The case is about Plessy against the state law of Louisiana on racial segregation and rights. In 1890, the Louisiana legislature passed a law on racial rights. The law required all railroads to separate passengers on account of race. This meant that there were designated seats for different races. In case there was only one passenger car on the train, there was the use of curtains or some partitions. Homer Adolph Plessy intentionally broke the law to initiate a case against the Louisiana state law. According to the State law, he was guilty. Ferguson (the trial court judge) issued a writ on the proceedings for a criminal violation against the Louisiana State law. In return, Plessy issued a petition to the State Supreme Court against those proceedings.
However, he was convicted and fined by the State Supreme Court. The case circulates the 13th amendment and the 14th amendment, which gave an Equal Protection on the races. From Plessy’s point of view, segregation of facilities violated the Equal Protection clause, and it was unconstitutional. On the other hand, the State Law of Louisiana had a right to protect public safety, as of any other State right. In addition, there is no reasonable doubt why the State Legislature should not enact Public segregation statutes. The Supreme Court (presided by Justice Henry B. Brown of Michigan) noted that the Louisiana State Law did not violate any of the 13th or 14th amendments. However, the legislature cannot change the attitude of the public. It concluded that, as long as the facilities were equal, segregation was legal and constitutional.
The legal issue before the court
The legal issue that lay before the court was regarding the constitutional stand on the Louisiana law. Did the Louisiana State law violate the Equal Protection clause and was it unconstitutional?
The court’s ruling
The ruling of the Supreme Court was that segregation was constitutional and legal as long as the ‘facilities were equal’.
Summary
Justice Henry B. Brown stated that there was no violation of either the 13th or 14th amendments about the Louisiana law. However, he noted that legislation is powerless to remove racial instincts and clear out the distinctions on account of the physical differences. This means that the Legislation cannot change the attitude of the public. The 14th amendment gives equal rights to all races both civilly and politically. If so, there is no inferiority of any race. From a social perspective, if one race is inferior to the other, the constitution of the United States cannot put them in one place. On that matter, the Court saw the Louisiana law as a law enacted to promote the public good.
Comments
The Plessy v. Ferguson case did not quite change the racial outlook but was a step in realizing the equity of all races, constitutionally. After this case, there have been other cases that pushed forward to abolish segregation in the United States. Justice John Marshall Harlan once stated that the constitution is color blind and does not tolerate class among citizens. The constitution cannot make a rule based on the physical appearance of a person. The fight against segregation has seen 60 years since the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
The law of the land is purposely meant to protect the rights of all individuals. The law of the land confines all citizens to its rules and thus should be followed. The race was and remained a sensitive matter to all. The 14th amendment is a clear law that tries to provide equity in rights to all citizens regardless of their physical appearance. The individual’s attitude towards issues such as race is quite different from the law. The 14th amendment put this issue into consideration and still tries to provide the rule of equality to all the citizens.
Indigenous people and immigrants in the United States have long been subjected to discrimination and segregation. White people have always tried to show their superiority over people of color through various forms of domination. It created social and economic inequalities in society that persist to this day.
Discussion
For example, Chinese immigrants who came to America during the Gold Rush were forced to work in mines and fields. It was hard and low-paid work, like transforming Californian agriculture from wheat to fruit. Moreover, employers often preferred to hire white people, leaving immigrants without the opportunity to earn money. Moreover, the indigenous population, “owning” the lands, did not have the opportunity to dispose of them freely. People could work on the land, but they could not sell it because it did not belong to them by law.
Another clear example of segregation is the redlining law. According to this law, the cities were divided into more and less favorable areas, which determined the desire of banks to issue loans to people to buy real estate in the neighborhood. People of color often had significantly lower salaries than white people, so they were forced to settle in the hazardous areas marked in red. Moreover, the seller could deliberately inflate real estate prices for black people, which was not considered a violation of the law. As a result, the city was divided into white and black neighborhoods, and the authorities practically did not finance the areas where people of color lived, which led to poverty and decline.
However, people of color often showed resistance to discrimination and oppression. For example, in 1882, Chinese workers went on strike to raise wages. Even though the demands of immigrants and the indigenous population were often not met, resistance took other forms. One of these forms can be considered self-employment. If the government did not allow people to earn money by working for existing companies, they often opened their shops, restaurants, and laundries. Such practices were widespread in black neighborhoods as well as among Chinese immigrants. Furthermore, living in ethnic communities prevented the complete assimilation of people into American society.
Conclusion
Therefore, they continued their culture and ethnic traditions in the new country. For example, the inhabitants of Chinatown continued to wear national clothes and engaged in traditional leisure activities.
What is the main argument laid out in Engels’ work on slums in nineteenth-century Great Britain? How does his work relate to modern-day work on the slum?
The 19th century was the period of the industrial revolution in Britain. During the industrial revolution, human labour was replaced by the use of machines. Before then, most of the people in Britain depended on Agriculture, and most of the goods were made manually. Factories were established mainly in urban areas where most of the goods were manufactured. It is during this period that Engels wrote his book to examine the living conditions of the labourers in the factories (Engels and Wischnewetzky 5).
According to Engel’s work, slum dwelling in Britain was because of the huge numbers of people who moved from rural areas to the urban areas in search of jobs. Other reasons behind rural-urban migration were adventure and search for better living ways. Huge migration led to overcrowding in the towns. In addition, labourers were paid low wages so that they could not afford themselves good houses. Lack of enough houses to accommodate the large population led to the creation of slums.
Living conditions in the slum areas were very pathetic. The houses were poorly ventilated while sanitation facilities, as well as drainage facilities, were poor. For instance, some houses did not have toilets. Diseases such as cholera and dysentery were very common among slum dwellers. The rate of crime in the slum areas also increased (Engels and Wischnewetzky 5).
The works of Engel is important in the modern world. Even today, people living in urban slums are the less paid people who cannot afford to live in a decent house. The houses they live in are cheap but pathetic. The government should ensure that projects are established in slum areas to improve the living standards of the people living there (Engels and Wischnewetzky 26).
What are the major factors that explain the high levels of segregation in metropolitan regions in the United States? What solutions do scholars such as Wilson and Denton & Massey offer for reducing urban segregation?
Discrimination based on race is still common in the United States of America. The idea of racial discrimination was inherited from the colonial period during which blacks were discriminated against by the whites. Even today, the black community is the most segregated community in the United States of America. Other races include Indians, Asians and communities from the Latin origin. Individual’s race is the main determinant of where to look for a job, where to live, schools to join, health amenities and other facilities.
Some factors contributing to racial segregation in the United States include superiority. The whites have a feeling that they are superior to other communities. They, therefore, want to have their own facilities separate from other people so that they do not interact with them. They think that other people are lesser communities. Whites have the perception that other communities, especially blacks, are meant to serve them. They, therefore, believe that they should be given the lower positions that usually involve manual labour. The schools for blacks and other races are not as equipped as schools for the whites. The same thing applies to hospitals (Engels and Wischnewetzky, 95).
According to William Wilsons, economic support among the blacks was undermined by the structural change in the economy of the urban areas. Racial discrimination caused the unequal distribution of resources in various geographical regions. In addition, the fact those middle-class blacks were allowed by the civil rights revolution to vacate ghettos contributed to poverty in the region. Scholars such as Wilson, assert that racial segregation can only be eliminated if equality is enhanced among all the races in the state. The whites should understand that other races are as important as they are and that they play an important role in the development of the country. The races should learn to interact with each other, live, learn and work in the same environments.
Explain the Broken Windows theory. What some of the benefits and drawbacks of utilizing this approach to control crime?
James Wilson, a social scientist with the assistance of Kelling and Coles, put the broken window theory forward in 1982. The theory was meant to explain the high levels of crimes and urban moral decay observed mainly in the cities. The theory was a form of metaphor basing on the assumption that if a house was found with a broken window, it showed that the house was not well constructed and the chances are that the building could collapse. In the same way, close monitoring and maintenance of the environment in urban areas to be in good condition reduce vandalism and other crimes. According to the theory, failure to give punishments to minor mistakes may lead to a commitment to greater crimes. Punishment is seen as a way of preventing crimes in society (Kelling and Coles, 21).
Using the approach has its own advantages as well as disadvantages. The rate of crime rates in urban areas is usually high because of the lack of sufficient employment for the large numbers of people in urban centres. If people are caught in crimes and left unpunished, the rate of crimes will increase. This makes it a good way of reducing crimes. Punishing wrongdoers creates fear among other subjects with intentions of committing crimes.
Punishing wrongdoers does not, however, mean that law is enforced. Some criminals will continue to commit crimes even after heavy punishments has been imposed on them. In addition to punishment, criminals should be advised on the importance of abiding by the law. Determining the kind of punishment that best fits a particular crime is a difficult task because people commit different crimes (Kelling and Coles 8).
How do political and economic factors contribute to issues such as slum formation, segregation and racial discrimination, inequalities in education, employment opportunities in urban settings, and the formation of gangs? In your opinion, are these factors more or less powerful than cultural factors, such as behavioural influences of other people in poor urban settings?
Factors relating to the production and distribution of goods and services in a community are economic factors. People obtain their income through these factors. Such factors include growth in the economic systems, taxation rates, inflation and exchange rates. On the other hand, political factors are concerned with the political organization of the society, or else the structure of the government. Political factors help the government in intervening in the economy of the country.
Some political factors include taxation policies, laws concerning labour, as well as trade restrictions. Political and economic factors work together in enhancing the economic development of the country. Economic changes brought by industrialization brought about many changes that affected the lives of common people. Before industrialization, most of the goods were manufactured manually in the local society. After the invention of machines, manual labour was replaced by mechanical labour that required skills for an individual to operate the machine. Many people lost jobs because of industrialization. This forced people to migrate in large numbers from rural areas to urban areas in search of jobs (Wilson 26).
Political and economic factors are responsible for the formation of slums in many cities. Since industries and factories are mainly located in urban areas, large numbers of people migrate from rural to urban areas in search of jobs.
This leads to overcrowding in towns so that housing facilities in the cities are not enough for the large numbers of people. Due to increase in demand, house rent also increases. Slums are therefore formed to house minority groups whose wages are usually low. Life in slum areas is not the best. Even though the houses are cheap, they are very poor. The rate of crimes is very high in the slums because many of the slum dwellers do not have jobs (Wilson 36).
Some political and economic factors contribute to segregation and racial discrimination among society members. In the modern era of technology, knowledge and skills are needed in order to acquire a good job. Education is, therefore, an economic factor that is taken seriously in all communities. Educated people get themselves good and well-paying jobs after which they can afford to live in good but expensive houses.
They can also afford to take their children to good schools. Education can, therefore lead to segregation because the rich will have their own residential houses and schools that cannot be afforded by the poor. The rich take their meals inexpensive hotels. This is some kind of segregation caused by education as an economic factor. In the United States of America, there are schools established for each race. There are schools for the blacks, Asians, Indians and whites. The system of education is very different in these schools (Engels and Wischnewetzky 9).
The quality of education offered to students should be equal among all students regardless of their race. Students should be free to join schools of their choice in the country. The curriculum should be the same, and teachers should be trained in the same colleges. This will prevent the problem of inequality in educational matters. Some societies do not value education because of the nature of their economic system.
These are mainly nomads whose economic system is rearing animals. Because of the extreme love for livestock (cattle complex), they do not take their children to schools; instead, they introduce them to livestock keeping. Nomadic communities have few educated individuals. They should be taught the importance of education so that they can as well get white-collar jobs that are well paying (Engels and Wischnewetzky 10).
Corruption is very common in the modern-day activities that have contributed to problems associated with employment. Nepotism and racism dominate most organizations so that the organization considers individuals from a particular race or individual’s friends and close relatives. Because of corruption, individuals who lack qualifications hold big positions in organizations. Some cannot carry out their expected duties making the organization inefficient. Lack of employment in urban centres contributes to the increased rates of vandalism and other crimes. Gangs, which are dangerous groups that cause a lot of destruction, are mainly formed in urban areas.
They visit places where huge sums of money are expected, like banks and big shops. Apart from robbing, they may cause injuries and death to people found in those areas. Young people who are expected to build the nation by engaging in activities that benefit the society mainly from gangs. The law is against theft, and gangs are not spared once got in the act. The government should ensure that it initiates programs that create job opportunities for the youth to avoid idleness that encourages membership in bad companies (Engels and Wischnewetzky 17).
Economic factors such as education and employment contribute more to the increased rate of crime in urban areas than cultural factors. The environment in which an individual is brought up contributes to his behaviour. Children born of educated parents get encouragement from their parents, who also act as role models to them. Those children see the value of education in their parents. In the same case, a society with well-established systems of law and order brings up morally upright people.
People in urban areas come from different social backgrounds, and the conditions in which an individual grew up are different. By the time they move to the towns, they are already adults and have developed their personality (Engels and Wischnewetzky 19). The chances of being lured into committing crimes are very low. It is good to choose the company in which to belong, but all the same, most urban dwellers forming gangs are adults who can make a sound decision about what to do. However, it is a good idea to keep away from bad company. This is because bad company destroys an individual’s good behaviour. Economic factors contribute more to evils and crimes in urban areas.
Conclusion
The population in urban centres is high because of employment opportunities and high living standards. Large numbers of people migrate to towns in search of employment. An increase in the rate of crimes as well as slum formation is some of the outcomes. Waterborne and airborne diseases are very high due to overcrowding which has increased mortality rate in urban centres. The problem of crime can be eradicated by creating programs that create job opportunities for the jobless. Slums should be improved to make living conditions better. In so doing life in the urban areas will be enjoyable. Discrimination based on tribe or race should be abolished (Wilson and Schuck 421).
Works Cited
Engels, Friedrich and Wischnewetzky, Florence. The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844: With Preface Written in 1892. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010. Print.
Kelling, George and Coles, Catherine. Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities. Simon & Schuster. 1998. Print.
Wilsom, James and Schuck, Peter. Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation. London: Public Affairs, 2009. Print.
Wilson, James. On Character: Essays. London: American Enterprise Institute. 1995. Print.
It is a difficult question and answering this is so tough. It is called that by the dress none be known or familiar. The person is known to all by his /her activities. Here the question indicates whether putting on the hijab is a symbol of segregation or not. Hijab derives from an old Arabic word “hijab”, the meaning of which is to hide from others’ outlook. For elaborate discussion, the matter has to be known about several things. Such as what is the source of hijab? Why do Muslim women wear it? How does it segregate the others?
As it is known to all that the divine Book, Al-Quran, that type of book which provides all kinds of true things. It is considered as the storehouse of all knowledge and this book is the source of the hijab. Surah Al-Ahzaab provides that-“O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better so that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyed…” (Verse. 59)
Main body
For the Muslim, which is narrated in the Quran is mandatory to obey, because it is only one book that can run a person to the right way. So it should be mandatory that this all Muslim women try to obey that Ayat (verse) of the Quran.
Why they obey, it should be known, the Muslims believe that if any person acts wrongfully in this world he/she has to be punished in the next world (after the death).
A hijab or headscarf is worn for protecting the woman’s face from bad eyes. But, here, the question, why is the face covered by the hijab? Many people said this many things. The summed up of that is the face of a female being the beautiful limb or part of the female’s body, all, at first eye to the face, face and hair are that kinds of place of a female from where all negative things are possible. The rough people (who are tempted by the women for doing sexual activities) can make negative comments to the lady, which increases only the sin of both the parties. Because, who try to make the bad things to see the lady’s face it is not possible by him, if the female keeps her face uncovered, because, to see or observe that thing, a male easily can harm, if the face is covered then this opportunity would not easy by a male. So, here that very lady is liable for uncovering her face, with this the male is liable for making or taking a bad idea in his mind to do them harm. Because in Al-Quran it is said that “Be Modesty” Give tackle the own mind.”
However, forgetting the release from the sin and for the expectation of getting the haven in the next world or in spiritual life, the female should obey the rule of the Quran and wear the Hijab. It is redundancy to say that which things are narrated in the Quran all are in the favour of the human beings. If they follow those rules of Quran they will be benefited both in their worldly and spiritual life. So,for these reason obey the Quranic rule.
However which is discussed above are not our discussing topics, our discussing topics is whether the hijab is an act of identity of segregation or not?
Most of the sensible and sagacious persons make comments over those things. After studying of that comments and essays , it is seemed that the hijab is a symbol of segregation , according to several person.They have tryed to give the logic on the favor of there opinion. They want to say that-
Yes, hijab makes the separation among the human being. All men and women are born by nature through men and women. So, after coming in the world, why are they covered their face? Why can the others not see their face?
An example can be given here, suppose, a place is declared as a secular place, where religion is not fact, there, some ladies, in a function, come and several of them wearing hijab (Shaaban, 1995, p.68). Then those ladies, ax a prima facie, are easy to identify, that, they cow to the religion and it creates the separation among the presented person (Glasse, 1989, p.159).
In a school, it is ruled that all student have to put on a specific uniform which increases the uniformity, the beauty and spread the equality, then, all are equal because none can make comment on others, reason is that, which dress is worn by one, that same color, same things worn by him another, so the question of jealous does not came in mind. But when several students wear the different colors, then they usually make them separate from the others, like as –who wear hijab, they make themselves segregate from the others. It can be drowning the attention of the readers that, in Indian subcontinent, who is the pioneer of the women growth, Begum Rokeya, she wore the hijab. It is not believable to see her photo. But was she doing bad things? Is there any evidence of that? No, it is impossible.
Actually, the matter is that the first condition is “to wear hijab” none be good until her mind be fresh, to wear hijab means to separate myself from the others. For wearing hijab, some try to avoid her because they think for conservatism, in the sack of obeying merely religion the lady wears the hijab. So her mind not so vast, thereof, we should keep away ourselves from those very women (Zain, 10 February 2008)..
Besides who were hijab most of them try to avoid who does not wear it, because they have negative idea about the uncovered lady, they are not so high morality, they may be loose character ,if we mix them , we also be the loose character. But it is a lamb excuse, though it is called “one is known by his company whom he keeps.” In this case that thing is not appropriate. Because, without knowing about them, how can she take the decision? They who do not wear hijab are bad to presume that without any evidence is prohibited in Islam. Besides it is also told that, we should hate or neglect the bad act or sin but not the actor or person.So why the wearing hijab females hate the unwearing hijab females, it is seemed that it is a way of segregation (Hassan, 1995, 65-76).
Besides, they have some same negative aspects, if I do not wear the hijab, what is the difference between I and the other religious lady? They wear the short kumis and wear the same thing. So, no difference, none can be able to identify, I belong to what religion. So, for separating herself from the other religious person they wear the hijab or headscarf. Who wear the hijab they keep away themselves from the others.For this reason, they who do not wear hijab or headscarf are very bad, their face is looked by the others, so their characteristic is not so good. But, how much is it correct? Practically it is seemed that who wear the hijab and who not wear the hijab, over them, a statistic shows that, most of the hijab wearing lady’s chastity is more questionable than the unwearing lady’s chastity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said, if critically one tries to observe the matter, then it be seen that it is only a process which give the women an identity of segregation that, we are separate from the other religious ladies, races, colored and unwearing hijab ladies.
References
The Holy Al- Quran, Surah Al-Ahzaab, Verse 59.
Glasse, Cyril. (1989). The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. Harper and Row Publishers, New York, N.Y.
Jones, Chris. (2007). History of Segregation in America. Web.
Hassan, Riffat. (1995). Women’s Rights and Islam: From the I.C.P.D. to Beijing. Louisville, Kentucky, 1995.
Shaaban, Bouthaina. (1995). The Muted Voices of Women Interpreters. In FAITH AND FREEDOM: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World, Mahnaz Afkhami (Editor). I. B. Tauris Publishers, New York, 1995.
In the modern world, many religions and religious groups have different traditions, customs, and laws. Such pluralism is based on the differences of religions in key aspects and concepts of faith in God, which forces people to choose the set of beliefs caused by social influences. On the one hand, this pluralism is a positive trend, which demonstrates the absence of a single ideology and its dominance in the world, as well as the free will of people. However, on the other hand, it causes conflicts and disputes between segregated religious groups that form the system of religion as a whole. At the same time, although this segregation is evident at the level of faith, it also has scientific and social reasons that support this division. Consequently, this literature review will study these reasons and factors for the segregation of religious groups to examine the underlying scientific arguments and assess the level of knowledge of the topic in research circles.
The first feature of the religious segregation topic is that quite a few scientists directly study the causes and factors of this phenomenon in the modern world. Nevertheless, a sufficient number of theories and studies investigate specific issues referring to religious segregation in the literature. Pamungkas (2018) studies the social distance between Muslims and Christians and the impact of ethnoreligious identity on it. The author’s central concept is social identity theory, which explains the reasons for social distance and, therefore, the segregation of representatives of different religions. Social identity theory is based on the assumption that people identify with the group of “us” instead of the group of “them.”
At the same time, as noted by Pamungkas (2018), people make judgments and perceive the principles of their in-group higher than the out-group because of social comparison. In most cases, this comparison should be favorable for the in-group, contributing to its members and community. Consequently, these ideas explain the reasons for the divisions and segregation between religious groups, as their participants see the principles of opponents as less moral, correct, or sacred. This fact is one of the reasons for the existence of the segregation of religious groups.
Other authors also use similar ideas in their articles to demonstrate the causes of religious segregation and explain its social factors. For example, van der Noll (2019) finds that religious communities are more prone to prejudice shaped by religion’s emotional, social, and cognitive aspects. The author argues that the social and cognitive dimensions of religion determine who is a member of a group and what is a threat to it. At the same time, prejudices are formed as reactions to external factors that can be a threat to the belief system of a person of a particular religious group (van der Noll 2019). For example, if one of the customs or practices of Muslims is regarded as threatening the faith of Christians, the latter form prejudice and even hostility in Muslims. An example is an attitude towards Muslims after the terrorist attacks, although this hostility is a manifestation of only a relatively small group of radical Islamists. Hence, these findings demonstrate that religious segregation exists due to social factors, namely fear of external threats to the existence of the group.
Moreover, articles by other authors demonstrate human socialization also plays a significant role in maintaining religious segregation. For example, Golo et al. (2019) argue that religious socialization is influenced by various agents. Authors disprove the idea that the family is the primary social agent since peers, media, and other social institutions are also key to developing and maintaining faith. Golo et al. (2019) demonstrate that people undergo secondary and often primary socialization by accepting and studying the characteristics and foundations of a particular religious or atheistic group. Consequently, this socialization pushes people to belong to a group and preserves religious segregation. At the same time, Chalik, Leslie, and Rhodes (2017) argue that young children form religious categories depending on the religious affiliation of their parents, although culturally specific patterns are manifested in the process of their development. Thus, the authors demonstrate that in both cases, religious segregation is shaped by the social environment, although the cultural context can diminish its negative impact if state policy promotes tolerance.
In practice, this segregation manifests itself in many historical and current examples of segregation and discrimination against people based on their religious affiliation. This issue has been studied more proficiently in the literature since religious segregation is manifested in many cultures around the world. For example, Susewind (2017) examines the problem of resident segregation of Muslims in Indian cities, noting that the problem is related precisely to the religious affiliation of the minority. However, the author’s main conclusion is that the study of clustering should examine the voluntary and coercive factors of the segregation of minority residences. Moreover, many aspects indicate that Muslims in Indian cities are forced to live in ghettos due to the bias of the Hindu majority towards their religion and traditions.
Similar trends are noted by Hekmatpour and Burns (2019) in European societies, finding that a significant proportion of the Muslim population of France and the United Kingdom live in segregated neighborhoods. Moreover, the authors find that Muslims are also less likely to get jobs in Western Europe. At the same time, Hekmatpour and Burns (2019) note that this segregation has a broader manifestation since Europeans often classify people as Muslims by their skin color, ethnicity, and language, even if they do not profess Islam. However, the authors’ main finding is that segregation, as well as the average level of education, increases the negative attitudes of Muslims towards governments because they perceive their policies as hostile. Thus, segregation only increases the level of hostility and prejudice among different religious groups.
Segregation also manifests itself within religious groups along racial lines, which has been studied by various authors, mainly in American society. For example, Cobb, Üsküp, and Jefferson (2017) study congregational characteristics associated with the racial attitudes of Black churchgoers and note the significant impact of segregation in religious groups. First, the authors note the peculiarities of the division of Christian churches into predominantly Black and predominantly White, which demonstrate the segregation factor in the religious society of the United States. However, their main finding is that Black churchgoers who attend White churches are less likely to associate the socioeconomic differences between Whites and Blacks with a lack of educational opportunities (Cobb et al. 2017). However, the reasons for this attitude are unexplored and may relate both to parishioners’ perceptions and racial tolerance and the opportunities that Black and White parishioners have in their communities.
Other scholars also studied segregation in American Christian Society. However, Perry and Whitehead (2019) emphasize the belief that residents must be Christians to be true Americans. The first sections of this article describe the segregation and discrimination that white Christian Americans exhibit. For example, Perry and Whitehead (2019) note that xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia are more prevalent among white believers who think that a true American should also be a Christian. This perception and attitude are related to the desire to assert white supremacy (Perry and Whitehead, 2019). Nevertheless, the main research issue and the authors’ finding was that non-white Americans who believe in the need for Christianity to be true citizens perceive religion as a way to combat structural inequality, but not a way for segregation. Thus, this study demonstrates that religious groups can also be divided by non-religious bias.
Therefore, this literature review demonstrates that various scholars have explored the issue of the segregation of religious groups; however, their approaches often do not include the study of the causes and factors of this phenomenon. In the scientific literature, one can find articles on the causes of religious diversity and social distance between representatives of a different group, although, in most cases, these factors are examined in the context of other research. In addition, many authors focus on the specific manifestations of religious segregation inherent in a particular culture. However, the literature lacks a comprehensive study covering the causes and factors of religious segregation in general, with examples of its most famous manifestations in history.
Perry, Samuel. L., and Andrew L. Whitehead. 2019. “Christian America in Black and White: Racial Identity, Religious-National Group Boundaries, and Explanations for Racial Inequality.” Sociology of Religion, 80(3), 277–298. Web.
Susewind, Raphael. 2017. “Muslims in Indian Cities: Degrees of Segregation and the Elusive Ghetto.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 49(6), 1286–1307. Web.
Van der Noll, Jolanda. 2019. “Prejudice and Religion.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Web.
This essay is a description of a specific book. I am going to represent a description and a brief analysis of the book “Riot and Remembrance: America’s Worst Riot and Its Legacy” written by James S. Hirsch. This book can be considered a masterpiece of the literary sphere. It is of great significance, interest, and importance for both professional historians and for curious common readers who want to spend some time reading a good piece of literature instead of wasting it on the reading of some pulp fiction. “Riot and Remembrance: America’s Worst Riot and Its Legacy,” tells the readers about the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921; it gives a description and analysis of the segregation and the riots which were the result of racial segregation.
Contents of the book
The list of contents of the book makes it clear from the very beginning that the structure of the book depends is based on the chronological description of the events that were the preconditions and the results of the cruelest and bloody riot in history of the United States of America. Thus the book begins with an introduction; then there come the beginnings in other words the events which caused the disorders and because of which so many people died during the riots. The preconditions include “The self-Made Oil Capital”; “The Promised Land”; “Race, Rape, and the Rope”; and “Mob Justice” (Hirsch VII).
Structure of the book
The book “Riot and Remembrance: America’s Worst Riot and Its Legacy” begins with the description of the city of Tulsa and the origin of the state of Oklahoma, and the way it became the “Oil Capital of the World” (Hirsch 11): “The field transformed the land of wheat, cotton, and cattle into a vital industrial resource and turned tired villages into vibrant cities” (Hirsch 11). The description embraces the period from the first settlers who named the town and until the moment of the riot.
The next part of the book tells the readers about the riot itself. The riot can be determined as a disturbance made by an unruly mob or (in-law) three or more persons. Thus people did not want to live in the conditions presupposed by the authorities, they did not want to “supply oilmen with the equipment, financing, and amenities that made their work possible and their lives pleasant” (Hirsch 11).
The book is the result of the investigation of reasons, preconditions, and results of the Riot of 1921, which can be considered one of the most fatal racial riots of the twentieth century in the United States of America. The author tells the readers about the riot and its legacy. The Tulsa Race War is the cruelest massacre in American history. The riot presupposed the killing of black people who were the residents of the Greenwood section of the city of Tulsa by thousands of white people including the representatives of the police forces.
The deadliest event happened in hot May of 1921when people were sleeping on the mattresses near their homes because of the high temperature. The white people killed the black ones and burned their houses to the ground. According to the book by James S. Hirsch, there were 300 people killed, other sources give another number of the victims of the disorder.
The author makes emphasis on the case of apartheid that took place during the riot. The black residents of the Greenwood section of the city of Tulsa became the victims of the racial bigotry caused by the disaster. Tulsa’s authorities accepted the responsibility for the events of the riot. Hirsch describes not only the events that can be considered the preconditions of the race riot, but also the further events, the successive years which deepened the gap between the black and white population of the city of Tulsa and its Greenwood section. The diversities between the representatives of the two races were becoming more obvious during successive years.
The author describes the unpleasant results of the riot of 1921in the present, and how the white and black citizens kept the memory of that night. Hirsch tells about the possible way which can help people to overcome the legacy of the horrible night of the massacre. One more thing that seems obvious is that the Tulsa Race Riot Commission was represented only by people from the media with the white color of skin; the representatives of the black newspapers did not get the opportunity to depict the event and its results from the point of view of the black people that became the victims of the race riot to provide balance.
Conclusion
The book tells about more and less obvious reasons for the riot. The more obvious ones are the tension between the black and white residents of the city of Tulsa; the economic situation, unemployment rate, and other preconditions of the riot. The less obvious reason was the object of all the periodicals when a black man tried to rap a white woman. “The story sent an electric charge through Tulsa. The talk of lynching raged ‘like a prairie fire,’ according to one white witness” (Hirsch 80).
Thus there were different reasons for the riot, but the most burning issue of that day was the tension between the citizens of the city possessing different colors of skin the racial discrimination. The book “Riot and Remembrance: America’s Worst Riot and Its Legacy” written by James S. Hirsch tells about the events of the horrible night and the legacy of the massacre of black people.
Works Cited
Hirsch, S. James. Riot and Remembrance: America’s Worst Race Riot and Its Legacy. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003.
Racism is a destructive form of discrimination. This is because is devalues other people’s identity and denies them their right to exercise power. It destroys the unity within a community and leads to social divisions. It violates the democratic right of equality and the fair treatment of all people.
One has to understand the nature and form of racism that exist if he has to succeed in countering it. It is a world wide phenomenon that has been experienced in many countries and it mainly results from economic, political, and social factors. This papers gives a brief overview of three forms of discrimination (Lynching, Segregation, and Jim Crow Laws) practiced against African American in the United States.
Lynching
Lynching can be defined as the illegal killing of an individual by the mob. It is defined as “any act of violence inflicted by a mob upon the body of another person which results in the death of the person” (Barry 218).
A mob is defined as a group of two (or more populace) congregating as one without authorization of the relevant powers that be, for the premeditated intention and objective to commit an act of cruelty against another being. It is a practice that was common among the white and the African. The African were normally executed by the white simply because of the white superiority.
However, the whites who protested against this execution were at very high risks of being executed. Lynching is normally carried out by execution, setting a blaze or shooting the alleged individual in order to discipline, scare, or take control over a certain populace no matter its size. It is a means of social control practiced by the superior community against its minors (Niels 201).
The governing populace used to employ lynching, especially in times of fiscal pressure, as a means of tyrannizing those that opposed them. The vice was also a widespread norm in cooling (social) tensions.
For instance, in America, lynching was used against the African Americans after the American civil war when the Africans were given the right to participate in elections. In 1980s, violence was high especially after the southern Americans regained their political power. More then three thousand African Americans were lynched towards the end of the 19th century (Niels 202).
Towards the beginning of the 20th century, new constitutions were created in America with provisions that disenfranchised most of the African Americans. They were not permitted to vote or to serve on juries. They were also excluded from participating in political activities. However, the Africans resistance to lynching increased significantly with the intellectuals encouraging them to protest against mob lynching.
Various organizations and clubs were formed to raise funds that were used to protest against lynching. They were successful in their petitions, campaigns, and demonstrations since they helped in combating lynching. Today, lynching has been made illegal in many states including the United States. People who are found executing individuals through lynching are charged in a court of law.
Segregation
Segregation can be defined as the separation of persons into racial groups. It may apply in various activities such as attending school, shopping in the departmental stores, taking meals from a restaurant, or in the purchase of a house.
Segregation is a practice that is forbidden but may be permitted by social norms. It is a kind of discrimination common in employment and in the purchase of houses. Certain races are discriminated against when purchasing a rental house or when seeking for employment. In America, legal segregation was permitted in many states especially in matters related to marriage.
The blacks or the minority races were not allowed to intermarry with the whites. The law also prohibited interracial marriages even among the minority groups (Fireside 47). However, with time, some of these activities have been permitted. For instance, close contact (such as allowing people from dissimilar races to work for each other) is tolerable.
Human classification into spatial segments is what is termed as segregation. In this arrangement there are those (educational) establishments as well as hospices that are for the whites and the African Americans should attend the same. Some races are allowed to use these institutions while blacks are discriminated against their use.
This extends even in the business operations where people perform businesses with people from their own race or the preferred race. Social norms prohibit people from interacting with other races and this normally results in racial discrimination (Massey 20).
This occurs in social or political institutions. This occurs when these institutions discriminate the Africans from exercising their rights. These people are expected to conform to certain cultural assumptions which are deemed to reflect the dominant group. This form of discrimination is normally difficult to identify and also to counter, especially when the perpetrators view themselves as non-racist.
The attitude, way of life, and behaviors of the white are extensively discussed over the media because they are seen as being reasonable and common although they do not exhibit the cultural diversity that is evident in America. Through the media, ideologies concerning racism are articulated and later armored through group relations thereby forming a popular culture.
As the government takes measures to address the discrimination imposed on the African American, racist beliefs are given first priority. The discrimination on the minority group (the African) is seen as being positive and confirmatory measures are seen as partisan treatment of one group by another rather than harassment by a popular group of people.
Jim Crow Laws
These were state laws enacted (1876-1965) in the US. The phrase Jim Crow is derived from “Jump Jim Crow”, a song about the blacks that was performed by a white actor. Later this phrase was used to refer to the African Americans and that’s how laws pertaining to racial segregation were given the name Jim Crow laws (Barnes 7).
These laws allowed racial segregation in most of the public facilities. This resulted into inferior treatment of the African Americans by the whites. The white Americans received most of the public facilities in terms of education and access to social amenities.
Jim Crow Laws are based on differences that are quite evident in values, customs, color, religion, perception about the world, and how people live. It also extends to the use of language where a certain group of people have negative attitudes towards the language used by others.
Jim Crow Laws were applied in social or political institutions. This occurs when pubic institutions discriminate some groups of people from exercising their rights. These people are expected to conform to certain cultural assumptions which are deemed to reflect the dominant group.
These laws were not related to the Black codes (1800-1866) which inhibited communal rights and liberation of the blacks. In 1954, the Supreme Court declared segregation in pubic schools as unconstitutional and the remaining part of the Jim Crow Laws were rendered unconstitutional in 1964 by the Civil Rights Act (Harvey 50).
Conclusion
Although law recognizes the cultural rights of different races and gives them the right of speech, the media still recognizes the dominant group whose culture forms the norm to be emulated by other cultures. The government recognizes and appreciates the diverse cultures and allows them to enjoy their rights. However, it has not put strong measures to ensure that they are not discriminated against by the dominant group. These cultural rights are not included in the constitution making it hard for the blacks to fight for their rights.
Works Cited
Barnes A. Catherine Journey from Jim Crow: The Desegregation of Southern Transit. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 1983.
Barry A. Crouch “A Spirit of Lawlessness: White violence, Texas Blacks, 1865-1868,” Journal of Social History 18 (Winter 1984): 217–26.
Fireside, Harvey. Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision That Legalized Racism. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004.
Harvey, Fireside. Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision That Legalized Racism. New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
Massey S. Douglas. Segregation and stratification: A biosocial perspective Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 1: 7-25. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004
Niels A. Uildriks. Policing Insecurity: Police Reform, Security, and Human Rights in Latin America. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009
“The Trial of the Century” is considered as an idiomatic phrase that is used to describe certain well-known court cases that took place in the 20th century. The trial between Gonzalo Mendez et al. vs. Westminster school district of Orange County et al. case of 1944 will be used to show how people were segregated without a justifiable reason. This trial was named as one of the most important as it results contributed to the elimination of racial segregation of Mexican students in schools.
The trial will also show the importance of following the law and the impact that can be created due to racial segregation as depicted from the case study. This paper will investigate one of the trials of the twentieth century and the ruling that was made by the presiding judge. The researcher will also give a personal experience and opinion based on the study presented in the paper.
The study is important since it will give a detailed information on racial segregation and its effects in schools.
Segregation is defined as the separation of people in their daily lives onto groups based on racial background. Additionally, it may also mean the act by which legal and natural people are separated on the basis of one of the detailed grounds devoid of an objective and reasonably acceptable. Segregation is different from discrimination where there is no reason behind the separation, while in segregation there is always the existence of a reason, though it may not be justifiable. People may be segregated from the groups where they live.
The activities mainly happen in our social structure without our knowledge (Bell 152).People exposed to segregation typically feel unwanted and humiliated. The feeling makes them have a low self-esteem which is easily destroyed. The consciousness of the effective is also affected which makes them have a little self-esteem (Jaspin 33).
First and major conflict in racial segregation
In parts on America where there are many multiracial communities the racial segregation fight was pioneered by Martin Luther King. Luther organized a boycott to the forefront of the civil rights movements that fostered peaceful protest. The black people who have the African origin were always discriminated. During that time, a white man would not seat with a black in a bus, the black students could not be served meal together with white students (Brooks 23). The fight was supported by both white and black people who were against the outdated laws (Bell 122).The demonstrations attracted the concern of President John F, Kennedy, who sent civil rights legislation in congress in 1963.
The second conflict was between the government and the developer planners, it was an established certainty among many white persons that the audience of blacks in a white residence would lower possession standards. The United States government launched a process to separate the country into racial groups that involved the form of low-interest mortgages. The mortgage was available to homes using the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veteran’s Administration which is abbreviated as VA (Wailoo 163).
Black families were legitimately permissible to contact this credit, however, in practice, they did not have access to the mortgage. The rules for loans did not state “black families cannot have an access to the loans”; rather, they said people from “areas in decline” could not get the said loans (Brooks 55).
The UN policy disagreement on isolation advocates that the formation and development of classes and schools offering education in marginal languages should not be segregated, only of the assignment to such classes and schools is of a voluntary nature. This was the case in Mendez v. Westminster, where parents of several Mexican American students sued the school for racial segregation of the Mexican students.
People are segregated from others due to many reasons; among such reasons are sickness, race, first language, skin color, gender or religion. In that particular case, a little of every reason was present, however, particularly, the segregation was based on race and skin color and thus, it caused the dissonance in the society. As per the court decision, the given segregation violated the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees the rights of all citizens and protection of the law (MENDEZ et al. v. WESTMINISTER).
As the case shows, people may also be segregated based on their language, since it would not be possible to teach in a language that the students do not understand. A school may argue and give the allegation that the reason for putting some students in segregation is to prevent a spread of an epidemic. Alternatively, in other cases students may also be segregated due to their being handicapped or having a particular disability (Wailoo 173).
In the case study in the trial between Gonzalo Mended and Westminster District of Orange County the main reason for segregation was the children did not speak English language therefore they were called the eagle Saxon students. According to the school management, due to the students’ inability to speak English they needed a teacher who would use their local language to educate them. This would not have been done in the presence of the students who were able to communicate in English. In more pronounced segregation the races were kept separate from social facilities where people normally met.
Racial segregation on culture, social and political issues
Racial segregation is said to affect people from all social classes in schools, teachers and students may fail to associate well, as a result of segregating children may have a hard time familiarizing themselves with friends from other races. In the political arena, racial segregation is mostly witnessed by the candidates. Being a mixed race candidate, makes it difficult to qualify as the best candidate. This is largely due to the concept that other races are weak and cannot be given high profile seats (Wailoo 73).
The political contradiction is that the teacher agrees that the students are discriminated upon. However, they appreciate a weak argument on how and why the court should allow the school to segregate the student with a Mexican descent. The children are considered to be handicapped since they cannot communicate in English, which makes them segregated in their class. Segregation makes the students feel weak and incapable of working with other students.
School racial segregation creates implications for the educational outcomes of minority students; the academic advancements are limited where they cannot attend higher institutions of learning since those were only saved for the majority white students.
Poor students were found in low-achieving schools while students from wealthy white families were in affluent schools that are more achieving. This is attributed to the funds and high-quality teachers. High profile jobs are also meant for the whites, where people from other races are only found at the lowest employment level. This made their development be limited due to the made limits on their personal advancement (Brooks 25).
Conclusion
From the study conducted it is apparent that racial segregation was deeply rooted in major countries that had multiracial society. Such people were subjected to discrimination where they were not allowed to some facilities and level of education as opposed to the white who were allowed to go up the advancement ladder as they could without being questioned. Racial segregation is considered as a societal vice that was much in practice in early 20th century.
Many scholars wrote about the racial segregation and the adverse effect that it had on the people who were affected by the vices. These books fail to address how we can control and prevent the repetition of the same vices. The secondary sources which include journals also show that the racial segregation is not yet entirely uprooted from our community which is seen in the fact that in the jails and prisons most convicted person are the blacks. The association of black with evil continues to affect modern society since black persons are thought to have the ability to cause harm.
Works Cited
Bell, Jeannine. Hate Thy Neighbor: Move-in Violence and the Persistence of Racial Segregation in American Housing. New York: New York University Press, 2013. Print.
Brooks, Christopher. Open Wound: The Long View of Race in America. University of Illinois Press, 2009. Print.
Jaspin, Elliot. Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Print.
Before the establishment of suburbs in the United States, there was little to no distinction between class segregation and race. This was mainly due to the fact that the majority of the lower-class unskilled workers were immigrants. During industrialization, many immigrants from Europe entered the United States in search of employment. As a result, there was no segregation as they had all immigrated to America with one goal in mind, and that was to find employment in the then expanding industrial sector. During the First World War, the number of African Americans in the United States increased dramatically. With more African Americans and other immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, more races were witnessed.
Factors that led to suburbanization
Suburbanization was a result of a number of factors that led to people moving from urban areas to the suburbs. Due to an influx of immigrants in the urban centers from Europe and other parts of the world, these centers became extremely congested as the population densities of the towns increased. This in turn led to other issues for instance the towns became polluted due to the number of industries that were being established, the levels of traffic had increased and generally the declining quality of life in the centers. During the First World War, a major influx of African Americans from the south was observed. As a result of this, the urban centers were considered to be dangerous and crime-infested. This also led to the rapid suburbanization of the United States (“History of Surbanization” par. 7).
Most of the immigrants in the United States came during the period of industrialization and were from Eastern and Southern Europe. In the beginning, segregation was nonexistent. Most of them have come in search of work in the flourishing industrial sector of this country, there was no room for racial affairs. As a result of this, America started being characterized by a diversity of races among them the African Americans. This resulted in sky-rocketing cases of crime. Consequently, these regions were termed no-go zones. This speeded up the suburbanization of America.
The mass production of automobiles fuelled the growth of suburbs in the United States in the early twentieth century. It allowed people to live in the outskirts and still work in the cities. Hindrances to travel were removed as people became reliant on vehicles as the main means of transport. The state thus responded with massive road-building projects. People were further compelled to move to the suburbs as a result of overpopulation within their residential areas. This paper will therefore focus on how the creation of suburbs (1870-1940) in the US and Canada helped fabricate class and racial segregation (Gans par. 6).
Suburbanization in America was influenced by both technological and social developments. The rapid development of transport routes greatly influenced suburbanization. Because of this, they may be characterized as railroad suburbs for those that developed because of the railroad passing nearby, freeway suburbs, streetcar suburbs and the early automobile suburbs. These were further reinforced by philosophies that pointed out that living outside the cities was healthier as compared to living within the cities (“Notable Kentucky African Americans Database” par. 4).
The period of transition from agricultural to industrialization led to the development of suburbs. The trend towards suburbanization was attributed to the Jeffersonian perception of democracy. Thomas Jefferson believed that rural life was good for the soul. He believed that the environment had a strong effect on human beings and that the right surroundings would encourage men and women to think clearly and rationally. These qualities, Jefferson believed were necessary for there to be a democratic society.
Thousands of Americans believed that land meant equality and freedom. So despite the fact that they were used to urban living, a majority of them who were immigrants decided to relocate as they felt that the large tracts of American land were beckoning them to claim independence on their own piece of land.
The development of the electrified streetcar in the late nineteenth century transformed most of the up-and-coming suburbs. The electrified streetcar traveled at 15 miles per hour in contrast to the horse-driven cart that traveled at five miles per hour. This development led to the increase of the radial diameter of the suburbs to ten miles around the city centers. The introduction of new technology led to some challenges. Some of them included the migration of people from Europe, businesses and industries expanded to the residential areas, the new industries, in turn, caused pollution and finally, it also led to corruption in government offices (Borchert 25).
During the Industrial Urban dominance period (1870-1930), most of the planned communities were still suburban enclaves for the well-to-do Americans. In addition to the aesthetic landscape design and the picturesque movement, suburban growth was being shaped by new ideas. An increase in the urban population led to the increase of the following problems; health, sanitation, fire, and shortage of housing. At the time the ideal solution for those who could afford the high commuting fares associated with railroads, which served a sparsely populated area was suburban housing. Suburban housing however remained unattainable for those who were not of the elite class.
The late nineteenth century suburbs were designed to appeal to the elite. The suburbs of the early to mid-twentieth century on the other hand were designed to appeal to the middle and the working classes. The great depression and the commencement of world war two greatly affected the rate at which the suburbs were growing. Non-the less the events set up the stage for a bigger and better transformation in the development of suburbs. With the financial crisis of 1929 however, it was difficult to determine who the middle class were. When the depression hit most homeowners could not afford to make the mortgage payments. When they realized that they owed more than what the homes were actually worth, they opted to give up their homes and properties to the banks for foreclosure (Sexton 3).
In this period, the lower and the working classes could not afford to live in the suburbs. One of the reasons that attributed to this was the cost of owning a home in the suburbs. Most of the people that made up the working classes were immigrants from Europe. At the time, the suburbs were considered to be reserved for the elite in society. Those in the lower and middle classes could not afford to pay the amount required to own homes. This, therefore, prevented them from owning homes in the suburbs.
Another factor that made it difficult for the lower and working-class people to own homes in the suburbs was the distance from the town centers. At a time when the transport system was not very efficient, it would therefore be very expensive to commute to work daily considering what they were earning. This was further aggravated by the great depression. The hardest hit, were the middle working class. Those that had mortgage payments opted to get rid of their assets when they realized that they owed more than what the asset was actually worth (Mack par. 6).
Effects of suburbanization
Segregation is a component of urban development that affected both the inner cities and suburbs as well. Social segregation which may either be voluntary or involuntary has continued to be recognizable in the following decades of the twentieth century. Because of the rhetoric phrase “separate but equal” which dominated both the political culture and social reality, racial and social segregation were officially legitimized. Until 1948, this contract was forbidden private contracts between private developers fostered racial segregation (Soldern 72).
Some of the programs implemented by the banking industries as well as the real estate industry effectively promoted racial segregation as they had policies that prevented African Americans from owning homes in these suburbs. It is as a result of this that most suburbs were predominantly inhabited by people of one race (Borchert par. 10).
Although there were always some critics of racial segregation, the city planning commissions were used to defending racial segregation. The argument they always put forward was that they wanted to avoid racial unrest and that they wanted to give the minorities an opportunity to practice good citizenship in their areas. The inner city Ghettos were shaped by the new deal housing policies. The building of new public housing projects further helped to encourage racial and social segregation. The element of racism was fast becoming embedded into the daily lives of the white folk. The Levitts and other residential developers had put in place restrictive covenants that prevented the African Americans from owning homes in Levittowns. These restrictions also extended to the renting of houses in these predominantly white suburb areas (Borchert par. 12).
The reason why many white Americans were reluctant to become segregated was that they knew that once their neighborhoods became racially mixed, then the value of their property, homes and savings would go down. This is because African Americans were assumed to be the cause of many social evils. For instance, crime was rampant in the areas they lived.
Other factors that led to racial segregation include the zoning of residential areas by the state committees. This further encouraged the segregation between the races as the African Americans had residential areas designated to them away from the white folk. This zoning was actually encouraged by the central government and even though it was not acceptable, it was prevalent in North America.
Under the restrictive laws that affected the African Americans, the population was that they were not allowed to vote. An incident that occurred in 1900 involved the shooting of an African American by the name Charles Benjamin O’Hara. He was shot when he protested the treatment of African Americans being harassed while they tried to register as voters. When the case was taken to court Michael Moynayhan claimed that he shot Charles in self-defense. The case was dismissed in a court of law and Michael walked free. The irony of the matter was that Charles was shot in the back, how Michael claimed self-defense and got away with it goes to show that even the judicial system was biased towards the African Americans that it was bound to give justice to (Hayden 47).
In a relatively similar case, William Biggerstaff was hanged in Helena, Montana in 1886. He had been born a slave in Shelby Kentucky. He had been arraigned in court for the murder of a man by the name Dick Johnson. He also pleaded self-defense just as Michael had, but the court found him guilty and sentenced him to hang.
In 1894, Justin W. Carter became the second African American lawyer to practice in Pennsylvania. When he died, he was lauded by the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt. This paved the way for other African Americans to venture into areas of study that were considered to be a predominantly white profession. This illustrated the role that law played in shaping the racial identity in North America in the early twentieth century (Mack 35).
Theories on segregation
Edward Shils put forward the elitist theory and went on to further argue that people can be characterized into three classes. These included the lowbrow class of people, the highbrow class of people and the middlebrow class of people. The elitist theory states that the perfect members of society be isolated from those considered to be worthless. Those classified under the highbrow class are the elites of the society and as such have the desired qualities required by the society.
The middlebrows, on the other hand, are those that aspire to become the elites in the society. In an ideal society, large numbers characterize this class. The lowbrows are those that are considered lacking the finesse of the elite. This class of people is necessary because not only do they make up the labor force, but also serve to make the middle class of people feel better about themselves so that they do not cause a revolt against the elites of the society (Broughton par. 7).
Farley carried out an experiment to find out the people’s perceptions on why the African Americans were as they were. He put forward four statements and asked those interviewed whether they strongly agreed with the statement or not. The first statement stated that the African Americans had the worst jobs, had low income and poor housing due to racial discrimination. The second statement was that the African Americans had a little inborn ability to learn. That most African Americans did not have the same opportunities to learn in order to get themselves out of poverty. And finally that most African Americans did not have the willpower and drive to get themselves out of paucity.
After the completion of this social experiment, it was found that most of the African Americans felt that the reason why they were not better placed in society was because of racial discrimination and the lack of quality learning materials. The whites on the other hand felt that the African Americans did not have the drive to want to better their lives and that they did not have the in-born ability to learn. This experiment showed how the blacks perceived their circumstances and how the whites perceived the blacks’ circumstances (Carter 124).
According to Weber, as cited by Sexton, a class is a group of people that are in the same economic situation or people in a similar situation. In the period between 1870 and 1940, a majority of the American labor force consisted of immigrants from Europe. This automatically led to the formation of a class of people that formed the labor force of North America. This is because they were experiencing and going through similar experiences in their places of work and their residential areas. Weber’s theory attempts to explain why the white American people were reluctant to mix with those from other races. The reason was that they had nothing in common that is in terms of economic and cultural aspects. This, therefore, explains why racial segregation was so widespread in North America (Sexton 4).
Other factors that led to racial segregation include the zoning of residential areas by the state committees. This further encouraged the segregation between the races as the African Americans had residential areas designated to them away from the white folk. This zoning was actually encouraged by the central government and even though it was frowned upon, it was still very much practiced in North America.
Conclusion
In conclusion, therefore, it is clear that suburbanization developed as a result of several factors. These include the rapid industrialization of America, which in turn led to an influx of people from other parts of the world. This influx of people led to the congestion of the town centers which then affected the provision of amenities such as health care, sanitation and housing. These factors led to the rapid suburbanization of America. Much as it led to the decongesting of town centers, it had other adverse effects in that it caused racial segregation in the country.
Works Cited
Borchert, James. “The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History” (n.d.). Web. 2010.
Broughton A. Daniel. Applying Social Theories to Detroit, 2010. Web. Social Policy and Thought.
Carter, William. Race, Rights, and the Thirteenth Amendment: Defining the Badges and Incidents of Slavery.2006. Web.
Gans, Levert. The Levittowners. 1965. Web.
Hayden, Delores. Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000 New York: Vintage, 2004.
History of Suburbanization, (n.d.). Web. 2010.
Mack, Kenneth. The Role of Law in the Making of Racial Identity: The Case of Harrisburg’s W. Justin Carter. (n.d.). Web. 2010.
The struggle against racial segregation in the United States reached its acme in the middle of the twentieth century; especially it is connected with advent of such organization as “Freedom Riders.” These people attempted to put an end to discrimination in Southern states of the country. Although some sociologists believe that some of their methods were rather violent, they were rather effective. First, “Freedom Riders” boycotted restaurants, coffee shops that promoted racial segregation. It was rather detrimental for large companies, because such acts of sabotage resulted in the loss of profits. Thus, they were forced to accommodate their services to the needs of various racial groups. In addition to that “Freedom Riders” managed to attract the governments attention to this matter. This civil rights organization, under the direction of Fred Shuttlesworth made a valuable contribution to bringing down racial segregation in the United States, especially in Southern States. They proved that discrimination is unprofitable for the government and for large companies (Arsenault, 76).
5 Specific Vocabulary Words Essential to understanding this topic (include people, events, and terms) and their meaning in the text material including page number:
Freedom Riders – a civil rights organization, which waged struggle against racial segregation in the United States, especially Southern states of the country (44)
Race group – a community of people, that are unified according to some visible trait, for example, skin color, hair textures or facial features. This concept is often mistakenly associate with the social status (2).
Racial Segregation – separation of people, acceding to their racial feature features. It is based on the belief that race and social status are interchangeable notions (12).
Fred Shuttlesworth- the leader of civil rights organization “Freedom Riders”. The person who proved that segregation is detrimental in terms of finance (88).
Discrimination – a belief that a prejudiced attitude of one person towards another, the most peculiar feature is that such behavior has actual basis (92).
Racial segregation at the end of the nineteenth century
Civil War in the United States put an end to slavery; however, African Americans were still deprived of civil rights, especially if we are speaking about Southern states of the country. In fact, African Americans were freed only de jure but not de facto, in particular we should mention that only Fifteenth Amendment gave universal suffrage to the citizens of the United States. (Altman, 36) Moreover, freed people did not actually possess any kind of unmovable property (land), which also increased their dependence on the dormer slave owners. We can also mention such organization as Ku Klux Klan or White League, which were mostly composed of former members of Confederate Army , who were obsessed with the idea of white supremacy (Ayers, p. 44). The segregation was also present in such sphere as education. For instance, many African-American were called illiterate and therefore these people did not have right to vote.
5 Specific Vocabulary Words Essential to understanding this topic (include people, events, and terms) and their meaning in the text material including page number:
Ku-Klux-Klan – former members of the Confederate Army, who struggle for white supremacy, particularly in the Sothern states(Altman, p. 41).
The Fifteenth Amendment- the legislative act, which grants every citizen a right to vote irrespective of his racial or ethnic belonging (Ayers, p. 31).
White League – military organization, founded in Louisiana, which struggled against African American (Ayers. p. 97)
Universal Suffrage – the law, according to which every person of the country has a right to vote (Ayers, p. 66)
Racial Segregation – separation of people, acceding to their racial feature features. It is based on the belief that race and social status are interchangeable notions (Altman, p. 13).
Bibliography
Edward L. Ayers. “The Promise of the New South: Life after Reconstruction”. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Linda Jacobs Altman. “The American Civil Rights Movement”. Palgrave, 2007.
Raymond Arsenault, “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice’ Oxford University Press, 2006).