Inequality In America

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Inequality in the United States was present for a very long time. It wasn’t until essentially the 1960’s when blacks finally had all of their humane rights. It took many courageous and very charismatic leaders to achieve all the things colored people grasped during this time. In my essay today I will be talking about some of these extremely memorable and honorable events and people that transpired and why they are so significant. Activist Mary Church Terrell was born September 23, 1863 in Memphis, Tennessee. She was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She attended Oberlin College and majored in Classics. While attending Oberlin she was nominated as class poet and was also nominated for two college literary societies. This speaks so much about who she was as a person. Stereotypically, African-Americans were often seen as dumb and worthless, Terrell was neither. Throughout her lifetime she composed many literary works known around the world and she was part of the National Association of Colored Women and worked very hard for civil rights and suffrage. (Terrell) In 1906 Terrell published one of her main works known as “What It Means to be Colored in the Capital of the United States”. This piece talked about the life colored women had in Washington D.C. She talks about all the things she can’t and can do. Terrell says “As a colored woman I may walk from the Capitol to the White House, ravenously hungry and abundantly supplied with money with which to purchase a meal, without finding a single restaurant in which I would be permitted to take a morsel of food, if it was a patronized by white people, unless I were willing to sit behind a screen.” (Terrell) Obviously, colored people had a very rough time whil... ... middle of paper ... ...rtin Luther King Jr. This act even protects the voting rights for non-English speaking Americans citizens now. (Voting Rights Act) The African-American civil rights movement essentially transformed the government we know of today. It set up a model that other groups could use as advancements, such as the 21st centuries movement on gay marriage. Every year on January 16th many undergraduates and workers get the day off in memorial for Martin Luther King Junior's birthday. Sometimes we get so enthusiastic about having a break from our daily jobs or school activities that we forget to recognize the work that people such as Mary Church Terrell, Oliver Brown and many other freedom fighters have done for us so that we could get to where we are today. As a country we have overcome a vast amount of troublesome times and it’s all due to the heroes such as Mary Church Terrell.

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