African American History
Final Exam Essay
By: Omar Sneed
Given the history of race relations in 20th century America, few voters who were born before the 1970s regardless of their ethnic background or race every expected the election of an African American as President of the United States to occur in their lifetime. Nevertheless, it became a reality and in great part the following events, conditions and situations that took place between 1900 and the year of 2000 created a social political and economic environment that allowed this historical event to take place. First of all, the American people shared the same value system regardless of their race. After the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, the attitudes of the people evolved from privilege being reserved for whites only to a quest for the survival of humankind. There was a marked growth in the black middle class with the inception of the Harlem Renaissance which brought about the perception that African Americans had value in that they could entertain and were skilled at it. Another factor that was conducive to the outcome was the fact that racism began to decline and younger generations were much less racist than their parents and grandparents were. This evolution of attitudes towards African Americans brought about an awareness and testament to the world to what African Americans had to offer largely in part to the post civil war era whereby African Americans were progressive and they were interested in educating themselves after the end of slavery.
Another event that moved us closer to the election of an African American President was the initiatives of Reverend Jesse Jackson who saw that opportunity to galvanize African American voters with the election of Harold Washington who was Chicago’s’ first African American mayor. Jesse Jackson was highly successful in pulling the African