History Of Black Males In American Society

History Of Black Males In American Society

The black community have always been suppressed and oppressed by the

dominant and powerful white members of society. The historical social

order of Americans meant that traditionally positions of power have

been held by a very exclusive group of people; members of this group

are stereotypically middle class, middle aged, white males with

nuclear families.

This Caucasian dominance is well documented throughout history and is

epitomized by the slavery of African, and Caribbean Negroes in America by

white settlers and pilgrims, which continued for many hundreds of

years. This has led to much resentment from the black community

towards white people, as it is still very difficult for someone of an

ethnic minority heritage to gain a position of any real authority or

significance within the USA. Things have undoubtedly improved in

America but a balance of equality has still not been achieved,

evidenced today by Barack Obama becoming the first Black man to

achieve election into the USAsenate (the highest form of government in

the American administration apart from the cabinet). Whilst this

demonstrates that society is becoming more equality based in the US,

it also shows that out of 255 senate seats, a black person holds only

one of them. This illustrates that American society favours those of

white origin, as they do not trust black people in positions of power

or importance.

The situation with regards to racism has changed dramatically over the

past fifty years; this is largely down to the work of black activists

such as Dr Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Another individual who

had a ...

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...ssing over $225 million each, while the motion picture biography of

Malcolm X, one of the most important cultural icons for black people,

and one of the most influential figures in the change of racial

tolerance and ultimately, world society grossed just $48 million.

American society is still intolerant of black people and in film, more

often then not, cast the African-Americans in the role of the

minstrel. This has been noted by black people and have now taken to

playing up to the role by creating spoof films such as the 'Scary

Movie' trilogy which grossed over $500 million in total.

This shows that whilst society in America has not changed much, except

that white people pretend to be less prejudiced, black people have

decided to take control and use their own societal positions to take

advantage of white America.