...Michelle Alexander, Civil Rights Attorney, details the occurrence of legalized discrimination in her book called "The New Jim Crow." The New Jim Crow indicates that even though slavery has been long abolished, systemized inequalities still exists. There is a strong existence in employment opportunities, educational systems, public assistance, and jury selections across the country. Without taking a closer look, one could easily believe that the prison system is designed to rehabilitate those who have had trouble with the law. However, there is a question as to whether those who are truly rehabilitated have access to equal opportunities when released from correctional facilities. One can further question whether those persons are given fair...
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...The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander I believe to be a wakeup call for the truly “blind” in today’s mass incarceration of black people. Alexander brings light to how the Civil Rights Movement brought upon a new implementation of racial separation. Her understanding of how Mass Incarceration is the opening to a New Jim Crow of how black people in particular lack any real rights of citizenship. Her book seems to overview the typical media covered topics of people being arrested for use and selling of drugs, rulings in the Supreme Court, and struggles of ex-convicts but of course not to the extent that is required. As the media coverage is not about the true facts but rather embellished and or...
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...A book “The New Jim Crow” is written by Michelle Alexander, who is a legal scholar and civil rights litigator. It is published in 2010 by The New Press. The name comes from the old Jim Crow laws, which prevailed in the former federal state of the United States by the 1960s. The book covers the race in the United States related to the social, political and legal phenomenon, and tried the term "The New Jim Crow" applies to African Americans in the contemporary American situation. The new Jim Crow told a truth that is the United States has been reluctant to face. The New Jim Crow has lead to millions of African Americans locked behind bars in the United States, then denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement, and at the same time transferred to a permanent second-class status. Alexander's book is in the New York Times bestseller list for 10 consecutive months, and philosopher Cornel West has called it the "secular bible for a new social movement in early twenty-first-century America." And led to the reentry centers, community centers, churches, university, and national prisons raise awareness efforts. Author...
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...Sierra Moore Block-2 Historical Paper Historical influences in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird In 1929 the stock market crashed and resulted in nationwide economic distress, called the Great Depression, and it was the setting for To Kill A Mockingbird. During the Great Depression about 1 in 4 people were unemployed in America. Millions of Americans were homeless and jobless (McCabe 12). There were multiple factual events that were significantly influential in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. This novel references many historical events, including the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, was the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were cruel laws set up to put...
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...African American History April 13, 2013 Final Paper Laws of Jim Crow (Final) The Jim Crow laws were as discriminatory as it gets when it came to race, as it separated what it considered inferior races from the white race. George agrees with other historians that Jim Crow was not a real person but one of fiction (6). Jim Crow laws were created in the late 1800’s and lasted until the 1960’s. Louisiana did not pass the first Jim Crow law until 1890, even though racial segregation and discrimination had their start much earlier. Soon after, other southern states passed similar laws prohibiting blacks from being seated with whites on railway cars. After studying the history of Jim Crow, Kantrowitz believed that the Jim Crow system was based on the assertions that whites believed themselves to be superior to blacks intellectually and morally. Sexual relations between blacks and whites were also a big issue because many whites believed that the mixing of races would produce a mongrel race and would destroy the fabric of America (35-38). On the other hand, George conveys that the main idea behind the Jim Crow laws was two-fold because Jim Crow was established to keep blacks separate and to make them believe that they were an inferior race (9). Jim Crow had the law on its side because no matter what, the law made it clear that discrimination against the blacks in the Southern states was okay. Many whites did not have a personal problem associating with blacks, as long...
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...December 2015 Chapter 6: The Fire this Time Summary Analysis In the book, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in the United States, though Alexander notes that the discrimination faced by African-American males is also prevalent among other minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Alexander's central premise, from which the book derives its title, is that "mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow keeping company with the final chapter of the New Jim Crow, “The Fire this Time,” this section is devoted to the question of where we go from here. Michelle Alexander argues that we, as a nation, have reached a fork in the road. Likewise, here at the end of our journey with her book, we find ourselves at a critical point of decision. What is required of us at this moment in history, a time when millions are cycling in and out of our nation’s prisons and jails trapped in a parallel social universe in which discrimination is perfectly legal? How do we show care and concern for the children who are born into communities where the majority of men and growing numbers of women can expect to spend time behind bars? What must we do, now that we know that the usual justifications do not hold water, and that a human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch? The New Jim Crow begins and ends with the assertion that nothing...
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...One of which was that musicians were wearing dresses of uncertain nationalities; Winburn’s sarong was characteristic of ‘Pacific Islanders’ in war. (Tucker, 2000, 172) This variety of racial groups depicted another viewpoint of looking at ‘blackness’ as a huge category of ‘2nd class status’. Women being legitimate as musicians provided a view that women, regardless of race and orientation, are able to work together in harmony. (Tucker, 2000, 173-4) Additionally, in terms of music, internationalism created a new musical genre that incorporated rhythms and effects of various styles. ‘Black stagings’ of ‘Internationalism’ also highlighted discrepancies and vagueness of the Jim Crow laws. (Tucker, 2000,...
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...American history used to oppress, hurt, and dehumanize African Americans. The word is still commonly used today in social media, songs, by students in Algonquin. Thus making it important for students to learn the substantial impact and painful history behind this word. By teaching Huckleberry Finn, an outdated conveyance of anti-racism, it undermines the situations of slaves and paints the unrealistic picture of racial tensions for non African American students at Algonquin. In the story Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huckleberry fakes his death and flees his abusive father. While on the run, Huck means a runaway slave, Jim, who is fleeing his owner, Miss Watson, who wants to sell him subsequently separating him from his family. Jim hopes to run away to the North...
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...Greatest Effect of the Gilded Age The Gilded age is not the most positive part of American history by any means; gilded age means literally garbage painted gold. The gilded age did have brilliant ideas we still use today. The most important way the gilded age impacted Americans was through the rising social standards and the new found social tension, that brought new ideas. Social standards began after Jim Crow laws were put into play. Strong black leaders such as Booker T. Washington wanted to change these laws through hard work and believing that if they did, Americans would do the right thing. W. E. B. Du Bois wanted to fight for justice as soon as he could without hesitating. No matter how they planned to fight for justice, the gilded...
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...Texas State Teachers College (now known as Texas State University-San Marcos); he learned compassion for the poverty of others when he taught students of Mexican descent.” Because President Johnson understood the needs of impoverished people in the United States, he wasted no time before implementing laws that provided financial and educational support for communities that needed it the most. Some of the most accessed and important programs, which set the United States apart from other countries, were established as reforms in Lyndon Johnson’s presidential term. President Lyndon Johnson was an enforcer of the humanities, he fought for the underdogs in our society. Under his presidency he passed more reform laws than at any time since the New Deal under President Roosevelt. Many of the reform laws for which Johnson fought for were overshadowed by the crisis in Vietnam (Uncommon American, 2012). Lyndon Johnson won the election by the widest popular margin in American history (150,000 votes). He enacted the Civil Rights Act...
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...To Kill A Mockingbird: Overview Vanessa Vigneau English 400 March 20, 2015 Cultural and Literary Significance To Kill A Mockingbird was written during the most critical time periods of racial discrimination, the 1930s. During this time racial prejudice was already an issue, especially in the southern states, but during the Great Depression it escalated even more and the imagery in To Kill A Mockingbird allows the reader to fully understand the impact prejudice had on children and adults. To further explore the cultural significance it is important to also realize that the story time period closely related to the time period in which it was published, 1960. During this time, many were trying to fight Jim Crow laws of segregation and were in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. (2007) This story would seem obvious to some as a coming of age story involving the main character and narrator, Scout, but it was much more involved than a little girl growing up and learning to see things from another’s point of view. This story involves the cultural significance of how people lived in the south in the 1930s and how children and adults were affected by the on-going, ugly, violent prejudice. In the story Scout and Jem are taught by their father lessons about courage and tolerance as it is becoming clear to Atticus, he can no longer shield his children from what is happening in their town. He teaches them to stand in someone else’s shoes and consider the world from that perspective...
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...America has struggled with achieving equality since its founding. The news is full of different examples of racial difficulties, which also can be found in court cases throughout history and even now in more modern cases. Many of these cases can be traced back to the main concept of separate but equal, which was established by the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. Plessy vs. Ferguson was the main point that really brought the concept of separate but equal into light. The case was a debate on whether segregation was constitutional. In 1892 Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow train car, which at the time was a train car that all African Americans were required to sit in, as they were not allowed to sit with the white people. This was against...
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...The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a 20th century movement of diverse art forms occurring in New York City. During the time this change was referred to as "New Negro Movement” (Johnston). The movement was responsible for giving new opportunities to African American artists. Additionally, the Harlem Renaissance empowered everyday black Americans that were discriminated against. During this time, there were several notable figures that helped lead and expand the movement. As a result, the Harlem Renaissance has made an enormous cultural impact in the United States. The initial emergence of the Harlem Renaissance can be traced back to 1865. During this time, African Americans were experiencing their first chance of freedom. After...
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...people immediately associate him with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson and the Civil Rights Movement. I chose to write about Andrew Young because of his strong feelings about the rights of black Americans. He felt that everyone, black or white, should have equal rights. Andrew fought along the side of Martin Luther King, Jr. and continued the work after King's death. The Civil Rights Movement required many dedicated and determined souls. Andrew Young, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of peace who believed in using love vice hate to settle disagreements. He accomplished many wonderful things to help Martin Luther King's Dream live on. Andrew Jackson Young Jr. was born March 12, 1932, in New Orleans, Louisiana, during the depths of the Great Depression and Jim Crow segregation. His grandfather had been a successful businessman who had operated a drugstore, a pool hall, and a saloon. His father, Andrew Young Sr. was a dentist and his mother Daisy Fuller Young was a school teacher. The Young’s were among the elite of the city’s black population, which was largely poor and uneducated. Dr. Young Sr. could have afforded to live in a well-to-do white neighborhood, but no one would sell to him.(African American pg 104) .His parents were always very supportive of Andrew and his brother Walter. His parents always taught them the importance of religion and education and to treat others with respect. When Andrew was very young, he began to realize that whites and blacks were...
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...Student: Lance Huang Outline: The topic is contrast between the city life and the country life, and the contrast is based on self experience I used to be. The city life: busy, pressure, hard work, achievement, convenience, shopping, movie, entertainment, the air pollution, the busy mass transmission system, my parents, my siblings, coldness between people, everything is complex The country life: my old and stubborn grandpa, my tender grandma, the nostalgia, the tangerine garden, the old house, living on the mountain, fresh air, comfortable atmosphere, the life without worry, get up early, quiet, seldom going to the town, no many shopping store, do not have to worry about the relationship between people, simple food for every meal Possible idea for contrasting: complex relationship to people versus simple relationship to people, the convenience life versus isolated life on the mountain, the irregular and regular work and rest life Text: Everyone has her own image to the city life and the country life; therefore I have my own idea to these two kinds of life style. To me the city life is quite different to the country life, and the comparison sources are my life experience and my memory. I lived with my grand parents in the country in my childhood; after I finished my first year in the elementary school, I came to live with my parents in the Taipei County. From then on, I go back to my grandparents’ old house when it is summer or winter vacation. Under this situation...
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