The Persecution of African Americans “You are a nothing little nigger” is one of the demeaning phrases African American human beings have heard over the years in an effort to keep them in a state of persecution. This paper will discuss the persecution of the African American. The following documents the struggles, gut wrenching pain, and heart ache of African American people have endured and are still suffering with today. Pain can stem from so far back as childhood, your parents child hood, or even as far as your ancestors child hood. My ancestors were slaves; a long with the majority of African Americans that live today. Being a slave you would endure the most agonizing pain. African Americans were left to wither in this pain for hundreds of years. The pain began when African Americans were “snatched from their homeland Africa, and suffered a ship ride of hell to this foreign country called America (Cottonman1999)”. Why is it referred to as the ship ride of hell? On that ship ride African Americans “were shackled and laid upon boards head to toe with over hundreds of other African Americans to share that cramped confined space. On some of those ships depending on the concern of hygiene African Americans were given maybe three to four buckets to relieve themselves. Some who weren’t able to make it to the bucket had no choice but to relieve themselves where they lie. Hence human feces, urine, puke, and the tears of the person next to them would fill the little space they had between one another (Brooks 2007)”. However that was only the “ship ride” over to America. “African Americans were bought and sold like merchandise. Families split, babies were ripped away from their mother’s chest, and children were sold to masters wit... ... middle of paper ... ...e People: The Treatment of African Slaves." Power to the People. N.p., 5 Dec. 2007. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. . Simkin, john. "Lynching." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. . Wyatt, Gail . "Sociocultural Context of African American and White American Women's Rape." Welcome to the Medical University of South Carolina. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. . elwoodin. "3/5th Clause in the Constitution. What is it and why was it put in? | Wise Conservatism." Wise Conservatism | the Reagan Conservative blog….. N.p., 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. .
“Nigger: it is arguably the most consequential social insult in American History, though, at the same time, a word that reminds us of ‘the ironies and dilemmas, tragedies and glories of the American experience’” (Kennedy 1).
Weaver, Robert C. “The Negro As an American: The Yearning for Human Dignity.” The Norton
The study of African American history refutes this pervasiveness of the concept of nothingness, worthlessness, inferiority. Blacks have, from the beginning, asserted effort and attempt to validate claim to human rights. While many gains have been made in the struggle for freedom, for citizenship, for equality, for dignity, the history of the black man’s protest and accomplishments despite enslavement, subordination, cruelty, an inhumanity continues into the 21st century warrants continued study and dissemination to
Since the early colonization of North America, the British used slaves to do the hard manual work that the rich British men did not want to do. Even though the average American does not like to think of America’s past, there are many things that we teach in American history about our past events that shaped America, such as the Ku Klux Klan’s hatred towards African Americans and the use of slavery throughout the South during the 18th century. Many African Americans feel that their ancestors stumbled through their life for more than 300 years (Staple 22). This is true because they had been fighting for equality between every race from since the British and Americans started using them as slaves. African Americans would like “education that teaches [them their] true history and role in present-day society” (Haskins 116) During the Civil Rights Movement many innocent African Americans were beaten up while they were non-violently protesting. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on a balcony in Memphis, Tennessee before a protest that was planned; and many African Americans were called the “N” word throughout their life prior to the Civil Rights Movement. The Staple Singers alluded to these events during their song by saying “[We’d] been beat up, called names, shot down, and stoned” (Staple 16). African Americans not only had to endure this type of bullying from
---"The Face of Modern Slavery." New York Times [New York] 16 Nov 2011, n. pag. Web. 5
Rape can happen to anyone. Women from different cultures, races, ages, and economic level are all vulnerable. It does not matter who you are or where you live, although women of lowest status are most vulnerable to rape, and so are Hispanic and African American women. (An...
... say how large the African slave trade would have gotten on its own, without an almost insatiable demand for slaves being created in the West. However, thanks to colonial plantation owners, at its peak it has been estimated that the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was shipping between 18,000 and 32,000 men, women and children from their homeland each year. Considering the recorded slave trade lasted for at least 450 years, that means anywhere between 8.1 and 14.4 million people were torn from their homes and families only to endure inhuman treatment and humiliation. When one looks back at the root causes for exploiting other human beings on such a grotesque extent, it is difficult to justify the wholesale destruction of other people’s homes and cultures for the sake of a particular belief system and a desire for better tasting food.
Imagine yourself, waking up at un-imaginable times of the day, having to eat nothing but trash and still being mistreated and discriminated all because of the way you looked, well that's exactly what African Americans had to endure at one point in American history.
Harriet Tubman once said, I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other. Throughout history the African American culture has constantly been fighting for rights and equality. But in doing so has been denied it. With this happening more and more over the years it seems to have caused them more than just physical pain when violence is added to the equation. It has caused PTSD. The African American community suffers from PTSD due to Racism, what is considered as today’s “lynchings”, and Police Brutality.
For many years, black people have been enslaved, undermined and most importantly discriminated. Since 1963, when Martin Luther King gave the “I Have a Dream” speech up till Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 2015 “Letter to My Son”, bigotry is still evident. Both King and Coates speak of the horrors black people have endured, which as a result superiorizes (exalts/elevates) the white race. King believes that white people’s “destiny is tied up with [black people’s] destiny”, and that white people’s “freedom is inextricably bound to [their] freedom”(3). Coates describes this in an interesting way; he believes that the enslavement of black people has become a tradition in America, “it is heritage” (8). Therefore, without the bodies of the black people producing tobacco, cotton and being abused for a magnificent, profitable
It is not a topic that is brought up often, especially at schools or at gatherings, yet it is crucial that everyone be educated, or at least informed on a topic that affects women every day. “Given that sexual violence continues to occur at high rates in the United States, it is vital that we understand attitudes and cultural norms that serve to minimize or foster tolerance of sexual violence” (Aosved, 481). Growing rates of sexual violence goes to prove that it is not taken seriously by many, especially when myths excuse the actions of the perpetrator and instead guilt victims into thinking they are responsible for the horrible act. Burt (1980), in her article titled, “Cultural myths and support for rape” attempts to make sense of the importance of stereotypes and myths, defined as prejudicial, stereotypes, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapists- in creating a climate hostile to rape victims (Burt, 217). Examples of rape myths are such sayings as “only bad girls get raped”; “women ask for it”; “women cry rape” (Burt, 217). This only goes to prove that rape myths against women always blame and make it seem like it is the women’s fault she was raped and that she deserved it for “acting” a certain way. McMahon (2007), in her article titled, “Understanding community-specific rape myths” explains how Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994) later described rape myths as “attitudes and beliefs that are generally
In the early beginnings of colonized America, African Americans were seen as less than human. They were seen as savages. There was a fallacy associated with them that allowed others to view them as lazy, sex-crazed, and unintelligent. All of these notions were false. The British made a habit of taking land from indigenous people and subsequently controlling those who have been there. African slaves first came to America in 1501 with the New World Spanish settlers. In 1619, twenty slaves were brought to Jamestown. These were indentured servants, so they were only bound for a certain period of time. Not until 1865, when the 13th Amendment was ratified, was slavery abolished. After this, the systemic oppression of African Americans slowly and
Thesis: Block argues that both “known” men and unknown rape victims were vital to connecting rape to Early American social and sexual power (15). This is important because according to Block, “Rape was a part of the architecture of early American racial and gender hierarchies that used women’s bodies to delineate its rules and boundaries (241).”
One might assume that because I am a black man I should know everything there is to know about the word nigger; however, that would be a racist assumption. I know probably just as much about the word as the next American. Obviously, I know that nigger was used to refer to slaves and then later as a pejorative label for an entire race of people, but the emotional power it has over Black people I have never really experienced. I seek to enlighten not only myself but those who choose to read this paper about nigger, its origins as well as the mystique of its checkered past. Nigger started off referring to Africans who were slaves, widening to Black people, then pejoratively as a racial slur, and now urban Americans are trying to reclaim it. Nigger
We all know what discrimination is, but most of us, don’t know how it feels to be discriminated against. It is usually not until we go through something like discrimination that we begin to see what negativity exists. African-American people have had to climb over many obstacles to gain their standing today. First they were sold into slavery, but after slavery was abolished they still had to deal with racism and discrimination, both of which still exist. For my English essay, I am interviewing my neighbor, who’s African-American.