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Apartheid in south africa history
Peoples lives during apartheid
Apartheid in south africa history
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Residential Segregation and its Consequences: American Apartheid & The Hero’s Fight Massey and Denton (1993) describe the systematic segregation and isolation of black Americans—at a level not experienced by any other racial group—as the cause of persistent poverty, and the key to the creation of racial inequality and the underclass. This residential segregation leads to heterogeneous communities, the black ghetto. These black ghettos have substandard resources, and living conditions far below any other group in America. The conditions and characteristics of these ghettos lock residents into a cycle of poverty and subordination for generations. Theoretical explanations emerged in the debate on black persistent poverty, and the inability …show more content…
People traveled by walking, and lived in relatively close proximity to where they worked. Blacks and whites lived side by side, and communities identified as where blacks lived, will still not predominantly black. Blacks were not isolated; they were more likely to come in contact with whites than with other blacks. An example from the American Apartheid text that puts this into perspective is the isolation index, which measures the extent to which blacks live in predominantly black neighborhoods. The city with the highest level of black isolation in 1890 was Indianapolis, at 13%. Post 1900, industrialization led to dense housing built near manufacturing hubs. Blacks moved from the south because the demand for farm labor decreased, as the need for unskilled workers in the north increased. The advent of structural steel and mechanical elevators allowed cities to expand upward, and alternative transportation options (e.g. rail systems) allowed cities to expand outward. Black laborers flooded the cities, and the new class of affluent managers and service workers were able to expand out into the suburbs. The isolation index shows that by 1930, the city with the highest level of black isolation was Chicago, with an increase to over 70% black isolation. White Americans became increasingly intolerant of blacks as neighbors, and feared a black invasion. Violence broke out in northern cities; blacks were forced to move into …show more content…
At the time of Fernandez-Kelly’s research, the city was experiencing the debilitating effects of deindustrialization. D.B. Wilson’s story shows the fortunes of blacks that migrated north from the south for a better life. With time, Wilson was able to find a job with a manufacturing firm, propelling his family to middle-class life. Although Wilson lost his job when the firm closed due to deindustrialization shifts, he was one of the fortunate who was able to successfully raise children, and continue on to a comfortable career that he started with his abundant savings (amassed during his years at the firm). Others who followed were not so
Cleveland’s black population was quite small before the “Great Migration” in 1915, but then began to gradually increase. This meant that black associations and leadership depended very much on white support. The socioeconomic position of blacks, however, at the same time, got worse as whites got stricter on discriminatory control over employment and public places. After 1915, Cleveland’s black population grew quickly, starting racist trends. One of the results was segregation of the living conditions of blacks, their jobs, and in social aspects. As isolation increased, however, this began the growth of new leaders and associations that responded to the needs of the ghettos. By 1930, the black ghetto had expanded; Cleveland’s blacks had increased class stratification in their community, as well as an increasing sense of cultural harmony in response to white prejudice.
Wilson created the atmosphere of not only binding black race with economical and social issues when there are other contributing factors as well. The plight of low-skilled inner city black males explains the other variables. He argues “Americans may not fully understand the dreadful social and economic circumstances that have moved these bla...
While whites lived comfortable lives in their extravagant mansions and driving their fancy cars blacks had to live in a disease infested neighborhood with no electricity or in door plumbing. Approximately one thousand people lived in shacks that were squeezed together in a one-mile zone. The alleys were filled with dirt, rats, human wasted and diseases. Blacks lived in houses made of “old whitewash, a leaking ceiling of rusted Inx propped up by a thin wall of crumbling adobe bricks, two tiny windows made of cardboard and pieces of glass, a creaky, termite-eaten door low for a person of average height to pass through...and a floor made of patches of cement earth”(31). Living in such a degrading environment kills self-esteem, lowers work ethic and leaves no hope for the future.
Blacks were driven out of skilled trades and were excluded from many factories. Racist’s whites used high rents and there was enormous pressure to exclude blacks from areas inhabited by whites.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Morton explains that political, institutional, and structural factors lead to the segregation of poverty in minority communities because of their lack of access to educational and health service, reliable public transportation, and job (Morton 275). Morton recognizes that the achievement gap goes much deeper than the education realm and she believes
Blacks in the north were separated from their white counterparts in everyway. Legislators were always creating laws to keep the races divided. Many states tried to impose laws that would segregate schools. The whites did not want black kids going to the same school because if blacks and whites mingled there could be inter marriage. Even the trains were segregated. Negroes had to sit on a certain part of the streetcars and whites on another. Blacks were not allowed to go to certain cities because people thought that they brought down the property value. Imagine people thought just the presence of blacks could bring down property value down.
After liberation, most of the African Americans operated roles as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. “And Black men’s feet learned roads. Some said goodbye cheerfully…others fearfully, with terrors of unknown dangers in their mouths…others in their eagerness for distance said nothing…” (Takaki 311). The migration to the north guaranteed blacks opportunities toward employment, which led them to obtain sharper wages. Unfortunately, the northern part of the United States was not how immigrants perceived it to be: lack of segregation.
Chicago was the best place to live and visit for anyone. Many people traveled from far places to visit and live in Chicago. Long after the World War II many things started reshaping America. One of the most significant was the racial change all over America but specifically in Chicago. Many southern blacks started to move into Chicago. Chicago started to become mostly dominated by blacks and other minorities while whites started to move into the suburbs of Chicago. "Beginning in the 1930s, with the city's black population increasing and whites fleeing to the suburbs, the black vote became a precious commodity to the white politicians seeking to maintain control" (Green, 117). Many of the mayors such as Edward J. Kelly, Martin H. Kennelly, and Richard J. Daley won over the blacks and got their votes for them to become mayor. The black population grew by 77 percent by the 1940. The white population dropped from 102,048 to 10,792 during the years of 1940 to 1960. With all of these people moving into Chicago there had to be more housing. There were many houses built to accommodate all the people. Martin H. Kennelly at one time wanted to tear down slums and have public housing built in the black ghetto. Many of the blacks wanted to escape these ghettos so some of them; if they could they would try to move to the white communities. When the blacks would try to move into the white communities they were met with mobs. There were many hurdles that blacks had to overcome not only in Chicago but all over America. The blacks of Chicago had to fight for a place to live and to find a mayor that would help them for who they are, not their color.
Although they needed African Americans for their factories and work ethics they did not agree with them having the same rights or sharing any rights with them. They wanted them just to work for them and have authority over African Americans. The more Africans Americans populated their living area, the more whites felt upon to call for action. For example whites wanted to feel much superior...”African Americans had to step off the sidewalk when a white person approached”(Digital Collection for the Classroom). This quote illustrates how whites did anything in their power to feel superior. The Great Migration caused whites to fear and enable them to more injustice actions. Although the Great Migration did benefit many African Americans in certain aspects it also crated unintended consequences. Due to the large growth of the African-American population there was an increasing competition amongst the migrants for employment and living space in the growing crowded cities of the North. Besides, racism and prejudice led to the interracial strife and race riots, worsening the situation between the whites and the African Americans. Racism became even more of a national problem. The Great Migration intensions were to let African Americans live a better life style economically wise and help them from poverty not cause even more issues with racism or become competition against others. Because many white people did not want to sell their property to African Americans, they began to start their own exclusive cities within that area of sell. These exclusive cities were called the “ Ghetto”(Black, 2013). The ghetto was subject to high illness, violence, high crime rate, inadequate recreational facilities; lack of building repairs, dirty streets, overcrowded schools; and mistreatment from the law enforcement. Although the ghetto cities helped unify African Americans as
...ack American. Whites of both urban and rural sectors of the country relied on their families during good and bad times. They were tightly knit and wanted to see them grow up to be the best they could be. Blacks of the South were left to grow up on their own, and were treated violently by both blacks and whites alike. All of them saw the world in their own way, and thus instead of wishing the best of others, simply wanted others to follow their own ideals. The key differences between the experience of whites and blacks can be found within the mentality of the family, the extent to which they were influenced by their families in their respective lives, and the shielding from the outside world, or lack thereof, by their families. Only the passage of time would tell if this manner of being would ever change.
The Great Migration was the movement of two million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Midwest, Northeast and West between 1910 and 1940. In 1900, about ninety percent of African Americans resided in formed slave holding states in the South. Beginning in 1910, the African American population increased by nearly twenty percent in Northern states, mostly in the biggest cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Cleveland. African Americans left the rural south because they believed they could escape the discrimination and racial segregation of Jim Crow laws by seeking refuge in the North. Some examples of Jim Crow laws include the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks (“The History of Jim Crow). In addition, economic depression due to the boll weevil infestation of Southern cotton fields in the late 1910s and the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 forced many sharecroppers to look for other emplo...
She would agree that the growth of the black middle-class has been impressive, however she urges people to look deeper from a comparative perspective. The black middle class continues to lag behind it’s white counterparts as evidenced by a large earning gap among workers in the same field as well as the ratio of people unemployed in the different ethnic groups. Home foreclosures resulted causing an abundance of boarded up homes. McCoy pushes for continued affirmative action, access to higher education, a plan to create real family-wage jobs, and alleviation of residential segregation to support gains already made by the black middle class
From slavery to Jim Crow, the impact of racial discrimination has had a long lasting influence on the lives of African Americans. While inequality is by no means a new concept within the United States, the after effects have continued to have an unmatched impact on the racial disparities in society. Specifically, in the housing market, as residential segregation persists along racial and ethnic lines. Moreover, limiting the resources available to black communities such as homeownership, quality education, and wealth accumulation. Essentially leaving African Americans with an unequal access of resources and greatly affecting their ability to move upward in society due to being segregated in impoverished neighborhoods. Thus, residential segregation plays a significant role in
Although racism seemed to be lower in Harlem and the Northern states, for many Blacks racism was at an all time high. The Ku Klux Klan reached membership of astronomical proportions. They marched in Washington DC and handed out membership cards bashing minorities. Less educated Blacks, or those who couldn’t make it to Harlem, were often deemed ignorant. There was a barrier built between those Blacks with an education, and those without.
Blacks in America are still largely clumped up into isolated groups in cities that have poor living conditions. The article titled “The ghettoization of black Americans hasn’t been reversed” by Charles Lane states that in cities with large black populations like Detroit, Cleveland, or Chicago, “Their average dissimilarity index stands at 76, down only slightly from 84 in 1970.” This racial isolation is not helping blacks start up their lives again after years of torture and abuse. The isolation traps the black population into a cycle of poverty and crime as they do not have the human necessities without resorting to stealing or other