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Summary: The Equitable Treatment Of African Americans

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In a time where morality blinded Americans to the true source of social problems, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans were not afforded the equitable treatment that was afforded to others. Prejudice was rampant during this time and there was a blunted interest in reforms for anyone who was non-European due to ideologies. At this time there were reports from anthropologists identified individuals from England and Germany descent being "biologically superior" indicating that other races were inferior (Jansson, 2015, p. 125). Also, with the belief of the manifest Destiny, Anglo-Saxons were to develop a Utopian society through the will of God (Jansson, 2015, p. 126). These were just some of the beliefs that further created …show more content…

Many freed slaves were ill prepared for the world outside of the life they had before. Many were penniless with no formal education or ability to buy land. With the creation of the Freedman's Bureau in 1865 it provided some transition efforts from slavery to freedom. Schools were created, and food and clothing were provided to both black and white war refugees. With the Freedman's Bureau agents were sent to provide mediation between landowner's and freed slaves to assure that they were receiving equal wages and treatment (Jansson, 2015). Even though having an agent of the Freedman's bureau come to mediate it did not mean that the bias and prejudice of the times did not interfere with the outcome of their interactions. Even with some of the positive efforts that were being made with the Freedman's Bureau laws were being created in the southern stated known as the Black codes which were restricting the freedom of African Americans (Jansson, …show more content…

To be able to move forward as a nation to promote a world of racial equality we must take the lead as social workers in advocacy and education. One of the things we can do is acknowledge that racism still exists today. For many, racism has become so normalized in our society that people are not even aware that it is taking place. Politicians in the media question if racism exists and feel that because it is not as salient as it has been in the past that it is no longer an issue. If we pretend it isn't there it is not just going to disappear. Bias and stereotypes are taught and learned from an early age. We need to model language and behaviors that teach acceptance and tolerance to our children. Making this a part of a child's education in school is something that will last them a life time. Stereotypes teach hate, and we cannot afford to teach the next generation to be hateful but instead to be accepting. Also, as social workers we need to be aware of our own privilege and how this can impact how we work with others. We all grew up with prejudice and bias in our lives and it is our job to acknowledge this and reflect upon it, so we can work more effectively with

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