Black Americans Essay Research Paper Black Americans

Black Americans Essay, Research Paper

Black Americans are those individuals in the United States who trace their

lineage to members of the Negroid race in Africa. They have at assorted times in

United States history been referred to as African, coloured, Negro,

African-american, and Afro-american, every bit good as black. The black population of

the United States has grown from three-fourthss of a million in 1790 to about

30 million in 1990. As a per centum of the entire population, inkinesss declined

from 19.3 in 1790 to 9.7 in 1930. A modest per centum addition has occurred

since that clip. Over the past 300 and more old ages in the United States,

considerable racial mixture has taken topographic point between individuals of African descent

and those with other racial backgrounds, chiefly of white European or American

Indian lineage. Shades of skin coloring material scope from dark brown to tusk. In organic structure

type black Americans range from short and compact to tall and tilt.

Nose forms

vary from aquiline to highly wide and level ; hair coloring materials from medium brown to

brown black ; and hair texture from tightly curled to gimp and straight.

Historically, the prevailing attitude toward racial group rank in the

United States has been that individuals holding any black African lineage are

considered to be black. In some parts of the United States, particularly in the

antebellum South, Torahs were written to specify racial group rank in this

manner, by and large to the hurt of those who were non Caucasic. It is of import

to observe, nevertheless, that lineage and physical features are lone portion of

what has set black Americans apart as a distinguishable group. The construct of race, as

it applies to the black minority in the United States, is every bit much a societal and

political construct as a biological one. Blacks Under Bondage: 1600-1865 The first

Africans in the New World arrived with Spanish and Lusitanian adventurers and

colonists. By 1600 an estimated 275,000 Africans, both free and slave, were in

Central and South America and the Caribbean country. Africans first arrived in the

country that became the United States in 1619, when a smattering of prisoners were sold

by the captain of a Dutch ship of the line to colonists at JAMESTOWN. Others were

brought in increasing Numberss to make full the desire for labor in a state where

land was plentiful and labour scarce. By the terminal of the seventeenth century,

about 1,300,000 Africans had landed in the New World. From 1701 to 1810

the figure reached 6,000,000, with another 1,800,000 arriving after 1810. Some

Africans were brought straight to the English settlements in North America. Others

landed as slaves in the West Indies and were subsequently resold and shipped to the

mainland. Slavery in America The earliest African reachings were viewed in the

same manner as apprenticed retainers from Europe. This similarity did non long

continue. By the latter half of the seventeenth century, clear differences existed in

the intervention of black and white retainers. A 1662 Virginia jurisprudence assumed Africans

would stay retainers for life, and a 1667 act declared that “ Baptism do

non change the status of the individual as to his bondage or freedom. ” By

1740 the SLAVERY system in colonial America was to the full developed. A Virginia jurisprudence

in that twelvemonth declared slaves to be “ chattel personal in the custodies of their

proprietors and owners. . . for all purposes, building, and aim

whatsoever. ” In malice of legion ideological struggles, nevertheless, the

bondage system was maintained in the United States until 1865, and widespread

antiblack attitudes nurtured by bondage continued thenceforth. Prior to the

American Revolution, bondage existed in all the settlements. The ideals of the

Revolution and the limited profitableness of bondage in the North resulted in its

forsaking in northern provinces during the last one-fourth of the eighteenth century. At

the same clip the strength of bondage increased in the South, with the

go oning demand for inexpensive labor by the baccy agriculturists and cotton husbandmans of

the Southern provinces. By 1850, 92 per centum of all American inkinesss were

concentrated in the South, and of this group about 95 per centum were

slaves. Under the plantation system gang labor was the typical signifier of

employment. Overseers were rough as a affair of general pattern, and ferociousness

was common. Slaves could have no belongings unless sanctioned by a slave maestro,

and colza of a female slave was non considered a offense except as it represented

intruding on another & # 8217 ; s belongings. Slaves could non show grounds in tribunal

against Whites. In most of the South it was illegal to learn a black to read or

write. Resistance by Blacks Blacks were forbidden to transport weaponries or to garner in

Numberss except in the presence of a white individual. Free inkinesss, whether life in

the North or South, were confronted with attitudes and actions that differed

small from those confronting Southern black slaves. Discrimination existed in most

societal and economic activities every bit good as in vote and instruction. In 1857 the

DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD instance of the U.S. Supreme Court placed the authorization of

the Constitution behind determinations made by provinces in the intervention of inkinesss. The

Dred Scott determination was that black Americans, even if they were free, were non

intended to be included under the word citizen as defined in the Declaration of

Independence and could claim none of the rights and privileges provided for in

that papers. Blacks responded to their intervention under bondage in a assortment of

ways. In add-on to such individuals as Prosser, Vesey, and Turner, who openly

opposed the slave system, 1000s of inkinesss escaped from bondage and moved to

the northern United States or to Canada. Still others accepted the images of

themselves that white America sought to project onto them. The consequence in some

instances was the “ Uncle Tom ” or “ Sambo ” personality, the black

who accepted his or her humble place as grounds that Whites were superior to

inkinesss. Much spiritual activity among slaves reflected the influences of African

spiritual patterns and served as a agency by which slaves could develop and

promote positions of themselves different from those held by the slave proprietor. The

Civil Rights Movement Many things influenced the alterations in U.S. race dealingss

after World War II. The anti-Nazi propaganda generated during the war increased

the realization by many Americans of the struggle between ideals and the world

of racism in their ain state. The concentration of big Numberss of inkinesss in

metropoliss of the North and West increased their possible for political influence.

It besides projected the jobs related to race as national instead than regional.

The constitution of the United Nations central office in the United States made

American racial inequality more seeable to a universe in which the United States

sought to give leading during the Cold War with the USSR. The growing of a

white minority willing to talk out against racism provided Alliess for inkinesss.

Most of import in changing race dealingss in the United States, nevertheless, were

the actions of inkinesss themselves. Legal Action Against Racism The first major

onslaught by inkinesss on racism was through the tribunals. In a series of instances

affecting professional and graduate instruction, the Supreme Court required

admittance of inkinesss to once all-white establishments when separate installations

for inkinesss were clearly non equal. The major legal discovery came in 1954. In

the instance of BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA, KANSAS, the Supreme Court

held that separate installations are, by their very nature, unequal. In malice of

this determination, more than a decennary passed before important school integrating

took topographic point in the South. In the North, where segregated schools resulted from

segregated lodging forms and from use of school attending

boundaries, separation of races in public schools increased after 1954. A 2nd

major discovery in the battle against segregation grew out

of the Montgomery,

Ala. , coach boycott in 1955. The boycott began when Rosa Parks, a black adult female,

refused to give up her place on the coach to a white individual. Her apprehension resulted in

a series of meetings of inkinesss in Montgomery and a boycott of coachs on which

racial segregation was practiced. The boycott, which lasted for more than a

twelvemonth, was about 100 percent effectual. Before the tribunals declared

unconstitutional Montgomery & # 8217 ; s jurisprudence necessitating segregation on coachs, Martin Luther

King, Jr. , a Baptist curate, had risen to national prominence and had

articulated a scheme of non-violent direct action in the motion for CIVIL

RIGHTS. Culture Today Blacks in the United States today are chiefly an urban

people. Their displacement from the rural South to metropoliss of the North and West during

the twentieth century constitutes one of the major migrations of people in U.S.

history. This tremendous displacement of population has put terrible strains on the cloth

and societal construction within both the old and new communities of migrating

inkinesss. If one adds to this the jobs of low income, high unemployment, hapless

instruction, and other jobs related to racial favoritism, it could be said

that the black community in the twentieth century has existed in a ageless province of

crisis. The black community, nevertheless, has developed a figure of typical

cultural characteristics that black Americans progressively look upon with pride. Many

of these characteristics reflect the influence of cultural traditions that originated

in Africa ; others reflect the singularity of the black American in the United

States. The alone characteristics of black American civilization are most noticeable in

music, art and literature, and faith. They may besides be in address, extended

household agreements, frock, and other characteristics of life-style. Whether African

lineage or endurance in the hostile environment of bondage and Jim Crow was more

of import in determining bing cultural forms of black American life is a

inquiry that requires further survey. Music and the Arts Black American

traditions in music reflect the mingling of African roots with the American

experience. BLUES and can be traced back to the African call-and-response chant,

in which a solo poetry line is alternated with a choral response of a short

phrase or word. They besides reflect the personal experiences of inkinesss and the

hard accommodations demanded in the American environment. Bessie SMITH and W.

C. HANDY stand out as major figures in the development of this signifier of music.

JAZZ, a direct descendent of blues, developed among inkinesss in New Orleans and

spread with their migration. By 1920 it was popular throughout the state. The

digesting popularity of Louis ARMSTRONG and Duke ELLINGTON over several decennaries

attests to its go oning attractive force. The influence of wind on other signifiers of

popular music in America is clearly recognized. After World War II such popular

performing artists as Nat King COLE and Lena HORNE gained international acclamation. Subsequently

international audiences were won by Johnny MATHIS, Diana ROSS, and Michael

JACKSON. BLACK AMERICAN LITERATURE and art were slower to develop than was black

music. Early creative persons and authors who were black dealt with subjects that, in

choice and attack, were identical from the plants of Whites. By the

1920s centres of artistic activity had developed, the best known being in New

York. The HARLEM RENAISSANCE, as this artistic spring was known, produced

outstanding figures. Among them were poets Langston HUGHES, Countee CULLEN, and

James Weldon JOHNSON ; authors Claude MCKAY and Jean TOOMER. The work of the

Harlem Renaissance and authors such as Richard WRIGHT reflected the turning race

consciousness among inkinesss and their resistance to the segregation encountered

in all signifiers of life. These subjects continue to be of import in the work of such

authors as James BALDWIN, Amiri BARAKA, Gwendolyn BROOKS, Ralph ELLISON, Douglas

Turner WARD, and John A. WILLIAMS. Religion Religion has traditionally been

of import to black American life. The first major denomination among inkinesss, the

African Methodist Episcopal Church, grew from the church established by Richard

Allen in Philadelphia in 1787. With Emancipation, most former slaves joined

Baptist or Wesleyan churches. These remain today as the church groups with the

largest black rank. Smaller Numberss belong to other denominations and to

independent churches of changing sizes. Among non-Christian spiritual groups that

hold attracted ample followerss are the Peace Mission of Father DIVINE and

the State of Islam, frequently referred to as the Black MuslimsThe Peace Mission is

strongly integrationist in instructions, a construct opposed by the State of Islam

during most of its history. In recent old ages the racial character of leading

and members of the Peace Mission have become progressively white. In 1985 the

chief Black Muslim group was unified with the Muslim community world-wide. Blacken

curates who have figured conspicuously in political relations during the post-World War II

period include Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr. , Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. ,

Leon Sullivan, and Andrew YOUNG. The Family The black household through much of

U.S. history has borne the strain of bondage and Jim Crow. These establishments

limited the chance for the black male to carry through his traditional function of

caput of family and defender of and supplier for his household. Because adult females

were frequently able to happen domestic employment when no occupations were available to black

work forces, adult females frequently provided more reliable and regular incomes. Statistically,

black adult females are more often the caput of households than is the instance in

nonblack households. In add-on to jobs of unemployment, urbanization

produced strains of overcrowding, weakening of the drawn-out household construct, and

disaffection. Nevertheless, dealingss among household members have traditionally been

near. Many first-and second-generation city-dwelling inkinesss continue to believe

of place as the Southern topographic point from which the household came. Education Until the

post-World War II period, most inkinesss seeking higher instruction attended private

BLACK COLLEGES located chiefly in the South. Most of these had been started in

the old ages instantly following the Civil War as a joint attempt of inkinesss,

Northern church groups, and the Freedmen & # 8217 ; s Bureau. Among these were Fisk

University, Atlanta University, Talladega College, Morehouse College, and

Spelman College. Late in the nineteenth century Tuskegee Institute was founded by

Booker T. Washington, and a figure of colleges were established by black church

groups. Almost all inkinesss who received a college instruction before 1940 attended

these establishments. In the 1940s some betterment was made in publically supported

establishments of higher instruction for inkinesss, and for the first clip black

pupils began to look in colleges that had antecedently been all white. In the

1970s the per centum of inkinesss go toing college increased markedly, but in the

1980s inkinesss lost land. Although integration of the public schools in the

South proceeded easy for the first decennary after the Brown v. Board of

Education determination, by 1969 school territories in every province were at least in

token conformity with the 1954 opinion. By that clip all signifiers of de jure

segregation had been struck down by the tribunals. De facto school segregation

continued, nevertheless, in big portion because the communities the schools served

were segregated in their residential forms. This was peculiarly true in

big urban countries and more prevalent in the North than in the South. One method

adopted to get the better of such segregation was to bus kids across school territory

lines in order to accomplish racial balance in the schools. This caused major

contention and led to cases of violent resistance. The overwhelming

bulk of black kids now attend officially incorporate schools, although they

may hold small contact with white students even within the schools.