, aged about 14. Since 1) it was 1:30 on a school day, 2) they were carrying book bags, and 3) they seemed to be in no hurry, I assumed they were skipping school. They were extremely loud and unruly, tossing food at one another and leaving it on the floor. Black people ran the restaurant and made up the bulk of the customers, but it was hard to see much healthy “black community” here. After repeatedly warning the boys to stop throwing food and keep quiet, the manager finally told them to leave. The kids ignored her. Only after she called a male security guard did they start slowly making their way out, tauntingly circling the restaurant before ambling off. These teens clearly weren’t monsters, but they seemed to consider themselves...
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...black Nationalist ideology? Booker T. Washington “was an American political leader, educator and author” who proved to be one of the most dominate figures in African American history in the United States (Booker, par. 1). William Edward Burghardt Du Bois “was a noted scholar, editor, and African American activist…[who] sought to eliminate discrimination and racism” (.. During the late 19th and early 20th century Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two great men who significantly influenced the idea of Black Nationalism in the United States. Though they both wanted to see an America where the Negro was treated with proper respect and equality, their views on how to obtain these noble goals contrasted one another. The ideology of DuBois and Washington were so completely different that people became subjected to following the doctrine of one or the other. With the knowledge that only one could be the “spokesman” for the race the two began a bitter battle to control the Black Nationalism ideology. Amid the competition against one another, both men still had to face other obstacles such as racism in order to further the goals of blacks of the period. Even though the two men had differing opinions on the ideology of Black Nationalism, both would greatly contribute to the idea of Black Nationalism. However, their differing positions on Black Nationalism portrayed a divide amongst African Americans of the time. To understand why Washington and DuBois had such differing...
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...and professional success. Despite being illegal for several decades, segregation is still existent in many public schools in the United States. However, it has become institutionalized; it is hidden deep inside society. Many Black Americans live in poor communities. Therefore, they attend poorly equipped and worn out schools. Without the necessary materials and environment needed to learn, they lose interest in school. Consequently, many of these students drop out of school before graduation. In turn, their potential to achieve higher education and economic status severely diminishes. As discussed in class, prejudice and discrimination are closely related. Prejudice is the thought one has towards another group while discrimination is the action performed towards another group. Prejudice often leads to discrimination. Derogatory terms towards other races or ethnicites have been the cause for genocides, population transfer, and segregation (Witt 2010:302) Discrimination is a great obstacle for Black Americans who seek to achieve a higher economic status. More specifically, racial profiling has been an impediment towards Black American employment. Better known as the glass ceiling, this has caused many well educated and qualified Black Americans to become unable to commence a career. According to a study conducted by the federal Glass Ceiling Commission in 1995, the majority of workers at corporations and firms were white men (Witt 2010:297). Diane Sawyer’s documentary,...
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...Biddy Mason MBOGO .W. APOLLO ( MOI UNIVERSITY) Institution’s name: Professor’s name: Date: Biddy Mason Biddy Mason was an African-American philanthropist who desires to offer challenge to many people especially in her quest to overcome life challenges. Popularly, the African American citizens were readily held as slaves. She was not an exceptional. She had three daughters who are predicted to have been fathered by Smith, their master. Although slaves were lowly regarded in the society of the time, Biddy makes a series of maneuvers in an attempt to make life better until her focus as well as devotion changes her life, her close relatives and community at large. Her legacy in the community is evidenced in two main ways. Firstly, a tombstone that marked her commemoration was elected on March 27, 1988. Secondly, November 16, 1989 was purposely declared as Mason day. An erection of a statute to remember her achievements was made at Broadway spring centre. Biddy Mason presents a typical visionary parent whose success not only benefits her but also other people especially the needy. Her determination in life is worth praise. She struggles a lot with her three daughters. Even though slaves are lowly regarded in the American society, she still focuses to make sure that all goes well. Her master, Smith and her wife keep on changing their residents with time. She never takes any experience for granted. For instance, she uses...
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