America is a special place. It’s a country known for its opportunities for a better and more financial stable life. In America you can be anything you want to be without rejection; and you may serve whatever God or not as you will. Living in America, you get the privilege of living amongst different people who come from different cultures. However, with the pros, their always come the cons.
I, a white female being brought up in an upper middle class white town, have never witnessed poverty or financially unstable areas. I do not know what it’s like to be on the other side of the fence. However, this class helped me gain perspective by trying to put me in the shoes of what it was like to live life in America back then.
State V Mann
Starting with learning about, “State V Mann.” What this case debated about was a man named John who was a slave owner and a woman named Lydia, who was a slave. John was giving Lydia a hard time, which caused her to run away. So, he decided to shoot her in the back. He was fined $5 for this incident, The court eventually ruled that, slave owners had absolute authority over their slaves and slave owners could not be found guilty of committing violence against them.
Now in the 21 century the answer would be clear, slavery shouldn’t be tolerated, it crushes the reputation of the United States and has left an emotional whole in our society. Sadly, the answer wasn’t so simple back then. People had very strong opinions, especially most of the south being pro slavery. However, there were people and organizations trying to stand up for equality.
The American Anti-Slavery Society
One Society I learned about that I didn’t know existed before was, “The American Anti-Slavery Society”. This was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, Arthur Tappan and Frederick Douglas, that lasted from 1833 to 1870. The American Anti-Slavery Society was part of a larger religious revival that believed slavery was a sin, and that slaveholders were sinners. Knowing that slavery was illegal, if not under the Constitution, then certainly under natural law.
The society had agents that traveled throughout the country producing lectures, distributing anti-slavery journals, and organizing local anti-slavery societies. It petitioned Congress to end slavery immediately in Washington and in any Federal territories. Abolitionists had their efforts proved to be extremely effective, focusing attention so much on slavery that it made it difficult to ignore.
As the nineteenth century progressed, these groups sent petitions with thousands of signatures to Congress, held abolition meetings and conferences, boycotted products made with slave labor, printed mountains of literature, and gave innumerable speeches for their cause. Ultimately, the American Anti-Slavery Society was the largest and most influential abolitionist organization in the United States.
Jim Crow Era
However, like always when there’s good there’s bad, and that’s when we talk about The Jim Crow Era. Before this class I knew African Americans had it very bad, but I didn’t know how extreme, until after learning about The Jim Crow Era here in class.
Jim Crow laws were rules in the U.S. that allowed racial segregation for about 100 years, from after the Civil War until 1968. These laws aimed to marginalize African Americans by denying them rights like voting, jobs, education, and other opportunities. People who resisted these laws faced arrest, fines, jail, violence, or even death.
The Case of Emmet Till
Throughout the Jim Crow Era our class learned about multiple events. One being The Case of Emmet Till, An African boy who was murdered in 1955 at the age of 14. He was accused of offending a white woman, the woman claimed he grabbed her hand and waist. However, this was not true, she lied. After hearing what Emmet allegedly done. Heinous and Unimaginable crimes were committed to him. Emmet was kidnapped, beaten, shot in the head, mutilated, had a large metal fan tied to his neck with barbed wire, and was thrown into the Tallahatchie River.
Years later the case was reopened again, and Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam were accused of the murder. However, the white woman is still just as much at fault because she did say she made it up, so she was involved in the murder.
Four Little Girls
One other Event that I learned about that happened during the Jim Crow Era was “Four Little Girls”, a gruesome tragedy. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by four members of a Ku Klux Klan, an affiliated racist group. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, four African American girls, who were the ages between 11-14 who had been attending the church's Sunday school, When the four were killed in the bombing, directed towards them.
White supremacists saw how the church was becoming a symbol of civil rights and wanted to put an end to it and have segregation. It took away many innocent lives. Causing Racial division and discrimination in the USA. It created a lot more protests, and violence because the bombing case went international, which created a lot of publicity. The four little girls became symbols for the civil rights struggle. Going after these kids showed how far white supremacists were willing to go.
The NAACP
More good I learned about, that helped me understand the push for equality for minorities to move forward and not be held back, were two organizations, the NAACP and the UNCF. The first I learned about during this era, was the “The NAACP”. The NAACP or “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” was established in 1909 and is America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. The NAACP pledged to promote equality of rights and eradicate race prejudice among citizens of the United States
With more than 500,000 members, the NAACP works locally and nationally to “ensure political, educational, social, and economic equality for all, and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. The NAACP focused on five major areas from 1920s to 1950s: anti-lynching legislation, voter participation, employment, due process under the law, and education. The NAACP pursued this mission through a variety of tactics including legal action, lobbying, peaceful protest, and publicity.
A prominent member to recognize is Thurgood Marshall, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases, which he argued before the Supreme Court. One being, reaching a finale in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional.
The UNCF
The second organization being, The UNCF or The United Negro College Fund. Which was founded on April 25th, 1944, by Dr. Frederick D. Patterson. In response to a serious need for higher education opportunities for African American students. Dr. Patterson and presidents of the member colleges of the Fund began meeting in 1946 at Holly Knoll. Patterson had established Holly Knoll Associates in 1945 to serve as a conference center for black educators. Their meetings contributed to the growth and reputation of the UNCF, which aids more than 40 historically black colleges.
The UNCF helps by giving money to colleges that mainly serve minority students and by giving scholarships to these students. UNCF gets money from companies and people who want to help minority students get a good education. Between its founding in 1944 and 1970, the fundraising efforts of the UNCF were directed primarily by and toward influential whites such as John Rockefeller Jr., who became chairman and sat on its board until his death in 1960. He contributed $5,250,000 to the fund during his lifetime. In 1970, with the selection of Vernon Jordan, African Americans did gain full control of the UNCF.
Affirmative Action
One of the last things I learned about that stood out to me was “The Affirmative Action Policy”. Starting in 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925 which compelled government contractors to take “Affirmative Action” to ensure that applicants are treated equally regardless of race, color, religion, and national origin.
This aimed at addressing historical discrimination by providing preferential treatment to certain groups that have been historically disadvantaged. They were implemented in areas such as education, employment and government contracting. These policies also address racial and gender disparities. This is to ensure a more diverse population in the college admission process and in the workforce
What I have discovered and learned is Affirmative Action is a subject of debate that is surrounded by legal challenges. It’s between a balance of promoting diversity and unfair preferences. It is subject to create doubts about the capabilities of minority individuals and extends stereotypes rather than dismantling them. It extends a narrative of dependency. Colleges should be based on merit not skin color. It also can create reverse discrimination.
Overall, I enjoyed this class, it helped to challenge me and make me think from a different perspective. I learned more knowledge now walking out than I did walking In. This class truly helped me learn crucial, Important knowledge that I didn’t know before, that I can keep using forever not just in the classroom but outside in the real world.
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