Social/Cultural Segregation

Segregation has a distant existence in world history and is used as a justification for individuals who feel that they are superior to belittle minority groups.

Isolating others to an extensive degree limits their opportunities, role, employment, and overall perception towards their society. An extreme example of segregation occurred throughout the 1930s towards the African American population who were restricted from many daily activities available to the other white American citizens. When segregation reached its peak in the United States, black citizens were purposely excluded from any privileges in their community, since it was presumed that they were not of an equal caliber. This period of separation followed a series of devastating events in American history, only causing the races the separate further. History has proven that the most atrocious way to deal with the overall downfall of a nation, is to scapegoat individuals and gratuitously punishing them for being American citizens with a distinct trait.

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According to credible sources, segregation of minority groups in the 1930s significantly affected the lives of African Americans and deteriorated their opportunities in society. Throughout the given articles, the common theme is the absence of equal education and the colossal impact this can make on one’s future. The unthorough education system for black citizens is shown in the article, “The 1930s: Education: Overview,” by the US History in Context when it writes, “American education was racially segregated in the 1930s because of the white presumption that blacks were inherently incapable of learning at an advanced level” (Baughman par. 8). There was a stereotype in the American society, and this made everyone automatically assume that African Americans were genetically unable to obtain an education, so why bother to give them a beneficial education that corresponded to that of the white citizens. Instead of each person thinking for themselves and apprehending what each African American was capable of, they followed the prominent stereotype disregarding the African American’s rough background that was without any form of education.

Therefore, executives thought it was a waste of valuable time and money to use on the education of a black person, one of the only methods to acquire a successful livelihood. Additionally, in the article “Education Segregation in the North,” the author Rayford W. Logan discusses the issues of having separate schools by race when sharing, “In the Boston public school system a few white teachers, who hardly act on their initiative, are becoming increasingly bolder in their efforts to discourage colored students from going to the college” (Logan 65).When teachers and authorities are always under the impression that a race of individuals are incapable of beginning and furthering their schooling, they begin to ensure that the students do not exceed the already low expectations. African Americans are not expected to succeed academically, so these Boston teachers do not dwell time on their education concluding that it will be misused. When contrasting both articles, it is transparent that officials gave eager black citizens a compelling disadvantage through promoting unproven stereotypes, and ensuring their students did not acquire any opportunities to become successful.

By restricting the chances, one receives in terms of academics, it is inevitable that their role in society will be weak as an outcome. Reliable articles additionally show the extent citizens will go to, to exclude African Americans from any upcoming freedoms, through the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws were a series of rules that enforced racial segregation in the 1930s. This is shown in the article “Jim Crow laws,” by William V. Moore when he describes, “At the same time, the states’ so-called grandfather clauses restored the vote to many illiterate white southerners by exempting from the literacy test requirement citizens whose grandfathers had been eligible to vote—a loophole of no benefit to former slaves” (Moore 2). The Jim Crow Laws put a rule in place that to vote, everyone must pass a literacy test, but if someone does not pass and their grandfather had voted, then they are still allowed to vote.

This was just another way to ensure that African American citizens had no opportunity to vote and make choices in their society, since slavery was recently abolished, and all their ancestors were slaves. Those who put this act into place were driven by their motive to ensure that even with times changing, everything would remain the same. It was just another way to define the racial barrier between white and black individuals. Furthermore, the article “The 1930s: Education: Overview,” by the US History in Context, displays the unjust ways of the regulations when, “Only African Americans and some white progressive educators dissented from the mainstream assumption that tax money spent on black education was a waste of money” (Baughman par. 8) This shows the negative ideas spread by the Jim Crow Law made other citizens believe that blacks were a waste of money especially during a time of devastation.

Officials of a country are people that citizens look up to, so when they continuously reprimand a race of people, these cruelties become facts. In the first source given, one of the many parts of the segregating Jim Crow Laws was described, while in the second article gave insight towards the effect these had on the average American citizen proving how abusive and pessimistic this behavior was. Through the process of creating remarks and regulations against blacks, the only outcome was the deterioration of the lifestyles for all during this time frame. As displayed throughout all three articles, African Americans were treated very poorly and unjustly in education and through Jim Crow Laws, negatively affecting their opportunities and employment. Moreover, the article “Jim Crow laws,” by William V. Moore, concludes, “In theory, the tests applied equally to all citizens, but in practice they were gimmicks designed to take away the vote from former slaves, few of whom had had opportunities to learn to read” (Moore 2).

Voting is a way for one to express their beliefs in society and gain a role towards the decisions made. Despite the dreaded fact that blacks did not have the education to pass any voting tests, nothing was done to allow them to gain an education and receive the opportunity to have a voice in their community. Going beyond the fact that most African Americans were unable to vote, the bigger problem was that if they do not have the education vote, there must be many other jobs they are mentally unable to perform. In addition, the article “Educational Segregation in the North,” by Rayford W. Logan similarly discusses, “There is, nevertheless, probably no imminent danger that any considerable number of these colleges will exclude all Negros” (Logan 65). As an outcome of all the leading factors to ignorant African American students willing to learn, colleges are also undoubtedly rejected any black students.

Even those African Americans who work exceptionally hard to succeed, automatically get denied from universities leading to unemployment. Proven in both articles, without any thorough form of academics in addition to Jim Crow Laws that segregated individuals, African Americans had no opportunity to attend a college or one day get a job to provide for themselves. Shown through these sources, when one is denied the basic rights to a successful future, it leads to unemployment and mere opportunities compared to white citizens. Throughout the articles, it is verified how if a group is segregated through their education and creation of Jim Crow Laws, the outcome will be a lack of chances to reach success. To this day, groups of people are continued to be excluded since they are viewed as “different” from the familiar individual.

Citizens may exclude others since they are not familiar with something contrasting to the commonplace person. Community members are used to seeing the same type of people every day of their life, so when something disparate is introduced, they do not know how to react besides by segregating them. Many do not realize the effects segregation can have on the mental state of the affected person. Individuals will begin to doubt themselves and their place in society when their surrounding peers criticize them to an abusive degree. As a nation, it is significant to accept others regardless of contrasting race, religion, gender, or ethnicity because courteous actions are the structure for a successful future and livelihood.

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