African American Case

African American

African Americans have fought for many years to stop segregation and eliminate discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting, and transportation. They have struggled with the concerns about political, social, and cultural issues throughout American history. Public school, in southern school districts, education meant attending schools that were segregated between Whites and Blacks. This led to lawsuits that schools were separate but unequal. African Americans have fought for many years to be treated equal. The civil right movement was a move in the right direction for Blacks.

Black men and woman were prevented from exercising their rights by slavery and segregation for two and a half centuries (Britannica, 2013). Europeans started bringing black Africans to America as slaves in the mid-1500s. West African slaves were prisoners of war, criminals, or the lowest members of the caste system (African American Experience, 2013). African Americans who came to the United States to fight for freedom were often beaten or killed while attempting to exercise their rights to be free. Many were denied the right to register to vote. They were also forbidden to share the same spaces such as in school, public transportation, and recreational facilities. African Americans were also prohibited from living near Whites (Britannica, 2013).

White supremacy had received different responses from African Americans. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a number of Blacks attempted to lead the first generation of freeborn Black Americans. Booker T. Washington had been the most prominent personality in this group (Schaefer, R.T., 2012). He was willing to forgo social equality until White people saw blacks as deserving of it. He made a five minute speech to an audience of mostly Whites and wealthy. He was catapulted in the public forum and became the spokesperson for Blacks for the next 20 years (Schaefer, R.T., 2012). There was a great debate to how much African culture has impacted the Americans. Africans came from many cultures therefore it is difficult to clarify the degree of survival of the African Culture (Schaefer, R.T., 2012). The difference in