This Evening So Soon Summary

Whites have always considered themselves superior to blacks, no matter if they were slave owners or not. Blacks were considered lower than humans, making them a main target of oppression of whites. So even when a small group of blacks were given their freedom, they weren’t truly liberated from the chains of slavery and oppression. Blacks were freed in the early 1800s, giving a limited amount of blacks the freedom they deserved. These blacks were usually rural, uneducated, and unskilled domestic servants who had to work hard to survive in the society that shunned them. Free blacks were still given restrictions and laws because of their status in society. In the early 1830s, a law in Virginia was made to prohibit all blacks from getting their education. They even took it to the level where free blacks who went out of state to educate themselves were not able to come back and return to their own state. The worst restriction was that blacks could not testify in court. When a slave owner claimed that a free black was their slave, they could not defend themselves, and would have to conform back to their slavery. Despite the terrible treatment given to blacks, some rose above the oppression and became successful, therefore achieving their goals and potentials of being a free black man, leaving a huge impact on society in the 1800s.

Discrimination has afflicted the American society since its inception in 1776. The inferiority of the African American race – a notion embedded within the mindset of the white populace has difficult to eradicate – despite the efforts of civil rights activists and lawmakers alike. Many individuals are of the opinion that discrimination and racism no longer exist and that these issues have long since been resolved during the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. However such is not the case. Discrimination is a complex issue – one that encompasses many aspects of society. The impact of discrimination of the African American race is addressed from two diverse perspectives in the essays: “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King .

In addition to these hardships faced by blacks, a racist theory was developed to combat the phrase “all men are created equal.” Whites argued that African-Americans were less than fully human, which allowed them to avoid this contradiction to that statement. This racist theory survived long after the civil war and was still largely present in the 1960’s. In some regards, it is still around today.

The American Dream and the African Negro written by Baldwin, covers looking at the reality of the segregation throughout the south. The majority of the white community thought it almost insane for the black community to act out against the structure of society in any way. In fact, they thought that the black people owed them their lives and should be thankful for what they have. The country that they worked for did not work for them. At times fighting for freedom seemed hopeless because nothing ever changed. But the fight continued in hopes that the lives of their children would be better. Even a Black man who has worked hard to make a somewhat decent life is looked to be below a poor white male or female. If something were to happen to the white community, action would happen immediately to correct it. Everyone on this earth is equal and deserves to live a happy life. In all races there are good and bad people. No race is superior to the other. To think you are superior would no only go against our constitution but God as well.

Throughout the American History, Americans had constantly settled on agreements on how slavery should be treated. In the early 19th century, the government had settled on compromises like the compromise of 1850 and the Missouri compromise. Which gave out a fair equivalence of opportunities and downgrades for each side, but by 1860 this had no longer seemed possible for each side, they constantly had conflicts that the South decided to separate. The reasons on which they decided to seperate were due to the country having different ideology views on slavery, to the government not taking action, and verbal/physical conflict.

Baldwin describes the whites as believing the blacks are inferior to them and that the white presumptions of black people have defined the place of blacks in society for many years. He states that “[his nephew was] born into a

History, especially in regards to issues of race, is a repetitive thing. There are recurring events just with different faces, places, and circumstances consuming the individuals of the communities we live. Once where the black communities started to form their own progressive movements and make a name for themselves in America they are now regressing back to a time where justice for the black community only seems to be something we dream, hope, and fight for. Reading “The Fire this Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race” by Jesmyn Ward made me open my eyes to a different reality one that I think I tried to believe did not exist to appease the fantasy that one day we would all be seen as truly equals. In reality, we are not equals. We live in a world that constantly tries to demean people of

In the mid 1900’s segregation was at its peak. White males would be prejudice over Black males. They had different schools, developments, and transportation for each color. The more dominant color of white men and women would get the nicer facilities. White children would not talk to black children or play with them. Although they were all people they were not seen as equals. The Scottsboro Trials are an example of how everybody’s views on society were biased towards the fact the whites were greater than blacks. Nine black men were accused of rape by two white women while riding a freight train departing from Paint Rock, Tennessee for Memphis, Tennessee.

African Americans became inferior to the white race when they were labeled as unintelligent through IQ tests. Unfortunately, the IQ tests only measured what students were able to fill out on a piece of paper with a pencil. The tests failed to show what people could do in the real world. These tests were inaccurate because a vast majority of African Americans were not given the same educational opportunities as Anglos. Due to the testing “results”, many teachers failed to correctly teach their diverse students because they already had stereotypes that make them doubt the student before they could reach their potential. When African Americans were placed in Anglo classes they doubted themselves because they knew that society had no hope for them.

During the progressive era in the late 1800’s, white people were in control of society. The blacks had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation, but were not being treated equal. Mainly because they were black. But that was not the only reason. Blacks were also not treated equally because they did not possess the intelligence and skills of whites. A great man decided to fight for equality between blacks and whites. His name was Booker Taliaferro Washington.

Black Americans faced several harmful social, economic, and political conditions in the United States of America during the Gilded Age. One of the unfair social conditions they faced was segregation. For example, in Florida, Kentucky, and Mississippi, the Jim Crow Laws required separate schools for white children and children of color. In Georgia, blacks barbers were not allowed to serve white women or girls. In Virginia, theaters that attended by white and black people had to separate the two races into different sections of the theater. Many argued that the two races were separate but equal, however that could not be further from the truth. Separate does not equal equality. There was a racial pyramid in the country with white people at the

Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.

The United States is a immigrant country, which faces varieties of problems. The African American problem is one of the most serious one. Racial segregation is a deep-rooted social problem, which reflects in every field in the United States. For example, education, labor market and criminal justice system. In the aspect of education, most of black children were not permitted to enter the school, because the white children studied there. In the aspect of labor market, the black people 's average wages were lower than the whites. They did the manual work. In the aspect of criminal justice system, the blacks were easily in jail. Badly, their sentences were also more serious than the whites. In general, the blacks live in the bottom of the American society. Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream, ' ' I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ' ' (1) However, it was difficult for African American to get the freedom. The 1776 Declaration of Independence announced that everyone are equal and freedom.But black slavery still occurred in the southern states of America. Then the Civil War broke out, African American kept struggling for land and political rights.

The arrival of African slaves, sold in the plantations of colonial America, definitely triggered a superior-inferior relationship and mentality between “the whites” and “the blacks”. This present-day culture, resulting from a society of masters and slaves, has struggled against central concepts deeply rooted in the nations past .With strong cultural values on racial discrimination, the path towards the concept of racism in America was a vital moment in the course of the nation’s history. Social concepts and attitudes could not be altered overnight, but it can be altered. Indeed, in the quest for social progress, the struggle for equality has gone a long way, with black Americans now holding high-ranking

Moreover, in the speech 'A Talk With Teachers' the author James Baldwin, claims that minorities, especially African Americans, experience a different type of upbringing in contrast to