Katherine Johnson Disrespected Examples

The oppression and dehumanization of African Americans is so evident just by looking at the nature in which they were treated. Being forced to relinquish their seats on the bus if a Caucasian person wanted it, not even if they needed it. They kept African American students from gaining a proper education and even murdered people that could or would potentially oppose them.

There have been many of times in the history of American where people have been treated unfairly. After the Civil War the 13th amendment was passed and black southerners were no longer slaves. Yet they were not really free. These people were unable to accesses the things that were necessary to sustain life. During this time African Americans had no idea what the “American Dream” was like. There African Americas of the south wanted freedom. They wanted the freedom of owing land, the freedom of marriage and bringing their families together once again. These people were willing to do whatever it took to be free, no longer having some telling them what to do or how to live. They intend to work and gain respect as any one American.

African-Americans in the Civil war were not treated with respect. They were slaves to white people, and to me that's not right. During the Civil war they worked on plantations owned by rich white people. Some were nice and some were harsh. Most people treated African-Americans like dirt. People would trade, sell, and buy them and they were sometimes taken away from they're family.

One-hundred years before it was socially acceptable for white people to own people with dark skin, forcing them to partake in grueling, harsh physical labor. Then the abolitionist movement came and changed the ethics and morals of those ideas that were viewed as acceptable at the time. African-Americans were freed, but were still limited in rights. After many protests and many acts that would now be considered hate crimes, they were given equal rights. In a relatively short period of one hundred-fifty years, African Americans went from being treated as if they were work-horses or pigs, to being treated as normal American citizens, and the ethics of how African Americans are treated all changed, and if people treat African Americans in such a way again, it would be considered unconstitutional and a hate crime, showing how much ethics

While we all would agree that racism is immoral and has no place in a modern society, that was not the case in the U.S. in the 1940s. At the time African Americans were treated as second-class citizens, it was made near-impossible for them to vote, and they were discriminated in many ways including in education, socially and in employment. It was a time in which segregation and racism perforated the laws and society, a time in which African Americans were “separate but equal,” segregation was legal and in full force. Apartheid was also everywhere from the books to in society. Blacks were not truly seen as equal as they were seen the the lesser of the two and it very much felt that way. Blacks were oppressed in many ways including having

African Americans have always faced prejudice and discrimination based off the color of their skin rather than the content of their character, even after they received “freedom.” However, during reconstruction especially, African Americans were faced with discrimination. To begin with, stated in document 1, the Black Codes, which basically were a set of laws placed to restrict the freedoms of African Americans. In the Black Codes, all basic rights (such as in the Bill of Rights) were revoked. African Americans weren’t allowed to own property, assemble, preach, bear arms, sell or barter, and had to work under white men. As a result of the Black Codes, African Americans basically had one of four options: be a tenant farmer, be a sharecropper, be a homestead farmer, or be homeless.

Blacks were treated with tremendous cruelty in many different ways. Black lives before the civil rights movement were treated cruel and unfair. African Americans did not have the same opportunities that they have today. Before the movement they could not get an education, a good job, or a place to live. These men and women who worked for white landowners were pretty much treated like slaves. They were barely paid anything for the work that they did. Many blacks lived in the streets and did not even have a place to get out of the weather. Due to these factors many blacks lived in poverty and were treated very cruel. A staff Writer wrote, “For black Americans, the pre-Civil Rights era was a time of danger and turmoil, as they set out to claim

Rosa Parks, the little rock nine, and Plessy are all famous African-American citizens that were discriminated for being black. Plessy wasn’t full black, as a matter of fact, he wasn’t a quarter black. Pless was one-eighth African-American, but in Louisiana he was legally recognized as a black citizen. Discrimination toward any group or race is being prejudice or racist, and is very wrong. This vile era known as, The Jim Crow Era, burdened America for approximately eight decades.

Similar to how the African American’s were treated in society throughout the 50s era, carrying different rights than the White Americans when the entire system is illogical based on the fact, everyone is

Back then, not all blacks had the same privileges and racism wasn’t just about black and white people. This is an example of colourism. Colourism can be “defined as a conscious or unconscious state of prejudice that may be experienced by both blacks and whites so that they label as less attractive and intelligent individuals of a darker complexion, particularly, when it comes to black women” (“Demystifying”). Among the black community, there is racism between it as well. Back then, white slave owners “allowed those of a lighter complexion certain privileges and denied those of a darker complexion those privileges and created in the minds of blacks that “light” is better. In addition, the selling of lighter-skinned women into prostitution or to salve masters to become their mistresses helped to concretize the idea that light skin is better” (“Demystifying”). But racism is not just about blacks and whites. It can be between any races. With the internet and the power of social networking these days, it is even easier to repudiate and excoriate people. People can criticize you secretly and not include you in certain events without your knowing. You can express racism even behind a computer screen on a website plus make it private so it can’t be seen by the public.

Throughout history, blacks have been treated the poorest out of all races. Although everyone under God is to be treated equal, whites thought of themselves as being the superior race. In 1619 a Dutch ship brought 20 slaves to America and it took nearly 240 years for slavery to end in 1865(Ronald, , para. 3).These helpless slaves were taken to America and put to work growing anything from cotton to tobacco. Slaves had absolutely no rights. They were simply property of their “Massa’.” Being disrespectful to a white man could get a Negro killed and they just accepted the facts of the matter. The south was the most notorious in its treatment of slaves and slaves would run away. It was a big risk, but a slave that made it to a

When British and other European white countries were going around dominating the colored people they generally looked upon them as the inferior race “whose interest ought to be systematically disregarded when they come into competition with their own”. Keep in mind that the capitalist exploiter being opportunistic and practical, will utilize any convenience to keep his labor and other resources freely exploitable. Meaning they were willing to do anything to get cheap labor. The way they made slavery seem “okay” was by creating an ideology that would justify involuntary servitude. They made people of color seem “innately degraded and degenerate, consequently they naturally merit their condition” so in the minds of the white people this made

They were treated without a hint of human decency and were segregated from the rest of

There were laws against them and what they were or were not allowed to do and they were most definitely treated differently by their pale skinned neighbors. White southerners would never own them physically ever again, but they would own them mentally. Washington made his life’s purpose to get past the mind games and help other Negroes like himself do the same. They needed to work their way up and earn respect because there wasn’t a chance that the southerners were just going to give it to them.

During this time social inequality was culturally acceptable in this movie. “Normative culture consist of the ways we establish, abide by, and enforce principles of conduct” (Witt 59). In their culture black maids worked for white families, that's how they earned a living. They cleaned their houses, cooked, raised their children, while abstaining by a set of guidelines/rules that they had to follow in order to work for them. A black maid was not allowed by any means to go to the bathroom inside the house, they had to take it to the restroom outside that was built specifically for them. Minny Jackson on the other hand disobeyed this rule to use the restroom inside the house in which caused her to get fired. Minny Jackson violated a norm. A norm is “the established standards of behavior maintained by a society-both big and small” (Witt 59). Another character that went against the norm was, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. Skeeter is a college graduate who tries to expose on the quandary of the black maids as they spoke on their own free will about working for white families in Jackson. In those days if a white person was to talk or visit a black person, it is looked down upon. Skeeter stood up for the black maids because she wanted there voices to be heard, since her maid, Constantine, quit do to the fact that her