Essay about The Black Vote: African Americans as an Interest Group

America is a nation “from many, one” as stated in our country’s original motto. We pride ourselves on the granted equal opportunity and freedom afforded to each citizen. But are these premises held true and adequately carried out? My answer is a resounding no! Our country’s intricate history provides us with the foundation that explains why and how discrimination has infiltrated and given the upper hand to the white race that has dominated the American society, while suppressing races of color. Dating back to the discovery of the new world we know as the contemporary United States, the African American race has been segregated and mistreated as exemplified through

Even after the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment, African Americans were “disenfranchised in the South by intimidation and electoral trickery, including whites-only primaries, rigged literacy tests, and poll taxes” (Patterson 2011, p. 180). The Freedom Riders rode through the South, enduring harassment and imprisonment to encourage other African Americans to vote. Voter turnout in African American communities is greatly encouraged. Personally, coming from an African American family, I was strongly encouraged by my parents and grandparents to vote when I was of legal age. My family instilled the importance of voting in me at a very young age. Although voter turnout among African Americans is still fairly low, in the 2008 presidential election African Americans had the second highest voter turnout, behind non-Hispanic Caucasians (African Americans, n.d.). Race can influence voter turnout because with African Americans specifically, although rates are getting better, they are still not high.

The national narrative of transformation depicted in the appended PowerPoint presentation purports to explain African American's longwinded struggle for voting rights. The story begins with a newspaper advertisement of black slaves for purchase. The advertisement perpetuates the ubiquitously presumed value of black people as commodities which consecutively invalidates black people’s value as human beings. Considering black people’s undervalued reputation, they were not appreciated as citizens of the United States until 1866. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 marked the beginning of transformation, as all native-born Americans including blacks were given the rights to citizenship.

Blacks fought for the ideals of America in World War I but they did not receive any recognition for their hard work. Instead, they were still put under the “Jim Crow” laws which prohibited them from voting and segregated them from their superior races. This explains the decrease in percentage of eligible voters who vote from 1900 to 1920.

Up until the year 1870 African Americans could not vote in any election in American. (U.S. Voting Rights). In the past America has been making a lot of changes in our voting system’s equality. In the present, legally African Americans have the same rights as a white man does. In the future the rights will not get any better or worse. Throughout history The African American voting rights have improved to the present day and will stay the same in the near future.

     Black Americans of today need to register to vote and make use of their voting rights if they want to see a change to the current state of democracy. In the

This, after a period in Reconstruction and subsequently of African Americans having a voice, particularly and what was more essential for them, a neighborhood voice in the way business was directed in their groups, for example, being on juries, having dark prosecutors, having dark sheriffs, having dark school administrators. These were the things that were essential to African Americans and this is the place they had possessed the capacity to attest themselves in the appointive procedure. By the 1880s when African Americans, poor African Americans and poor whites seemed as though they may frame a coalition in the South against the vast interests in the South, then you get a surge of extraordinary bigotry and after that you get kind of the joining of what turns into the "strong South." And as a consequence of this as whites, poor whites and well off whites started to join in the late 1880s against African Americans, then they start to close African Americans out. What's more, they do this extralegally. In South Carolina for example, to keep African Americans from voting they build up what's called an eight box law. What's more, that implied that for each office you needed to put your ticket in the right box for that office and in the event that you didn't, then your tally was invalid. So they formulated every one of these sorts of means. They had a survey impose

During reconstruction the United States was divided on social issues, presidential campaigns were won and loss on these issues during this period. The struggle for development of African Americans and how they initiated change in political, economic, educational, and social conditions to shape their future and that of the United States. (Dixon, 2000) The South’s attempts to recover from the Civil war included determining what to do with newly freed slaves and finding labor to replace them. The task of elevating the Negro from slave to citizen was the most enormous one which had ever confronted the country. Local governments implemented mechanisms of discrimination to combat citizenship

Society has been significantly revolutionized since the beginnings of the United States. The very history of the country has been cursed with racism and the harsh oppression of minorities. In fact, America’s power and economy were founded on a Marxist theory of a two-class system. On the top of that system were the slave owners, and at the very bottom were the slaves themselves (Balkaran, 1999). Slavery and segregation used to be huge components in the lives of Americans. During those times, “Americans” were white, landowning men; obviously that principle has been altered a great deal. People of color, women, and the poor actually have been given suffrage by amendments in the Constitution. Although the United States’ culture and society

(Photo from news.gallup.com ) As you can see on the chart African Americans side more with republicans in social issues than democrats, the only exception being in the subject of the death penalty. If this is the case then why do African Americans vote majority democratic one may ask. Well, the history of republicanism has changed dramatically over time. The Republican Party started with Abraham Lincoln who actually freed the slaves.

Over the last one hundred and thirty years African Americans have little by little-gained freedom for themselves as slaves and domestic servants. Now as a culture they are legally capable of obtaining jobs and positions in all areas of private and public organizations, (Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J., 2010). This particular ethnic group are known to be instrumental in holding their cultures together through times of constant struggle. They have used rallies, protests, silent marches and received help from volunteer organizations to fight for rights as well as obtain justice in a racist and sexist society. This work explores the troubles African Americans face in Americas society today, through stereotypes and how gender roles as African Americans differ from each other as well as the American population.

Some politician engaged Black people to vote for them because they viewed them as a voting population that could be used. So in 1920 presidential candidate Warren G. Harding held a “Colored Voters Day.” He pandered to black people stating that blacks should not be lynched and if the military could not stop segregation in the military American is no democracy. Once he was elected with the help of black people he essentially abandoned all the promises he made to this voting block. This was one of the many promises made to help the betterment of Black people that did not come into fruition. In the1928 presidential election neither major political party made an effort to get black votes. Economic times had begun to worsen on the black

From 1890 to 1908, many southern states passed new constitutions and laws that put up barriers on voter registration—such as poll taxes, and educational or gender requirements-- making it hard for African-Americans to register to vote. Also during this time, the Democratic Party was white-dominated and they held a huge voting block within Congress. Meanwhile, the Republican Party, known as the 'Party of Lincoln', contained many African-Americans. In 1924, African-Americans were allowed to attend Democratic Conventions for the very first time. And although they were allowed to attend these conventions, African-Americans still continued to be identified with the Republican Party, because this was the party that helped grant their freedom. The Republican Party soon diminished when the Democratic Party took over, because blacks were not allowed to vote.

The election of President Obama marks the most noteworthy political accomplishment for African Americans in the United States during the post-civil rights revolution, thus bringing about a change in the country’s social and political landscape that was steeped in racial discrimination since the founding of this great nation. Because social and political conditions are subject to constant change, President Obama’s

Prior to the 1960s, rarely was there black representation in Congress. Putting aside for a moment the irony of this in a country that declared its independence under the banner of “no taxation with representation,” this posed a serious issue for the black community.