...What explains the adaptation of the 1948 Apartheid law in South Africa? South Africa’s Apartheid was a political system founded in racial segregation. The National Party, the only governing party between the years 1948 to 1994, committed itself to oppressing the country’s people through racial legislation. What factor explains the adaptation of the Apartheid law in 1948? An Afrikaner (southern African ethnic group) minority ruled the population, enacting Apartheid once white supremacist leaders and racial segregation had become a central aspect of the South African policy after World War II. The Afrikaners had also formed some Broderbund organizations, developing and imposing ideology that helped in pushing the Apartheid agenda. Such ideology was officially administered in South Africa through the mandate of the League of Nations, later revoked in 1966 via the United Nations 2145 Resolutions (Barbarin, Oscar & Linda 2013, 221). The Great Depression 1929 resulted in a bad economic turn in South Africa, and saw many Afrikaner whites move to the city in search of jobs from previously settled rural areas. However, due to high taxes, native South African tribesmen had to work in the mines resulting in an increase in the number of black people in the manual labor workforce. Racial segregation itself began during the colonial period under the rule of the Dutch empire until the British appropriated the Cape of Good Hope in 1795 (Clark, Nancy...
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...this was their first experience of formal racial segregation. They were appalled to know they were fighting a racist opponent, yet being treated as a second class citizen and receiving prejudice treatment back home. Consequently, the black soldiers used the ‘Double V’ sign, which meant they were fighting for two victories: victory overseas and victory over racism at home. The war also began to change the racist attitudes of whites. The United States and her allies were fighting a racist opponent, Hitler, who passionately believed in a ‘Master race’. In the past, white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan had presented racism as something that was both natural and noble, however, the racist atrocities carried out by the Nazis showed the full horror and dangers inherent in racism. This convinced many people that racism should be opposed in all circumstances. In addition, the courage shown by the black soldiers fighting in the Second World War changed the outlook of many white soldiers. In an interview after the war, a platoon sergeant from segregated South Carolina...
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...a way to bring the South into submission. They did this by passing the 14th amendment which recognized the free people, African-Americans who were formerly enslaved. They then passed the 15th amendment (1870) which upheld the rights of the newly freed people by allowing them the right to vote. It’s in my opinion that reconstruction is similar to slavery. The so-called freedom given to African Americans was very limited and overshadowed by the consistent mistreatment they faced. Reconstruction simply opened the doors to other forms of slavery. At this time, the South States were suffering because many believed they...
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...slavery but one can only imagine what free really is. While the nation search for ways to establish true meaning of equality, African-American people continued to struggle to find out just what equality means and to have the same rights and freedom as the white people in the nation. Whether as slaves or free people, the political and social status of African Americans has always been to obtain the ability to participate in the nation’s economy. While many historians believe that slavery and politics can be attributed to the Civil War, more than 600,000 Americans died and with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation to start the motion to free the slaves, America became even more a divided country in 1865 than the previous earlier years (Bowles, 2011). Although freedom in the post-Civil War years did not guarantee equality, African Americans continued to struggle from racism, segregation and discrimination for many years, but the birth of equality is beginning to grow and show that all men and women are created equal. The effort to integrate African Americans (ex-slaves) in the American society after the war, known as the Reconstruction Period, was a very difficult task and while the country was divided between the North and South, racism was still very much alive. The end of the Civil War was supposed to mean the end of slavery and the beginning of equal rights for all former slaves; however, plantation owners found it difficult...
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...Interracial Couples and Their Struggles LaKeisha Straka-Conway JUAD/SOCI 3320 [pic] The United States has observed an amount of social and cultural desegregation between races, specifically Blacks and Caucasians. Despite decades of desegregation, cultural and social differences still exists. These differences are present in the institution of marriage. Americans have and are slowly evolving away from segregation. In the past forty years a multitude of changes have transformed schools, jobs, voting booths, neighborhoods, hotels, restaurants and even the wedding altar, facilitating tolerance for racial diversity ( Norman 108 ). Since the 1960's, when the housing discrimination was outlawed, many Blacks moved into mainly Caucasian neighborhoods. The steadily growing areas in the west and south-west are least segregated, because these areas never had the entrenched Black and Caucasian sections of town (Randolph 154). Even more visible signs of desegregation can be seen in the areas of education. A study done by the University of Michigan shows that integration on campuses occurs on a regular basis. The racial lines are crossed routinely; about 50% of Blacks and 15% of Caucasians reportedly study together. Eating patterns also share the same similarities. At a social level there has been a steady convergence of opinion on a variety of racial issues. Since 1972, surveys have asked whether the respondent would favor a law making inter-racial...
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...Race and Ethnicity has been equivalently used by people as referring to both meanings being the same. Race is a biological myth, because society believes that it’s real. Ethnicity is a self-identity with a shared culture. Society is structured around one’s social perception of race and ethnicity, which enables society to categorize according to importance. I’ll discuss how one’s position in the racial hierarchy encourages and permits prejudice and discrimination. Today’s society is structured in a way by the dominant group that prejudice and discrimination comes across more subtlety and even at times unintentionally. This wasn’t always depicted that way in the past. For instance, in the 1930’s and 40’s the Nazi Party, the dominant group, was very open about their prejudice and discrimination toward the subordinate groups which included Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Jehovah Witnesses. Not only did they express their feelings of hate, but also acted upon them by taking away their civil rights and perused them with violence. The terms race and ethnicity are often used synonymously to each other. The definition of race has altered by society and time. These terms need to be independently defined in order to fully understand when and how to use the terms race and ethnicity correctly. Race is socially defined as a category based on people’s distinctive physical characteristics that are inherited, such as color of skin, shape of eyes, facial structures. Many groups have...
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...believes that it has rid itself of prejudice and racism, and to open the topic of racial profiling by law enforcement personnel is admitting that it’s possible the nation is backsliding. As a result, the events of September 11th stepped up the pace of racial profiling by law enforcement and grew to include new groups of people. Racial profiling is a topic that is seen across the nation in the media. Racial profiling has often been referred to as the apparition occurrence because so far departments across the nation clearly deny its existence. The topic is a growing one in light of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. Racial profiling has been a top news story since that attack but it was an issue for many years before that. The equal protection clause can be found in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. It simply states that, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States...nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In other words, this meant that the Constitution would become 'color-blind'. State laws would no longer be allowed to treat whites and blacks differently. The Supreme Court relied heavily upon the "separate but equal" doctrine to determine when a state law violated the equal protection clause. This is also how the Supreme Court would determine what is...
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...Special Note. The Lasting Legacy of An American Dilemma The fiftieth anniversary of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education—which said that the segregated schools of the South were damaging to black children, and thus began to dismantle the system of legalized segregation—was an occasion for assessing the last half century’s progress in the lives of African Americans. While there remains deep disagreement about the current state of black America and the policies that ought to follow from that, most would agree that the status of African Americans has changed dramatically, if insufficiently, since Brown. Not only has the system of legal segregation been eliminated and widespread prejudice diminished, but the economic, political and educational status of many blacks has significantly improved. Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, generally viewed as one of the most important results of grantmaking by Carnegie Corporation of New York, played a major role in the story that led from an America, which after World War II still had a legal Jim Crow system in the South—along with a segregated army—to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was cited as the social scientific evidence justifying the Supreme Court’s decision that what had been deemed separate but equal education for black children was, in fact, detrimental to their development. Published in 1944 (by Harper & Bros.; reprinted in 1996 by Transaction Publishers), An...
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...African American Studies Final Question Answers M5Q1 NOTES: 1. Which of the following best describes Henry David Thoreau's response to Brown's raid? |1.|Thoreau praises Brown and seeks to defend his memory against those who viewed him as a murderer or insane man| |2.|Thoreau is horrified by the violent methods Brown used, arguing that violence will turn many Americans who oppose the extension of slavery against the abolitionists| |3.|Thoreau argues that Brown should not be put to death as this would cause sectional strife and lead to a civil war| |4.|Thoreau is one of many abolitionists who plea for Brown's life to be saved| 3 points Question 2 1. Which of the following best summarizes the letters John Brown wrote to his family while in prison? |1.|Brown is very hopeful that his wife and remaining children will come visit him| |2.|Brown calls upon his sons to continue his work. Although he speaks in very vague terms, it is clear that he hopes they will launch another slave uprising so that his death will not be in vain| |3.|Brown is upset at the fact that some of his children are ashamed to be sons and daughters of the man who planed the raid at Harper's Ferry| |4.|Brown does not write any letters to his family members while in prison, a fact John Earle makes plain in his introduction| |5.|Brown is upbeat and speaks in mostly religious terms about how there is no need to grieve for their father| Question 3 1. Which of the following is TRUE regarding John...
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...History * The early inhabitants * The early colonial period * The British colonial era * The mineral revolution * The Anglo-Boer/South African War (October 1899 – May 1902) and its aftermath * Segregation * Apartheid * The end of apartheid * The First Decade of Freedom * Into the Second Decade of FreedomThe early inhabitantsThe discovery of the skull of a Taung child in 1924; discoveries of hominid fossils at Sterkfontein caves, a world heritage site; and the ground-breaking work done at Blombos Cave in the southern Cape, have all put South Africa at the forefront of palaeontological research into the origins of humanity. Modern humans have lived in the region for over 100 000 years.The latest discovery is a new species of hominid, Australopithecus sediba, almost two million years old. It was discovered in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, 40 kilometres from Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010. The small, mobile bands of Stone-Age hunter- gatherers, who created a wealth of rock art, were the ancestors of the Khoikhoi and San of historical times. The Khoikhoin and San (the "Hottentots" and "Bushmen" of early European terminology), although collectively known as the Khoisan, are often thought of as distinct peoples.The former were those who, some 2 000 years ago, adopted a pastoralist lifestyle herding sheep and, later, cattle. Whereas the hunter-gatherers adapted to local environments and were scattered across the subcontinent, the herders sought out...
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...Cultural Perspectives of Japan William Earl Barnes Jr. Abstract Japan is an island country sited east of the mainland of Asia. It is made up of a long, slender group of islands. The four main islands are Honshu (the largest), Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. There are more than three thousand smaller islands. Together, they have about the identical land area as the state of California. Across the Sea of Japan to its north and west are Russia and South Korea. To the east, where the sun rises, Japan borders the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese call their nation Nippon, which means “Land of the Rising Sun” Japan has a remarkable landscape. Mountains and hills cover most of the land. A chain of mountains runs down the middle of Japan. Snow-capped Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak, towers over Honshu Island. Swift streams flow from the mountains into the sea. Thick forests cover the mountainsides where deer and monkeys make their homes in the spring; the countryside is colored pink and white with the blossoms of plum and cherry trees. In southern Japan, summers are long and hot. In the north, winters are cold and snowy. Central Japan has an enjoyable climate, with warm summers and cool winters. The country is often shaken by volcanic explosions and earthquakes. Japan’s first powerful rulers were chiefs from the Yamato region. During the Yamatos’ rule, many visitors from other lands came to Japan. Scholars from china brought the Chinese writing system in the 400s. They also brought...
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...Thatchell Recent developments in samesex marriage have raised emotions, awareness and many questions about equality and rights as well as inquires about the benefits of marriage for society in general. Is the goal to blend into an existing system of rights and privileges or to work toward a new framework of acceptance? To examine these questions, I invite you to take a journey through the past sixty years and visit moments of both the African American and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Civil Rights Movements. By examining the African American Civil Rights Movement, I attempt to survey and assess the advantages and disadvantages of both the assimilationist and liberationist perspectives of the GLBT Movement. Historical Context The racist institution of Jim Crow grew out of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 which abolished slavery in the United States. Long after slavery was abolished, however, African Americans continued to suffer cruel injustices throughout the country. The discriminatory system of Jim Crow perpetually placed blacks as inferior to whites in all circumstances. If these laws, both social and legal, were not abided by, African Americans faced severe consequences of punishment and death. The detestably bigoted establishment pervaded the American culture well into the twentieth century. The laws and etiquette of Jim Crow met resistance through the African American Civil Rights Movement of...
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...Sociology Revision What is the family? “The family are a close group of people, usually related not always. Who support each other and at some point in their lives tend to live in the same household.” There is no correct definition on the family, Sociologists do not agree on a definition, broadly there are two types of definition; • Exclusive definitions – These focus on the specific relationships within the family unit i.e. marriage • Inclusive definitions – These focus on the functions of the unit e.g. support. The Cereal Packet Family A popular image of the family in Britain in the late twentieth century has been described as the cereal packet family. The ‘happy family’ image gives the impression that most people live in a typical family and these images reinforce the dominant ideology of the traditional nuclear family. Functionalists Roles of the Family – Parsons The Functionalist Talcott Parsons sees two main functions that the family performs these are: • The primary socialisation of children Parson argues that every individual must internalise the norms and values of society. He said it is the family that moulds the child’s personality to fit the needs of society, producing children who are committed to shared norms and values and who have a strong sense of belonging to society • The stabilisation of adult personalities Adults need emotional security, which is given by partners in a marriage, and they also need a source...
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...Sociology Revision What is the family? “The family are a close group of people, usually related not always. Who support each other and at some point in their lives tend to live in the same household.” There is no correct definition on the family, Sociologists do not agree on a definition, broadly there are two types of definition; • Exclusive definitions – These focus on the specific relationships within the family unit i.e. marriage • Inclusive definitions – These focus on the functions of the unit e.g. support. The Cereal Packet Family A popular image of the family in Britain in the late twentieth century has been described as the cereal packet family. The ‘happy family’ image gives the impression that most people live in a typical family and these images reinforce the dominant ideology of the traditional nuclear family. Functionalists Roles of the Family – Parsons The Functionalist Talcott Parsons sees two main functions that the family performs these are: • The primary socialisation of children Parson argues that every individual must internalise the norms and values of society. He said it is the family that moulds the child’s personality to fit the needs of society, producing children who are committed to shared norms and values and who have a strong sense of belonging to society • The stabilisation of adult personalities Adults need emotional security, which is given by partners in a marriage, and they also need a source...
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...1 CHAPTER OUTLINE Ranking Groups Types of Groups Listen to Our Voices Problem of the Color Line Does Race Matter? Biracial and Multiracial Identity: Who Am I? Research Focus Multiracial Identity Sociology and the Study of Race and Ethnicity The Creation of Subordinate-Group Status The Consequences of Subordinate-Group Status Resistance and Change WHAT WILL YOU LEARN? How Does Society Rank Different Groups? What Are the Four Types of Groups? Does Race Still Matter? How is Biracial and Multiracial Identity Defined? How Is Sociology Applied to the Study of Race and Ethnicity? What Leads to the Creation of Subordinate-Group Status? What Are the Consequences of Subordinate-Group Status? How Does Change Occur in Race Relations? ISBN 1-256-48952-2 2 Racial and Ethnic Groups, Thirteenth edition, by Richard T. Schaefer. Published by Merrill Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. Exploring Race and Ethnicity Minority groups are subordinated in terms of power and privilege to the majority, or dominant group. A minority is defined not by being outnumbered but by five characteristics: unequal treatment, distinguishing physical or cultural traits, involuntary membership, awareness of subordination, and ingroup marriage. Subordinate groups are classified in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. The social importance of race is derived from a process of racial formation; any biological significance is relatively unimportant to society...
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