Societal Forces Throughout American History

Segregation in America was officially outlawed on July 2, 1964. Looking back, one must consider why segregation occurred, why it continued for such a long period of time after slavery ended, and what actions were taken to oppose it. It was through the writings and beliefs of Martin Luther King on the practice of nonviolence that let to the success of the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout history, societal forces have caused oppression for all societies but have been overcome with individual separation. Though the Civil Rights Act succeeded, societal forces have changed and the oppressed are still oppressed but in a new way.

America's unique history with slavery and the segregation that followed brought into creation a white power structure that serves to maintain the position that whites have as the dominant race. This has been the major oppressive societal force since the United States became its own country. Slaves who were shipped to the United States from Africa were seen as animals and even property because of several different factors. Settlers became extremely frustrated at their own ineptitude; how could the American Indian survive so well even though they were savages while civilized white men with more advanced technology were dying of hunger and exposure? Collective anger led to the whites to show superiority in the only way that they could: violence against the Indians. From all of the torture, killing, crop-burning, and destruction of villages stemmed the idea that indulging in violent acts to suppress races that were deemed inferior was acceptable.

When the settlers finally worked out how to survive, they needed a great deal of labor that they could not get from any source except slaves (Indians could not be en...

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...tarted using slave labour. The animosity and ideals that whites had toward blacks after slavery was outlawed spawned segregation. The societal forces that arose from American history was the major cause of the oppression of African Americans, but individual separation was instigated to counter the persecution.

Works Cited

King, Martin Luther “Letters from Birmingham Jail.” Cultural Conversations: the Presence of the Past. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 472-486. Print.

Nagler, Michael. “Nonviolence and Peacemaking Today.” Cultural Conversations: the Presence of the Past. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 512-522. Print.

Tatum, Beverly D. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? New York, NY: Basic Books, 1997. Print.

Zinn, Howard. “Drawing the Color Line.” Rethinking the Color Line. Gallagher, C.A. New York, NY. Mortimer, 2009. Print.