Old America In The Late 1900s

The period between Reconstruction and World War I was a time of tremendous social, economic, and cultural change in the United States. The end of the Civil War, the shrinking of the frontier, the rise of immigration, and the rapid growth of industry that characterized this time period brought many issues of race, class, and status to the forefront of politics. Many different opinions came to light about what it means to be an American and the dynamic between the American individual and American society. The differing answers to these questions created both divisions and unifications between different races, classes, and political parties. Through careful analysis of historical documents from the period, it is evident that society owes all individuals basic civil rights and the ability to make a living through harnessing their skills in the workplace. Conversely, the individual owes society work that benefits society as a whole and participation in government through suffrage.

Everyday Life in Early America was written by David Freeman Hawke, a professor of American History at Lehman College. He was seventy-five years old when he passed away in 1999. Hawke carried multiple degrees from Swarthmore College, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a highly regarded historical scholar with a talent for writing. Hawke already had several books published by the time he wrote Everyday Life in Early America in 1988. These books include: The Colonial Experience (1966), In the Midst of a Revolution (1961), Paine (1974), and Franklin (1976). His other book, “Benjamin Rush: Revolutionary Gadfy” was a biography nominated for National Book Award in 1972.

In his article “Body Count”, Kelefa Sanneh makes a few key claims to support his main argument that many African Americans are contesting the same system that many of their community members helped to create in the first place. Sanneh opens with a

AAmerica began as a small struggling nation, with each citizen desiring an opportunistic way of life. To achieve this way of life, many changes needed to be made. Different people with distinctive ideas came together, and although there was conflict, they made great changes politically, socially, and economically. Each aspect changed America tremendously in a variety of ways. Analyzing each specific change can determine the extent in which America has changed for better or for worse.

Michelle Alexander begins her story of “The New Jim Crow”, as she provides her thoughts and arguments on Chapter one of “the rebirth of caste”. The Chapter explains the myths provided towards slavery after the civil war, as black people weren’t exactly free. Whites were furious and felt the issue of the law was unnecessary, which led to a continuous fight to revert the law to their only source of income. African Americans were finally given a break; however the actions of white southern began to cause further issues towards the development in the United States. Chapter two “The Lockdown” than proceeded as racism began to grow towards the law enforcement, and the development of Southern whites creating the Ku Klux Klan. Alexander argues about the crackdown of unreasonable searches occurred under law enforcement, and how African Americans are targeted.

Racism is a thing of the past, or is it? Michelle Alexander’s, “The New Jim Crow,” main focus is on mass incarceration and how it occurs in an era of color blindness. Alexander also focuses on the social oppressions that African Americans have suffered throughout the years, until now. In this essay, I will discuss how the system of control was constructed, Alexander’s compelling historical analysis, and if the current system would be easier to dismantle. I would like to start by delving into how the system of control was constructed.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s Americans expanded abroad into other countries and areas. American expansion was unjustified with the barbaric ways that we gained land in one case, and what we did with land in another case.

In the late nineteenth century, America was a country in its prime of industrialization and immigration influx. Known as the Gilded Age, this period defined the United States as the bustling powerhouse it is today, but at the cost of many social and political injustices that lay underneath the guise of the “American dream”. Among the urbanization and booming industry, there was national and racial discrimination, gender inequality, child exploitation and labor,

Michelle Alexander’s the new Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness examine the Jim Crow practices post slavery and the mass incarceration of African-American. The creation of Jim Crows laws were used as a tool to promote segregation among the minority and white American. Michelle Alexander’s the new Jim Crow Mass takes a look at Jim Crow laws and policies were put into place to block the social progression African-American from the post-slavery to the civil rights movement. Fast-forward to 2008 the election of Barack Obama certified that African-Americans were no longer viewed as second-class citizens instead African-Americans are equal to their white counterparts. However, Michelle Alexander

Of the supplementary readings provided, I found “From Slavery to Mass Incarceration” by Loïc Wacquant the most intriguing. This particular article is based on “rethinking the ‘race question’ in the US” and the disproportionate institutions set apart for African Americans in the United States. The volatile beginnings of African Americans presented obvious hardships for future advancement, but Wacquant argues that they still suffer from a form of modern slavery.

America in the 1920’s was called the new era. It is called a new era because it became a turning point in American society, and marked a separation from the 19th century and the 20th century. We soon begin to develop our own social norms, music, and culture as we evolve into a modern nation. The 1920s was also a time of significant economic, political, and social change.

There was a period of prosperity for middle-class white Americans after WWII war efforts pulled the economy out of the great depression, bringing about an air of security and stability that generated social changes. However, the threat of nuclear war, fears of communist influence, and McCarthyism proved these feelings of safety and stability false, leaving many Americans to question the validity of these threats and the government or, if it was instead a means to control the population through fear and anxiety. In the late 1950’s a national uprising against cultural inadequacy and civil injustice had begun, although improvements were made concerning racial equality, such as Brown v The Board of Education and integration of the US military,

A lesson regarding the immigration experiences from various periods of U.S. History offers a great opportunity to discuss how many of the same forms of discrimination faced during the past are similar today. This lesson is designed to show students the sentiment various immigrant groups faced when they came to the United States during the Gilded Age. This lesson is designed to be implemented in an 8th grade U.S. History classroom. The lesson will be incorporated for the immigration portion of the Gilded Age Unit, in this case this lesson will be the fourth lesson of a ten day unit. Prior to this lesson students were introduced to lessons that addressed immigration experiences for various families who came to the United States from Europe.

The 1920s was a huge time period for the United States. Modern technology such as automobiles, radios, and advertisement had taken America by storm. Rural areas were on the decline. American cities had attracted not only rural and urban citizens, but also people from all over the world. In America during the 1920s, citizens struggled with accepting other races and ethnicities into their widely populated country.

Racial discrimination in the United States has been a radical issue plaguing African Americans from as early as slavery to the more liberal society we see today. Slavery is one of the oldest forms of oppression against African Americans. Slaves were brought in from Africa at increasingly high numbers to do the so-called dirty work or manual labor of their white owners. Many years later, after the abolishment of slavery came the Jim Crow era. In the 1880s, acts known as the Jim Crow laws were enacted by Southern states to keep oppression of African Americans alive. These laws helped to legalize segregation between blacks and whites. Slavery and Jim Crow were created to regulate how African Americans functioned in society. Slaves were refused the right to vote, refused citizenship, refused education, and labeled as incompetent as a way for whites to keep what Author Michelle Alexander of the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness calls “social control”. Alexander argues that mass incarceration is the new modern “racial caste system” of social control. She further goes on to claim that this new system of mass incarceration has replaced the old social systems that were used to oppress African Americans such as slavery and Jim Crow. The system of mass incarceration fueled by the War on Drugs was established as a form of racial control. This new system puts people of color into an endless cycle of