Black Rights

557 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Civil rights movement in the 1950's

Mary Catherine was a white child that grew up in the 1950’s. Back then it was normal for white folk to have black maids cleaning the house and take care of the children. Mary had two black female maids, one was named Odessa Cotter. Odessa was a hard working woman that had a husband: Herbert Cotter, and three children: Theodore, Franklin, and Selma. Odessa worked five days a week, she even worked on Christmas day. “The Long Walk Home” is a movie on Odessa and her family as they take a stand for what they believed in: equal rights. At the beginning of the movie Odessa is dropped off at a park with Mary and some of her white friends by Miriam, the employer of Odessa. After Miriam leaves Odessa is setting up a picnic for the children and getting ready for them to eat. While she was setting up the plates a white police office comes by and insults her to leave. Later that day Miriam calls the police department to come out and apologize to them. Right away I could see Miriam has a little respect for Odessa. Later that day Odessa’s children come home with a letter saying the blacks are g...

Show More
Related

  • Coming of Age in Mississippi and Segregation

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    Moody’s position as an African American woman provides a unique insight into these themes through her story. As a little girl, Moody would sit on the porch of her house watch her parents go to work. Everyday she would see them walk down the hill at the break of dawn to go to work, and walk back up when the sun was going down to come back home. At this time in her life, Moody did not understand segregation, and that her parents were slaves and working for a white man. But, as growing up poor and black in the rural south with a single mother trying to provide for her family, Moody quickly realized the importance of working. Working as a woman in the forties and fifties was completely different from males. They were still fighting for gender equality, which restricted women to working low wage jobs like maids for white families. Moody has a unique insight to the world of working because she was a young lady that was working herself to help keep herself and her bother and sister in school. Through work, Moody started to realize what segregation was and how it impacted her and her life. While working for Mrs. Johnson and spending the nights with Miss Ola, she started to realize basic di...

    Read More

  • How Did African Americans Treated In The Late 1800s

    296 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the nineteenth century African-Americans were not treated as people. The white men and women treated them as pieces of property rather than people. Throughout this time those men and women fought for their own independence and freedoms. However none of these freedoms happened until the late 1800’s. The black men and women of this time never got the opportunities to earn money or have property of their own.

    Read More

  • White Teacher by Vivian Gussin Paley

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    This passage bothered me. It is probably the part that bugged me the most about this book. There are many African Americans who are better behaved, smarter, more artistic, more athletic, etc. then white children. There are also many African Americans who are less educated and more poorly behaved than white children, but the same for both of these things go with white children. It bothers me that she knows that if the worst child in the class was white she wouldn't care if the best child in the class was white. I think that throughout the book she often generalizes with African Americans and doesn't even realize it. She claims that she is getting better, but I don't think that she really is. She keeps trying to have the African American children become the same as the white children.

    Read More

  • Civil Rights Dbq

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    “There must be the position of superior and inferior” was a statement by Lincoln which formed the basis of discrimination towards black Americans as it highlighted the attitudes of white Americans. Although civil rights for black people eventually improved through the years both socially and politically, it was difficult to change the white American view that black people are inferior to white people as the view was always enforce by the favour of having “the superior position assigned to the white race”.

    Read More

  • A Brief Biography Of Mary Mcleod Bethune

    1415 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mary had very loving and caring parents whose names were Sam and Pasty McLeod. Her father, Sam, often worked on the farm that they owned. Her mother, Pasty delivered and picked white people’s laundry. Mary often got to come along and play with the mother’s daughter. Once, Mary got into a fight with a little white girl who said that Mary couldn’t read at that time in South Carolina, it was illegal to teach a black person. This made Mary mad, and she wanted to do something about it.

    Read More

  • Comparing History for Hawthorne and Brent

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brent confronts her reader one on one in order to reemphasize her point. She uses the family and sentiment to appeal to and challenge the 19th century white women reader in order to effectively gain their support in the movement for abolition. Understanding what was going on in our nation, in the southern states, and in the northern states is incredibly important when reading this story. Slaves were nothing more than property and, in many cases, were treated with less respect than the family dog.

    Read More

  • The Injustice Upon African Americans Slaves

    1055 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery was a practice throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and through slavery, African-American slaves helped build the economic foundation of which America stands upon today, but this development only occurred with the sacrifice of the blood, sweat, and tears from the slaves that had been pushed into exhaustion by the slave masters. A narrative noting a lifetime of this history was the book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African written by Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was a prominent African involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade. He was captured and enslaved as a child in his home town of Essaka in what is now known as south eastern Nigeria, later he was shipped to the West Indies, he then moved to England, and eventually purchased his freedom (Equiano). Olaudah Equiano, with many other millions of slaves, faced many hardships and was treated with inconceivable injustices by white slave masters and because of the severity of these cruel and barbarous occurrences, history will never forget these events.

    Read More

  • The Sad History of Civil Rights for Black Americans

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    Freedom riders were a group of men and women young and old who boarded buses and planes bound for the south. There main aim was the get rid of the Jim Crow laws. They would ride through the towns sitting wherever they liked regardless of their race (this was breaking the law in Southern States) A few times, the freedom riders would be met with no resistance, but more often angry racist mobs awaited their arrival at the stations. As a non-violent group, the freedom riders would not fight back to the abuse they received.

    Read More

  • Civil Liberties and Rights

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since the beginning of American history, citizens who resided the country lacked the basic civil rights and liberties that humans deserved. Different races and ethnicities were treated unfairly. Voting rights were denied to anyone who was not a rich, white male. Women were harassed by their bosses and expected to take care of everything household related. Life was not all that pretty throughout America’s past, but thankfully overtime American citizens’ civil liberties and rights expanded – granting Americans true freedom.

    Read More

  • Civil Rights

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    Great African American musicians of the40’s, 50’s, especially 60’s and 70’s, like Jimi Hendrix for example, where not have always been in the headlines for the right reasons. They, Hendrix especially, were not always forefront leaders in movement like the Civil Rights era like Malcolm X or Martin Luther where.. That may be true, but by simply being a successful African American musician in times like these would speak volume, and have profound influence. Jimi Hendrix explained it bests, when he summed up the power behind, not just his music, but all music, when he told us...

    Read More

  • Civil Rights

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    Second wave feminism has proved to have an intense effect on the western societies. The essay second wave feminism focuses on a wide range of issues of women such as work place discrimination, women education, reproduction and many others. Second wave feminists can be grouped into integrationists and radical feminists. The essay explains about the differences between these two groups, the role of women in the society and the benchmarks women have set up regarding gender equality. Women have replaced the old scenario in which women were treated as objects of male desires and needs and led to independent and equal participation along with men (Beauvoir, 1952).

    Read More

  • The Black Lives Matter Movement

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    A social justice movement is defined as “a group of diffusely organized people or organizations striving toward a common goal relating to human society or social change” (Dictionary.com). Social justice is ingrained in the history of the University of Maryland because of its proximity to Washington DC and its liberal affiliation. The most infamous protest at the University occurred in 1970. Thousands of demonstrators occupied and vandalized the University 's Main Administration building and ROTC offices, set fires all over the campus, and blocked Route 1, the main artery into College Park. Armed with bricks, rocks, and bottles, the protesters skirmished with police armed with riot batons, tear gas, and dogs (Kiger). In the past and present,

    Read More

  • Civil Rights

    1661 Words  | 4 Pages

    Without question the Civil Rights Movement is still in action. There has been in addition to this fight. People who love each other are being hated for loving someone of their same gender. Racism is still as strong as ever. The oppositions for this is pathetic. Mexicans, Blacks, Middle Easterners, Asians, Lesbian, Gay and Transgender individuals etc, have all been humiliated so they can feel like they do not belong. Stereotypes have taken over this technological era. Any chance someone gets to post a racist, cruel, and or rude comment they do it, for attention. We should not seek attention this way. Instead we should promote love and unity. This is what the Civil Rights Movement is all about. It might feel like a loss of pride for the ones who are opposing, but I cannot stress enough that this it is for the better. Everyone deserves a chance to live their life without the fear of knowing that at any moment society has the power to hurt you, to destroy every part of your being without mercy. It is hard to lead a life full of guilt and self hate because of who you are and who others have defined you to be. There is so much things that one feels when they are categorized by society. There is so much self doubt, insecurity, guilt, and the pain of feeling dirty and small because of how society sees you and labels you. Why is it necessary to label everything and define it. Why cant we all accept the fact that not everyone is the same, and that that doesn't make us any less human. So many chances are lost because people are discouraged because of who they are to society . Many coloured students in school have it hard. Their life isn’t easy at home or school. From personal experience I could tell you that many of the coloured students a...

    Read More

  • The Theme Of African American Literature In Zora Neale Hurston

    1784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unlike the earlier era, in which they had received freedom but it was so new to them, and they truly didn’t understand what it meant to be a free group, they began to move into a time period where they were finding their voice, and “finding their freedom”. Instead of writing about becoming free, and wanting freedom, they begin to act free. They begin to prove they were free by giving off confident in their culture and in their work. In her writing she has many different subsections where she rebuttals the ideas pushed onto the African American race. She proves the stereotypes wrong using the truth. The first example is, under the section titled “originality” she wrote, “it has been said so often that the negro is lacking in originality that has almost become a gospel. Outward signs seem to bear this out. But if one looks closely its falsity is immediately evident.” and , “So if we look at it squarely, the Negro is a very original being. While he lives and moves in the midst of a white civilian, everything that he touches is re-interpreted for his own use. He has modified the language, mode of food preparation, practice of medicine, and most certainly the religion of his new country, just as he adapted to suit himself the sheik haircut made famous by Rudolph Valentino.” this passage shows how much she believes in her race. She isn’t asking for anything from anyone. She doesn’t beg for respect, acceptance, or freedom, she is telling them to treat them like they are free. This passage really exemplifies the theme of accepting themselves and their culture during this time period. The African Americans were able to begin to stand up for themselves and up against the falsely acclaimed stereotypes that have been made against them. During this time period they were recreating the culture that had been taken away from them. They were finding their voice through

    Read More

  • The Struggle for Freedom Among African American Citizens

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    Diversity, we define this term today as one of our nation’s most dynamic characteristics in American history. The United States thrives through the means of diversity. However, diversity has not always been a positive component in America; in fact, it took many years for our nation to become accustomed to this broad variety of mixed cultures and social groups. One of the leading groups that were most commonly affected by this, were African American citizens, who were victimized because of their color and race. It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s during the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place yet, it is the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools. Integration in white schools played a major role in the battle for Civil Rights in the South, upon the coming of independence for all African American people in the United States after a series of tribulations and loss of hope.

    Read More

More about Black Rights

Open Document