African American essays

220 samples in this category

Essay examples
Essay topics
The early onset of systematic oppression forced racism through laws and actions, the creation of the government, slavery, and the inadequate treatment of African Americans throughout time. A long-term effect can be seen in the treatment and statistics of African Americans over the years. In present-day America, the saying “Make America Great Again” is seen everywhere among Donald Trump’s supporters, who are the current president of the United States. This is the ideology that the Former President ran his campaign...
5 Pages 2078 Words
My first introduction to Oprah the actor was in a clouded frame of a classic Spielberg movie, where she shook and trembled, as she wailed to her heart’s distraught. Oprah the actor got to me far before Spielberg the director. (Color Purple, Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1985). I wasn’t even cognizant of Spielberg the director. What my head however, couldn’t wrap around its periphery was the story- the story that starts quite abruptly for something that’s twistedly shocking, and by...
4 Pages 1782 Words
Criminologists have long been interested in the relationship of crime with race, class, and gender - particularly critical criminologists. There have been ongoing discussions as to which factor is the most important. Intersectionality scholars, however, consider these discussions as pointless, because these modes of power (race, class, gender, etc.) intersect to form particular oppressions that are not a sum of their parts. This actively demonstrates that race, class, and gender are not additive models, but rather, constitutive models. Similar to...
1 Page 996 Words
‘Warriors Don’t Cry’ by Melba Pattillo Beals is a true story based around the discriminatory events in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba and eight of her other friends risk their lives on September 25, 1957, as they decide to integrate into an all-white school. They face extreme racism when once enrolled in the school; people would call them threatening to bomb their homes, they would be threatened in the hallways at the school, and would be screamed at while walking down...
2 Pages 734 Words
Brent Staples, a journalist, in his essay ‘Just Walk On By’ explained through a personal story the perspective of how the American society has viewed and treated its African American male population. Society has put a negative label on African American men, they have been viewed constantly as a threat, and they also have been racially profiled more often than we think we actually know of or even acknowledge. There are a lot of barriers that come with wanting to...
1 Page 615 Words
Black slavery in the U.S. was made illegal in the mid-1800s. However, the effects have lasted more than a few lifetimes. Lynching, segregation, and discrimination have all diminished greatly since the Civil War, yet the trek for equality seems to be an uphill battle for black Americans. Between the Civil War and the present day, black Americans have been at a severe disadvantage. Whether it be social, economic, or political, black Americans have experienced large obstacles because of slavery. In...
4 Pages 1777 Words
‘A Raisin in the Sun’ is a play written in 1959 by Lorraine Hansberry about a family struggling with oppression and discrimination as they try to improve their financial situation with an insurance payout following the death of Walter and Beneatha’s father. The play deals with several different themes. The three biggest themes are the value of dreams, racial discrimination, and the importance of family, and this is important because, without these controversial themes, the family would not have been...
2 Pages 972 Words
Do you want to know about Booker Taliaferro Washington? Well read this passage and you will learn a lot about him. What he is famous for, what was it like being him, and what he did to change the world! This is a great story about how his life was. Hope you learn a lot about Booker Taliaferro Washington! Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1856, in Hale's Ford Virginia. Booker was born as a slave with his...
1 Page 631 Words
Why are race and stereotypes such a prevalent problem within the education system? Both schools and their students have a responsibility when it comes to the safety and education of the pupils. Most people would agree that the responsibility is shared based on age --or as a general guideline, a 50-50 split. This, however, is only applicable in theory. In reality, this approach only works if every student starts in the same spot and needs the same help as everyone...
3 Pages 1413 Words
Jackie Robinson was one of the 7 men I picked. He was the most interesting because he was the first African American to break the color barrier and play in the Major League MVP Baseball. He was named Rookie of the Year Jackie is married to Rachel Isum, who is a nursing student, both met at UCLA in 1946. They have three children who provided Jackie with emotional love and the sense of purpose he needed during his baseball career....
1 Page 480 Words
One of the great challenges today is that we often feel untouched by the problems of others and by global issues. People often feel overwhelmed and disconnected from these issues, not empowered and poised for action. This is where art can make a difference; by being a tool for social change. Engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body, and mind. It can spur thinking, engagement, and even action. We become aware of issues...
3 Pages 1232 Words
Being an African American woman in the workplace means always having to walk a thin line, stabilizing your feelings and emotions with the judgments and motives of others, providing comfort, and being approachable versus uncomfortable and anxious in the process. Throughout my work history, I have noticed that the majority of my jobs surprised me by how few women there were who resembled me. Yes, I know that in the workplace, you're not supposed to look and reflect on race,...
3 Pages 1320 Words
In Bell Hooks’ essay “In Our Glory: Photography and Black Life” from Art On My Mind: Visual Politics, Hooks breaks down the importance of photography within black life and why this activity should be continued to preserve black culture. Hook’s main argument throughout her writing is that photography is powerful in creating meaning because cameras allow black people to effectively combine image-making, resistance struggle, and pleasure. She uses anecdotes from her life and broadens the issue to a cultural discussion...
3 Pages 1201 Words
In 2014, the famous American writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, in his article published in The Atlantic, addressed the serious issue of reparations for slavery. Coates argues that the reason the idea of reparations doesn’t enjoy popular support is because it is seen as a joke. “Reparations is a Dave Chappelle skit. That’s what a lot of people think about when they think of reparations”, Coates told Eric Levitz. “That polling is not a natural, free-standing fact. That’s the result...
1 Page 474 Words
Black feminist literature stresses on the double-victimization of black women. The women from the oppressed society encounter absolute dominance and cruelty within the territory of the whites, who suppress them in the name of race; also they undergo the same kind of treatment by their own men in various unsolicited ways. The prolonging silences of women congregate at once to voice out their true potential in the form of writing. It is not untrue that the black women needed to...
4 Pages 1697 Words
When Reverend Smiley, a white civil rights activist, entered Martin Luther King’s house in 1956, he proclaimed that “the place is [was] an arsenal,” with several armed bodyguards positioned around the house. It may come as a surprise that Martin Luther King, who is seen as a key symbol of nonviolence, surrounded himself with guns. But King understood the reality of needing weapons for self defense. It was the 1950s, a time when African Americans enjoyed limited civil rights. More...
6 Pages 2629 Words
“Where is your humanity?” can be read on a large sign poking from the vast crowds of the police brutality protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Humanity seemingly has been hiding closely behind a colorblind criminal justice system. A criminal justice system is set in place to create and maintain racial inequality in nearly every way Americans move through society. As a result, the Black Lives Matter organization has been the epicenter of roaring public opinion about racial inequality, police brutality, and...
1 Page 681 Words
To understand the issue of civil rights, we must go back to the root of the problem, or the first time civil rights were broken or not observed. The very first time slavery is believed to have begun according to history is in the beginning is the beginning of the 17th century. In 1619, the first set of Africans were brought from Angola to Virginia to work for the whites in their fields. Not long after that, the news spread,...
7 Pages 3068 Words
Reality television beginning in the 50’s was an amusement to the American TV culture, that used hidden cameras to capture normal people's reactions and everyday behaviors. Today’s television has dating views, ways into the music industry and even shows testing one’s survival skills. Reality television has become one of the biggest nominators in the entertainment industry, reasonings being its appealing presentation of real people and they are lifestyles. It has taken the turn of the century showing measures of falsity...
4 Pages 1754 Words
Many movements have happened over the years but none were as powerful as the Harlem Renaissance. Throughout the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance was a social development that gave another lifestyle to African Americans. While Harlem gave off a setting with amazing materials for an artist to thrive, it also highlighted struggles during those times. Things such as verses, books, and short stories were loaded with scenes and characters that made Harlem pop. Essayists, for example, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale...
2 Pages 1022 Words
Unjust treatment amongst the colored race inevetably caused the uprising of the Harlem Renaissance. Prior to the Harlem Renaissance, the Jim Crow Laws were actively enforced. These laws remained in existence for more than a decade. The duration in which the laws were still in use lasted for a little over a century. Originating from previous practices the Jim Crow laws began in the late 1800s. Following after the black codes, the birth of the Jim Crow laws were greatly...
3 Pages 1378 Words
‘A Raisin in The Sun’, carries on the tradition of the Harlem Renaissance by the 4 characters and extends beyond that tradition by using aspects. Most of the characters are shown through actions of the main characters or it could be their use of their words. It helps us realise the certain aspects that will help us understand the events that have certain characteristics during that scene. Those scenes can allow us to see those aspects in different forms from...
1 Page 502 Words
Growing up, I have learned about how slavery has been a very important, but horrible tragedy that happens within African American society. I have seen teachers focus on the oppression of African American rather than the pride of the African American culture. In every history book that I have read, they each given vague information about African American culture. The era known as the Harlem Renaissance has sometimes been underappreciated. However, I have grown to love this stage in history...
1 Page 572 Words
America is often addressed as a melting pot of several cultures, cultures that are embraced and accepted by those of natural citizenship. The latter is a statement of fact, to a certain extent. It’s difficult for many people to identify themselves. If I was born in America does that mean I am solely American? In cases like this, people find themselves torn between two worlds and two cultures - the one they were born into and the one they were...
2 Pages 825 Words
Race has become a controversial subject throughout the years, ideas and perceptions about race are constantly in motion as society develops. Even today racial minorities continue to face oppression. Race has been created to support racist ideas and create divisions within mankind. We are all fundamentally the same because race is an idea that has been malignified by politics, racism, and society. We should not be defined by our race but by our experiences and what people remember about us...
2 Pages 780 Words
America’s demographic has been skewed to the advantage of white people throughout its history. From slavery to Jim Crow laws, the systems in place has always valued the white majority. As recently as 2018, the US census has shown that white people make up around 62.4% of the United States. As a result of this, people began to believe that American society is skewed to the advantage of white people. This belief exists despite laws that are designed to help...
3 Pages 1227 Words
Racism - prejudice or discrimination directed against a race based on the belief that ones race is highly superior (“Racism”). ‘Last hired, first fired’ was a phrase that was pinned to the black community during the Great Depression, and it perfectly described what they had to go through in the workplace. In the election of 1932, black votes were drastically swayed democrat by the entrance of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wanted to provide assistance to the unemployed (Hollis). During the...
3 Pages 1477 Words
The movement that the Harlem Renaissance created was a huge deal in New York. It spread all the way to Paris. It’s crazy to think that a little movement started in New York and got so big that it finally spread to Paris. That is all the way across the world. The Harlem Renaissance created a huge movement. White Americans did not like it, but on the other hand some supported it without telling anyone. “At the beginning of the...
1 Page 412 Words
‘The Social Life of DNA’ by Alondra Nelson goes in depth explaining how genetic testing can be the key to discovering our roots. Nelson highlights the concept that people, specifically African Americans, should rediscover their roots to find out who they are and where they came from. Through DNA testing, such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA, people were able to gain a sense of where their ancestors originated, and it also helped find lost distant family. Questions about slavery, racial discrimination,...
2 Pages 860 Words
Literature and films have the power to change the way we perceive others, specifically those who are at the edges of society. The representation of African-American women, in the past, have revealed that they have been exploited in numerous ways. The Black Women Civil Right Movement in the 1950s significantly contributed to the fight for African-American civil rights. It is solemnly important that all young people are taught to have an open mind towards people of different races, religions and...
3 Pages 1432 Words
price Check the price of your paper
Topic
Number of pages

Join our 150k of happy users

  • Get original paper written according to your instructions
  • Save time for what matters most
Place an order

Fair Use Policy

EduBirdie considers academic integrity to be the essential part of the learning process and does not support any violation of the academic standards. Should you have any questions regarding our Fair Use Policy or become aware of any violations, please do not hesitate to contact us via support@edubirdie.com.

Check it out!