The United States has only been a country for two hundred and forty-five years. However, there has been a large amount of mistreatment of many different groups of people in the country over time. African Americans are just one group in particular. Sadly, ill-treatment is not just a part of the country’s history but also continues to be a part of everyday life for many African Americans. Slavery, Jim Crow laws, racial crimes, racist housing laws, racial profiling, and affirmative action are just some of the multiple issues that African Americans had to live through for centuries. For all these reasons stated, racial discrimination is certainly a social problem in the United States.
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One way that African Americans faced racial discrimination is through the practice of slavery that took place in the United States until the signing of the Emancipation of Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Many slaves were taken from their home countries and brought to The United States on ships. For example, author Adam Rothman mentions that “[slaves] were legally imported from West Africa and the Caribbean before the prohibition on slave importation took effect in 1808 or smuggled in afterward,”(Rothman 25). This particular time period of American history was obviously complicated and rather painful for African Americans. Being forced to provide free labor had to be draining both physically and mentally. Being present in a faraway land also had to be quite challenging. However, the enslavement of African Americans did not last forever. For instance, author Paul Finkelman stated that “Lincoln urged Congress to pass an [antislavery] amendment, which it did in early 1865,” (Finkleman 6). Although the legal practice of enslaving African Americans ended in the late nineteenth century, racial discrimination against them continued.
Furthermore, the racial discrimination that African Americans faced continued in the twentieth century. One huge way was through the implementation of laws that promoted African Americans not having access to public facilities or schools that were of the same quality as White Americans. These laws were called Jim Crow laws. For example, author Elizabeth Guffey stated that “Many of the most prominent segregation laws dictated separate spaces on public transportation, including trains, streetcars, and trolleys,” (Guffey 6). Although slavery ended in 1865, the unequal treatment of African Americans continued through segregation. They were not even allowed to sit in the same areas as White Americans which is definitely a form of racial discrimination. In addition, segregation continued and eventually became more intense. For instance, author Elizabeth Guffey mentioned that “By the time the United States entered into the First World War, laws in Southern states ordered racial segregation in marriage, education, and health care,” (Guffey 6). This shows that African Americans did not have the same rights as White Americans. Living in the same country and being an American citizen did not matter. The only principle that continued to matter was the color of their skin. Although the term “separate but equal” was popular around this time in the country, this was a very incorrect phrase to describe what was going on in the United States at this time. In education, African Americans were not even allowed to go to school with White Americans. Although that instance alone would be enough to make African Americans feel inferior, the schools were definitely not equal like the popular phrase claimed.
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True Colours Racial Discrimination in Everyday Life: Narrative Essay.
(2023, September 25). Edubirdie. Retrieved May 6, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/true-colours-racial-discrimination-in-everyday-life-narrative-essay/
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True Colours Racial Discrimination in Everyday Life: Narrative Essay [Internet]. Edubirdie.
2023 Sept 25 [cited 2024 May 6].
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