Analysis Of Hidden Figures By Margot Lee Shetterly

Epstein, K. K. (2006). A different view of urban schools: Civil rights, critical race theory,

That being said, the school system stood to profit greatly from the desegregation of schools, and, although initially desegregated schools were aimed to benefit the students, “the figures put beyond dispute the fact that virtually every white person in the city would benefit directly or indirectly from the desegregation plan,” (And We Are Not Saved, 107). This illustrates the Derrick Bell’s point that white government’s are only adamant about helping the black community if they stand to prosper from it--and in most cases--they will through the lens of a dollar

Invisible Backpack: Reflective essay Growing up we often fail to recognize the ways in which we are privileged and the opportunities we are given due to our privileges. In the essay “White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh discusses the privileges of being White and the ways she experienced advantages because of her race. Throughout the essay McIntosh allows readers to explore how she has been given opportunities, due to specific traits she has in her “invisible knapsack”, privileges she once had taken for granted. Her personal experiences take up most of the essay and with it she invites the reader to particepate in discovering which items their knapsacks carry.

Born in 1993 in segregated Monticello, Mississippi, Rod Paige, the African American U.S. secretary of education, said in retrospect of his own experience in school: “They [white students] had a gym. We played on dirt courts. They had new textbooks. Our textbooks had the covers torn off. We marveled over the cleanliness of their brick school” (qtd. in “50 Years” 68).

Racial formation is a vast sum of signifying actions and social structures that clash in the creation of complex relationships and identities that is a labeled race. Throughout the history of the United States, a large array of strategies was engaged in regarding education that took advantage of nonwhites. Since policies by those who supposedly “protect our rights” attempted to eradicate social, economic and cultural aspirations, dominated groups were more often than not suspicious of the school 's interests. According to John Ogby, “children from dominated cultures often failed school because they considered the school to be representative of the dominant white culture” (Spring, 101). This portrays racial formation having an effect on equality. “Acting white” meant to attempt to do well in school because

Systematic racism within education Institutions, such as the lack of adequate funding as well as subtle discrimination, continues to be the root of the problem that plagues this nation. Even though segregation was abolished in 1964, the lingering effects that remain are significant and cannot be passively mended. Although it is tempting to think that this prejudice is caused by a select few and not the many, it is clear that this problem holds more depth. Recent studies conducted by the National Education Studies (NEA) have proven that even in school’s African American students are often times targeted and punished at a significantly higher rate when compared to their white peers. The study states “Black students make up almost 40 percent of all school expulsions [in the] nation, and more than two thirds of students referred to police from schools are either black or Hispanic” (Blacks: Education Issues). This study conducted by the Department of Education, cabinet-level department of the United States

According to Dr. Benjamin Rush’s, M.D., writings from 1773, one of the justifications for slavery stemmed from the misconception that African Americans’ dark skin tone was the result of being “descended from Cain, who was supposed to have been marked with this colour” [sic] (Cummings 49) and as such they sort of deserve to be enslaved since they weren’t descended from the better biblical brother like white Americans apparently were. This Biblical justification thus equated being black with the Cain’s immoral actions, some of which include murder, lust, and dishonesty. This type of stigma lasted until after the Civil War emancipated the slaves in which claims of black men raping white women were used to justify the lynching of African American men. However, NAACP co-founder Ida B. Wells writes that despite these claims, such rapes never happened during the entirety of Civil War (Bouie) as slaves mustered the courage to free themselves in order to fight along Union lines. When Brown v. Board of Education lead to the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, “the court-ordered enrollment of nine black students in 1957 caused a full-scale panic” in which parents feared that their white

This alone was reason enough for envy and hatred” (Packer 179). The “envy and hatred” blacks bear towards white people is due to the prevailing elegance the whites seem to radiate. For a fourth grader, the smallest thing such as someone’s hair is deemed sufficient to cultivate belligerent feelings toward that person. Such encouragement fuels prejudices and eventually result in racism. Often the society and the environment in which children are raised pass down these prejudices. The Anti-Defamation League wrote in an article, “Blacks and others are seen by racists as merely subhuman, more like beasts than men.”

In the book, Warriors Don’t Cry, there are nine African-American students who chose to get involved in integration within an all-white high school. Many of the white students and parents did not approve of integration and demonstrated their hatred in a variety of ways. All nine of them dealt with an immense amount of torture every day at school. Warriors Don’t Cry shows many specific examples of when white students took their anger to a whole other level and did many brutal things like when they threw acid in Melba Patillo Beals’ face or when they threw small balls of flaming paper into the bathroom stall she was in. Though it’s been 60 years, schools are still very unsafe. School safety is a topic of importance, especially in the present day. As bullying and harassment become more prevalent in schools, students constantly feel insecure. The

By comparing the black and white schools, it is seen that the white schools show that white education was luxurious and the system of the government was unjust to everyone. The author points out that black children continued to the colleges that trained them to be carpenters, farmers, handymen, masons, maids, cooks, and baby nurses which was not the case for the graduating white children.

Throughout the United States’ primary and secondary schooling system, United States and World History is a requirement for teaching curriculums. However the presence of black history it’s lacking in most schools across the country. Many schooling districts sugarcoat or even completely omit the harsh realities African Americans have faced for centuries. Students who attend HBCUs not only get to learn more about black history, they also get to be apart of it daily. Black colleges give colored youth the chance to learn more about black history in a way that they cannot do at any other institution. This unparalleled experience is why HBCUs are worth keeping

The Warren Court described the practice of having separate schools for black and white children as inherently unequal in the revolutionary court case Brown v. Board of Education (1954) in the following ways. It allows for a significant difference to occur in educational and professional opportunities for black and white students, it leads minority children and teenagers to internalize the perception that they are inherently lesser than their Caucasian counterparts based on their race. Consequently, it also leads minority children and adolescents to have a lack of motivation in the school setting since they have internalized the thought pattern of inferiority so deeply that it affects how they think of themselves and their ability to learn.

Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.

Hidden Figures, a book about 3 African American women who overcame adversity, takes place in the mid 1960s. A time where racism was at its worst and poverty was in effect. The names were Katherine Goble, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson, who were all 3 geniuses in their fields of study. Katherine was a math expert, Dorothy was a supervisor, and Mary was an engineer. During a time of racism, nobody would’ve imagined that 3 African American women, along with many more women, that they would work for N.A.S.A. These 3 women went through so many obstacles in their life. These 3 women are perfect examples of overcoming anything that stands in your way.

To begin, a white woman named Erin Gruwell decides to take up teaching at Woodrow Wilson High School two years following the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. She arrives on the first day to find out that her class is full of “at-risk” high school students— some of which are just out of juvenile hall and have very poor grades. These are kids who have segregated themselves into racial groups so badly that they can’t even sit near each other in the same classroom or walk by each other without getting into fights.