Racial Discrimination

I was watching the news, when the footage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster came on. The news reporters were showing a black man walking in flooded waters near a market with a bag full of food and labeled him a “thief”. Social media in the United States has portrayed people of different racial backgrounds differently and unequally in recent years. In the essays “Theories and Constructs of Race” and “Loot or Find: Fact or Frame?” the authors discuss in both essays about issues with racial equality in our world today. Authors Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe discuss in the first essay racial schemes are created through prejudices and the telling and retelling of stories. While, authors Cheryl I. Harris and Devon W. Carbado discuss in their essay about the issue of “colorblindness” in social media. Holtzman is a professor of communications and journalism at Webster University, while Sharpe is a professor at Webster as well. Similarly, Harris and Carbado are professors at UCLA’s School of Law and have addressed widely on race, gender, civil rights and constitutional issues. Both essays do a good job at explaining their ideas and supporting them with evidence of racial discrimination in our world today. The authors from both essays organize their ideas and summarize them, which helps understand the main idea of racism, discrimination and racial inequalities in today’s society.

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is about the development of the African American race since slavery. Dubois makes an analysis of what African Americans went through – how they struggled, and despite all the barriers, how they survived. He also includes personal stories of his family and childhood days. The purpose of this analysis was to alert his race that this is what African-Americans need, and not what Booker T. Washington was proposing at the time. At their time, the stakes were high, time was ticking, and people needed leaders to guide them. W.E.B Dubois became one of the most influential leaders in the African American community. By publishing this analysis, he was able to get the attention of America.

The government's first action to battle racial discrimination was the enforcement act of 1870, this act banned racial discrimination in voter registration. It also established consequences for those who interfered with one's right to vote. The government's second attempt to end discrimination was the enforcement act of 1871 which allowed federal oversight at elections if any citizen felt it was necessary. This act came with harsher punishments. The third and final attempt to end discrimination was the Ku Klux Klan act. This made any state official accountable in federal courts for stripping anybody of their civil right or protection of the law.  The KKK act also made several of their ploys federal offenses. This resulted on several hundred

The 1800s was a time of barbarity and cruelty in the United States. The novel The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, is a two hundred and forty-two paged composition of various essays written by W. E. B. Du Bois. The author guides his audience alongside himself during the historic events occurring in the South, and how both Black and White people handled this difficult time. The novel is written of the life of a Black man, Du Bois, during the time of slavery and inequality in America. He discusses slavery and inferiority effect on the African race and the process of the elimination of slavery and unjust laws. He utilizes the cruel language in which the White race slander the Africans with. Du Bois also describes the United States as being partitioned into two unlike universes. One world being of the White race, with the grant of unlimited rights and dominance. While the other is filled with tons of people who struggle to acquire a higher education, civil rights, and the right to vote.

“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line,-- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (W.E.B DuBois). This is part of the theme in the novel The Souls of Black Folk, which is based on an actual story/ autobiography of an African American leader, W.E.B DuBois. The narrator DuBois writes about race relations in the United Sates distributing the color-line. The color-line is the fundamental issue of racial conflict between the blacks and whites. It deals with the inequality and disparity of living in America as an African American.

The reading that I found most compelling to me was W.E.B DuBois excerpt titled “The Souls of Black Folk”. I find this reading compelling because DuBois was a huge advocate on togetherness and that people were being treated equal. During time that this reading was created, there were many obstacles African Americans were facing in that era that was not so promising for a bright future. The struggles they faced were, racial biasness, lack of representation and lack of educational attainment. DuBois presented the idea of double consciousness and the veil, which has specified a structure for how African Americans indulge in society. Nonetheless, he explains the delinquent issues of the twentieth century and that the problem is the color-line which divided race. The theories of life after the veil of cultural biasness and development of double-consciousness, the act of constantly looking at particular individuals through the scrutiny of others, while creating a broader viewpoint on how to roughly speak about cultural biasness in society. Moreover, the everlasting ideas proposes a specific duty of the progression of the race culture, the obstacles to overcome, and the potential necessities for forthcoming growth as society reached the twentieth century. Over time DuBois observe the years after trailing the Civil War and, The Freedmen 's Bureau’s role in Reconstruction. The catastrophes of the Department 's were not only directed toward the southern disapproval and general

“The Souls of Black Folk” was written in 1903 by William E. B. Dubois (4). Dubois was an activist for civil rights and an author of many pieces regarding the lifestyle, struggle and historic patterns of African Americans (4). Though Dubois was born after the abolition of slavery, he knew the prospects of the African American struggle were most likely formed due to the conditions of black lives during slavery. Dubois was also an educator and advocate for educational opportunities in black communities (4). Not only writing, reading and math but critical thinking, health and survival and extra sources that could uplift and broaden the mind to do what it has the potential to do. The first chapter of “The Souls of Black Folk” gave a depiction of two prominent intervals that are cultivated in black culture, the veil and double-consciousness. Dubois wanted to bring attention to them for the productivity of social equality. His audience was not the black community, but white Americans who judged, misunderstood and moreover controlled it. He aimed to clear the narrative of the African Americans being inadequate and bring forth the truth of black culture’s compromise.

In The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois, DuBois argues his point-of-view on racial tensions in the south during and after Reconstruction. DuBois was a key figure African-American historian and civil rights activist in his time leading and defending his fellows African-Americans. One of DuBois’s themes ranges on race relations developed after Reconstruction in the south. DuBois elaborates on the overwhelming divide between the white population and the black population in his chapter about race relations. DuBois lists how blacks have been crippled economically, socially, and politically by disfranchisement and the Jim Crow laws after reconstruction.

Throughout the second chapter of DuBois book The Souls of Black Folk, the author goes deeper into relations between white and black people, he describes their daily interactions, it is important to notice here that these encounters between the two races always have been under the control of white people and that the blacks have at all times been under white rule, which left the suppressed people, the black folk, extremely vulnerable to violence and a slave like environment still exists although slavery had been abolished years ago. The interactions and relations between white and black extend further than in previous years whilst slavery still existed, the interactions and relations now extend into a political and economic level as too previously it was illegal for blacks to own anything. Now there are wealthy white and black families or entities yet the wealthy ones do not interact and live apart geographically, whilst the poor population, white or black, lives in the immediate vicinity. It is very evident to DuBois that there was a development of social facts that occurred throughout the time, black people identified themselves as lesser and subordinate to white people and this social fact delegated the social interactions in the time, for example the fact that almost every black person in the

DuBois’s narration style in the first chapter of Souls of the Black Folk is very familiar, natural, almost as if he is telling you the story himself. He begins the first chapter with the main problem of every black American: the problem of double consciousness, ability to understand two different points of view at the same time. Specifically, to understand what it means to be black and American at the same time. The quote that exemplifies this best reds, “One ever feels two-ness, -an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder (2). I think this idea of double consciousness will continue to be prevalent throughout the entire book. DuBois’s notion of double consciousness consists of being split between “two warring ideals” one “American”, another “Negro;” you must see yourself how a white American might perceive you, which at that time was negative. What also struck me as interesting was the fact that while telling his personal autobiography, DuBois shows how his community shaped him because he lives a life of two parts and it is the color line that divides his life.

The Souls of Black Folk is an instant classic when it is read, and it was a very important part of literature for black civil rights. The text talks about how blacks were treated in Post-Civil War America, what education they needed, how blacks were not yet Americans, short stories, and Negro Spirituals. The actual text is a collection of thirteen essays, and a short story written by Dubois. The book also contains Negro Spirituals to tell the reader the history of the enslaved people. The first three chapters deal with the history of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and his critical viewpoint of Booker T. Washington. From chapters four through nine he discusses the social stratifications of the blacks. The final chapters of the book talks about the prejudices and racism faced by blacks in America. Dubois’ purpose for writing this book makes white Americans realize injustice is happening in the country while they are idly going on about their lives. He is showing them that he can be equal to whites because he got an education and he can write as well as the educated whites, if not better. He is showing them that even though he is black he can write long complex sentences and use very formal language. He uses very formal diction and his style is argumentative. This text is a very good example of superb literature.

I think the main concept of this article by W.E.B DuBois is regarding racial inequality still existed although slavery was abolished and fought for equal rights that was made. He elucidate his point of view about the division of blacks compare to the rest of American society; like how their encounters and struggles as slaves as well as unfair treatment and the deep anguish they had to face for a long time. African American did not have the privilege of freedom. Essentially, he is saying their lives were created vulnerable by slave owners who did not show any sympathy with no mercy on them. Since the pain and anguish they went through were recognized as in the past and still has been in the present day they can reflect through. The

W.E.B. DuBois’ Souls of Black Folk was a historical and sociological work originally published in 1903 as a collection of essays addressing the issue of race in America written in the voice of the marginalized Black population. The purpose of this writing was to diagnose the problem of American society and define the peculiar meaning of being Black in America. The use of the “soul” in the title serves as a reclamation of the humanity of African Americans by recognizing the spiritual/immaterial and immortal aspects of their existence. As “soul” also refers to the essence of Black humanity, DuBois details aspects of Black life that demonstrate Black consciousness, love, family, emotion, and culture. The style of writing itself is a testament to the beauty and richness of Black creativity, partially reflective of the Victorian style of the time, but primarily moving because of his lyrical and poetic candor. This candor serves as DuBois’ underlying authority, delivering a great deal of his

The Souls of Black Folk broadens the minds of the readers, and gives the reader a deeper understanding into the lives of people of African heritage. W.E.B. Du Bois articulates the true meaning of the problem of the color-line through his vast knowledge of American history and descriptive personal scenarios. Du Bois

Do Americans feel like there is still racial discrimination in today's everyday life? Racial discrimination is treating someone differently because of the color of his or her skin. Racial discrimination has been around for a long time. There are laws that are supposed to protect non whites from being racially discriminated against but these laws are not applied to everyone equally. There are a lot of different types of discrimination such as gender and age but the main type is racial. Racial discrimination still exist in America based on discrimination at work, police brutality, and arrest rates.