AFRICAN AMERICANS

African Americans

Abstract

The history of Afro-Americans is a respected and a constitutional field of American history. As we approach the twenty-0first century, the time has come to assess and evaluate the historical outpouring of the last few decades. Beyond assessment and evaluation, there is a challenge of charting new directions, raising new issues and concerns about the future context and nature of black history.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion and Analysis2

Conclusion7

African Americans

Introduction

The movements in United States that were aimed at declaring the racial discrimination against African Americans as illegal are referred as African-American Civil Right Movements. These movements were also directed towards restoration of the voting rights in the Southern states. During the World War Il, there was continuity in the older patterns of racial discrimination. During the 1940-1943 eras, there were seventeen executions in the U.S., and a number of major urban racial insurrections were evident in 1943. The worst racial riot was observed in the Detroit. On the other hand, war was also a turning point in race relations. The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement continued to pursue the campaign of “Double V”, which was aimed at fighting abroad against the enemies of America and for victory in America against the racial discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement achieved the key victory when the racial discrimination in the defense sector was declared illegal by FDR. The war increased the pace of African-Americans movement from the rural South to the urban North that resulted in enhanced financial and academic opportunities for many people. There was a determination to eradicate racial inequity in the African-Americans who served U.S. military outside the homeland and came back to home after services. Finally, the Holocaust made most of the white Americans realize that they should participate in changing the racial system of the nation.

Discussion

Most people think that American history is the story of white people, and that is why black people, in recent years, have been demanding a history of their own. Standard histories are even more restrictive than is universally allowed. Except for the necessary discussion of Afro-Americans in slavery and some treatment of immigrants, the taught history of the United States has been that of Anglo-Saxons and Northern Europeans. Even the current consciousness of Negro history, though it has resulted in efforts to improve the nonwhite's image, has made no fundamental changes in the character of the history. It is now more likely that Negroes will be mentioned as participants in the development of the country; heroes, achievements, inventions, are duly recorded. In significant ways, the history has remained untouched; the cultural conception of American history persists. In the past, Negroes, Oriental-Americans, and American Indians were educated in their native land as though they were no real part of it. In many ways, this is still true (Riches, 2004).

The campaigning movement to liberate African American U.S. citizens from legal and institutional oppression is often called the civil rights movement. The rights for which the movement fought included direct rights to political and legal participation ...