SOC220 - Final Exam

candi26oc

pt2ch07-africanamericans.ppt

Home >Social Science homework help >SOC220 - Final Exam

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Racial and Ethnic Relations

NINTH EDITION

Chapter

African Americans

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Big Picture Questions

What role have African Americans played in building up this country’s wealth and institutions?
What are the long-term consequences of interracial contacts between European Americans and African Americans?
What methods have African Americans used to resist systemic racism?

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

A Long History in the U.S.

Many African Americans have family trees dating back to the 1600s or 1700s
They were among the very first immigrant groups
As a group have been here far longer than many white immigrant groups
That a people who have been here almost as long as the first European settlers should still be so discriminated against, so unwelcome in traditionally white institutions, is a problematic dilemma for them and for the future of this country

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

FORCED MIGRATION AND SLAVERY

Slavery
The legal ownership and exploitation of one human being by another
Unlike white immigrants, Africans had no choice until recently
For centuries they came enslaved and in chains
Whites saw enslavement as a solution to the demand for cheap labor on farms and plantations

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

The European Trade
in Human Beings

Dutch and French companies dominated forcible importation of Africans early
England entered the trade in the 1600s
Once enslaved, Africans often chained in corrals called barracoons
Branded and held for deportation
Suicide common among enslaved Africans
Uprisings brought death to Africans and white sailors
1619: Africans brought to Jamestown
By mid-1600s, slave status fully institutionalized in colonial laws

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Slave Ownership

Many European Americans in early period wealthy because they owned other human beings
George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson
Slaveholding interests forced recognition and support of slavery in several sections of U.S. Constitution
Most white families did not own slaves
1860: 1/4 of 1.6 million white families in the South owned 3.8 million slaves

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Lives of Africans Under Slavery

There has long been a “magnolias-and-mint-julep” mystique about slave system
Lingers in racist Hollywood movies
Gone with the Wind
Slave autobiographies describe extreme brutality and oppressiveness of living conditions
The whip, chains, and other forms of torture common mechanisms of control
Slave system included black women and children
Victims of coercion, violence, and frequent rape by white overseers and slaveholders

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Family Life During Slavery

Whites, including social scientists, long preoccupied with black families
Problems of poverty and so-called broken families often traced to conditions of slavery
Until the 1970s, the majority of enslaved African Americans were thought to have had little in the way of a supportive family life
However, there is historical evidence that paternalistic owners fostered slave families, if only for their own self-interest
Enslaved African Americans worked hard to preserve families
Families attempted to provide protective, supportive environments that helped slaves to survive

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Unity in the Face of Disruption

Threat to families great
Marriages disrupted by death or sale of spouse
Many peoples of Africa
Yorubas, Akans, Ibos, Angolans, etc.
Became single African American people and forged distinctive African American culture
Pressure to conform to Eurocentric culture forced African Americans to become bicultural
Struggled to maintain oppositional culture
Culture part African and part an African American adaptation to history of white oppression

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Resistance

Slaves had to appear to be submissive in response to domination
Underground Railroad
A network of formerly enslaved and other anti-slavery Americans, black and white, who passed along tens of thousands to the North between the 1830s and the Civil War
Harriet Tubman
One of greatest U.S. heroes, she risked life to bring more than 300 people to freedom
Non-violent resistance
Slow working pace, feigned illness, or strikes

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Violence and
Other Costs of Slavery

Violent resistance
Directed at property, slave owners, or overseers
250 slave revolts or conspiracies to revolt during long years of legal slavery
Gabriel Prosser (1800)
Nat Turner (1831)
Revolts contradicted white apologists’ idea of “happy slaves”
Slavery was costly to whites and descendants
They lost humanity and freedom of press and speech because of repressive legal controls and requirements of a totalitarian slave system

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Struggle

Many free African Americans joined abolitionist efforts
Frederick Douglass
Sojourner Truth
Many northern whites also owned Africans or considered slavery legitimate
Before Civil War, “Jim Crow” laws in North
Enforced the racial segregation of ostensibly “free” African Americans in public transportation, hospitals, schools, churches, and cemeteries

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

RACIST IDEOLOGIES AND ASSOCIATED STEREOTYPES

Over time, the dominant group develops strong beliefs to rationalize unjustly gained economic, social, and political position
Negative views of Africans existed in Europe before 1600
Did not develop into systematic racist ideology until the 1700s

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Claims of Inferiority

White defenders of slavery portrayed African Americans as “apelike” creatures not fully human
Black women stereotyped as immoral or exotic
Black men stereotyped as oversexed and potential rapists
White discomfort with racial mixing may be linked to the historical fact that much intimate interracial contact before and after 1865 involved rape of black women by white men
Theme of intellectual inferiority along racial lines has received much public attention since WWII

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Claims of Inferiority, continued

Arthur Jensen and others
Alleged that differences in IQ not determined by environmental factors but by genetic differences between black and white groups
Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray
The Bell Curve, 1994
Argued that there are significant genetic differences in intelligence between black and white Americans
Successfully refuted by many social scientists
However, ideas have spread to analysts and politicians globally

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Contemporary Anti-Black Prejudices

Surveys of whites since 2000 continue to show majority still think in stereotypical terms about blacks
Negative stereotypes of blacks deeply imbedded in the consciousness of many whites
Negative stereotypes by whites harmful for blacks across spectrum of life experiences
Modern Racism
The white view that black Americans have illegitimately challenged cherished white values and are making illegitimate demands for changes in U.S. racial relations

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Persistent Discrimination

Today, racial discrimination remains a serious problem in the U.S.
Whites who express prejudice tend to be more likely to discriminate than those who do not
Many whites conceal anti-black views just to appear socially acceptable
Racist performances tend to be held in “backstage” settings composed only of white friends and relatives

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

INTERRACIAL VIOLENCE:
Anti-Black Violence

Ethnoviolence
Violence directed at an individual or group because of that individual or group’s ethnic or racial identity
Lynching
A group killing carried out by vigilantes seeking revenge for an actual or imagined crime by the victim
Before Civil War, most lynchings carried out by white mobs against whites
After Civil War, most lynchings against blacks by whites as means of subordination

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Recorded Lynchings, 1882–1956

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

White Violence

White lynchers expected that brutal lynchings would discourage black challenges of discriminatory practices such as legal segregation
Beginning in WWI era, black southerners moved to northern cities but often met more violence

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

White Supremacists

White supremacy groups long in the forefront of those who blame Blacks, Asians, Latinos/Latinas, and Jews for problems rooted elsewhere
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is leading white supremacist group that started as terrorist group after Civil War
Southern Poverty Law Center recent count found more than 900 Klan, neo-Nazi, racist-skinhead, Christian Identity, neo-Confederate, and other white hate groups, involving thousands of members, still active in most states
Council of Europe estimate counted 4000 hate-based websites across the globe, including about 2500 U.S. websites.

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Hate Crimes

2008: FBI reported nearly 5000 racialized crimes in the previous year, with some 70% apparently involving a racial bias against African Americans
Some right-wing political groups have worked against tougher hate-crime legislation
Focus on the Family; Traditional Values Coalition
Many civil rights groups have called for increased penalties
2009: U.S. Congress passed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was then signed into law by President Barack Obama

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Black Protest Against Oppression

Historically, large-scale white violence to enforce racial oppression has preceded most black attacks on that continuing racial oppression
Urban revolts between black residents and white police officers
1930s-1940s: Sparked by police brutality and other police malpractices
1960s-1970s: Black uprisings against local symbols of oppression
Police officers, businesses, landlords

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Prejudgment

Racial Profiling
A practice used by some police departments that unfairly singles out citizens of color as potential criminals and often results in extensive harassment of innocent residents

Role of white officials and police in generating or accelerating nonviolent protests and urban revolts by black Americans, while overlooked by many whites, is significant

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

ECONOMY

Over several generations, most members of a particular immigrant group are expected to move into higher levels of employment and living conditions
Assimilation view of economic mobility does not apply well to African Americans
Although in North America since 1619, still have not been incorporated, in representative numbers, in country’s better-paying jobs
Also still face racial discrimination in housing and healthcare

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

White Enrichment, Black Losses

Whites at all class levels have benefited greatly from white-on-black oppression
White privilege
An array of material benefits and other advantages inherited by most in each generation of whites
For centuries, blacks have been critical to the growth of this country’s wealth and prosperity
From 1600s to present, blacks have provided hard labor necessary for economic growth and societal affluence
Since 1600s, exploitation of black Americans has redistributed material rewards and wealth to many generations of whites, leaving the former impoverished and the latter relatively privileged

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

White Enrichment, Black Losses, continued

Whites have benefited from numerous federal programs that gave away critical resources used to accumulate individual and family wealth over generations
In late 1800s and early 1900s, federal government distributed land, mineral rights, airline routes, radio/television frequencies, and other important resources
Republican proposals after Civil War sought to give former slaves some arable land taken from slaveholders who rebelled against the Union
“40 acres and a mule” never happened
Instead of becoming independent, land-owning farmers, Blacks were forced to sell their labor to whites

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

The Migration North

By mid-20th century, millions had migrated to what they saw as the economic “promised land”
Racial division of labor in cities enforced by discriminatory laws, violence, or informal discrimination
To counter white workers’ increasing demands, white employers offered non-economic concessions, such as separating whites from less privileged workers of color
Known as the Psychological Wage (W.E.B. Du Bois)
White workers’ sense of white superiority and privilege

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Employment

Most labor unions racially segregated
During WWII, industries with labor needs were forced to make concessions to black demands for antidiscrimination laws and better job opportunities
During civil rights era and economic expansion between 1955 and 1972
Proportion of black workers in professional, managerial, sales, clerical, crafts, and operatives jobs increased

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Discrimination in Employment

2005: 417 lawsuits filed by federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Tens of millions in damages won
2005: Office of Federal Contract Compliance
Won $45.2 million for nearly 15,000 workers
Many white employers have retreated to a second line of discrimination
Hiring black workers for non-traditional jobs and putting them in selective or marginalized positions
These workers find themselves tracked into “job ghettos” as members or heads of departments of affirmative action, “community affairs,” or “special markets”

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Corporate Racism

Example of corporate racism
Late 1990s: Texaco
EEOC found Texaco had discriminated against black employees regarding promotions
In 2008, only 5 black executives heading Fortune 500 companies
Finding data on progress difficult
Many publicly traded companies have simply ignored federal government requests to report full data on the racial, ethnic, and gender characteristics of their employees

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Sports and the Military

Numerous sports programs demonstrate institutional discrimination at coaching and front office levels
Survey of 40,000 U.S. military personnel, enlisted and officers, found 1/5 of black personnel had faced career-related racial discrimination in the previous year

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Civil Rights Law

Freedom from centuries of widespread overt discrimination did not come for black Americans until the 1960s
Last 10% of nation’s history
1964 Civil Rights Act and amendments prohibit racial discrimination in employment
EEOC created to enforce the act

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Civil Rights Enforcement

Significant progress in reducing racial barriers in traditionally white employment arenas until the Reagan-G.H.W. Bush era of the 1980s-early 1990s
From early 1990s on, Clinton administration enforced civil rights laws vigorously
Enforcement progress significantly weakened under G.W. Bush administration as of 2001
Existing civil rights laws do not guarantee equality of opportunity in everyday settings for Americans of color

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Unemployment and Underemployment

For decades the black unemployment rate has been more than twice the white unemployment rate
Underemployment Rate
Those with no jobs, those working part-time, and those making poverty-level wages

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Unemployment Rates
(Civilian Labor Force)

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Income Disparity

For key years since 1950, black family income has not risen above 62% of white family income
2008: Black median family income less than 60% of non-Hispanic white figure
Over centuries, most blacks have had little opportunity to build up multigenerational wealth
Wealth data show long-term effect of centuries of racial oppression

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Black (or Nonwhite) Median Family Income as Percentage of White & Non-Hispanic White Family Income

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Is There a “Culture of Poverty”?

In 2008, black families were three times as likely as white families to live in poverty

Numerous commentators contend that black community is divided between affluent middle-class and poor
Often plight of black poor discussed as though economic conditions are not the main problems, but values and behavior are
From this perspective, poor blacks (called “underclass”) are locked into a lower-class “culture of poverty,” with its “broken” families, delinquency, and lack of work emphasis

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Cumulative Effects
of Structural Discrimination

Greatest weakness of arguments that focus on alleged inferiority of poor blacks and other poor Americans is the serious neglect of several centuries of structural discrimination and related socioeconomic factors
Cumulative effects of past and present racial discrimination on socioeconomic problems faced by poor blacks must be recognized

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Discrimination in
Housing and Insurance

1968 Civil Rights Act and later amendments banned most housing discrimination, but
2008: National Commission on Fair Housing found that federal and state laws banning discrimination in rental and sales housing are weakly enforced or unenforced in most areas, even as housing discrimination is regularly documented
Insurance companies too create discriminatory barriers
Residential segregation still a dominant U.S. reality
Majority of people of color live in cities
White population of central cities has decreased,

and most suburbs are predominantly white

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Segregation

Residential segregation has serious societal consequences
Whites and blacks don’t have much meaningful interaction
Whites and blacks fear each other
One study found that the black residents were “fearful because much of their contact with white people was negative,” whereas “whites were fearful because they had little or no contact”

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

POLITICS AND PROTEST

Reconstruction
The period in U.S. history following the Civil War during which an attempt was made by the federal government to disenfranchise the slaveholding oligarchy and to improve the economic, educational, political, and human rights conditions of poor whites and blacks in the South
Few Americans know that a major reason for the end of the relatively progressive Reconstruction era was white terrorism

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Jim Crow and Beyond

Nathan Bedford Forrest
1st “Grand Dragon” of the Ku Klux Klan
Destroyed Reconstruction governments
Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
Upheld racial segregation in railroad cars and asserted legality of “separate but equal” facilities for blacks
1915 U.S. Supreme Court began slow swing to protection of black civil rights
Black voter registration increased slowly as result of ending “grandfather clauses”

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Political Discrimination

Southern voter registration increased between 1940s and 1970s, raising number of black voters from 250,000 to 4 million
Over the past few decades, black voters have continued to face attempts to reduce efficacy of their political participation by such measures as
Purges of voter registration rolls
Unannounced changes in polling places
Intentionally difficult registration procedures
Unnecessary revisions in qualifications for office
Ballot security harassment

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

A Possible Remedy

Cumulative Voting
Procedure in which each voter is given a number of votes equal to the number of positions to be filled in a legislative body
Suggested by legal scholar Lani Guinier as a possible remedy to increase black influence on government bodies
Currently used in selecting corporate directors
Some analysts argue increased black votes and more black elected officials accomplish much for black voters
Others argue black citizens are unlikely to gain much through electoral process still mostly controlled by whites

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

The Federal Government

Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidency:

New Deal era (1933-1940)

First period since Reconstruction in which federal government gave serious attention to needs of black citizens
Lyndon Baines Johnson presidency:

1st black in U.S. presidential cabinet, 1967

Robert Weaver
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Black vote sometimes very important in federal elections

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Party Affiliation

Republican Party moved . . .
From party of Abraham Lincoln, which advocated expanded civil rights for blacks,
To party opposed to most aggressive government to eliminate discrimination against blacks and other Americans of color in employment and other institutional areas
Thus, not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of black voters have generally supported Democratic candidates at local, state, and national levels.

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Organizations

In reaction to pro-white accommodationist Booker T. Washington,
W.E.B. Du Bois and others formed Niagara movement
Became National Coalition for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Also, Urban League
Founded to provide aid for poor and to work on ending legal segregation
NAACP began large-scale attack, tackling legal segregation in
Schools
Voting
Transportation
Jury selection

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Increasing Desegregation

During WWII, a threatened march by blacks on Washington, DC, pressured President Roosevelt to issue order officially desegregating wartime employment
President Truman set up an agency to rid federal employment of official discrimination and a committee to oversee desegregation of the armed forces
U.S. military became, and probably still is, the most racially desegregated of major U.S. institutions

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The arrest of Rosa Parks triggered a successful boycott that brought
Martin Luther King, Jr. into national prominence
Became head of Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Led massive March on Washington, DC, in 1963

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Organizations Oriented Toward Black Nationalism and Self-Help

Black Panthers
Breakfast programs for children and surveillance of white police
Nation of Islam
Expanded in membership and established black-controlled programs and businesses

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

1960s and Beyond

1960s civil rights movement played important role in pressuring Congress to pass major legislation prohibiting discrimination
In employment, voting, and housing
Voting Rights Act 1965
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968
Many advances undercut since 1980s by conservative presidential administrations
Even with ups and downs, black-led civil rights movement has contributed greatly to expansion of civil rights for all Americans

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

EDUCATION

During Reconstruction, black southerners gained first access to schools
Despite relentless discrimination and segregation by whites, blacks pressed on to achieve dream of good education for all
African Americans have long taken advantage educational opportunities wherever available

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Movement Toward Desegregation: Key U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
Forced desegregation of schools in Topeka, KS, and set in motion government action to desegregate all schools
Met massive resistance, and white-dominated school systems circumvented for as long as possible
Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)
Supreme Court upheld use of busing as means of disestablishing dual school system

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Movement Toward Resegregation

By 1974 a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court began to back off from comprehensive desegregation
Miliken v. Bradley (1974)
Court overturned lower-court order requiring integration of substantially black Detroit school system surrounding predominantly white suburban school systems
Board of Education of Oklahoma v. Dowell (1991) and Freeman v. Pitts (1992)
Court permitted informal resegregation of schools where there was no longer official segregation

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Current Situation

Since 1960s, racial desegregation of schools, when done well, has had positive effects on academic achievement of African American children and other children of color who attend majority-white schools, when compared to achievement in schools that have a majority of children of color
More resources still go to schools that are substantially white
Most black children who remain in schools composed predominantly of children of color do not have the same access
In spite of Brown, promise of integration never delivered
School resegregation is in part the result of the policies of presidential administrations that have opposed mandatory desegregation and supported voluntary desegregation or segregated neighborhood schools

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Related Issues

School desegregation often increases housing desegregation
Racial tracking and other forms of institutionalized discrimination also persist in public school systems
Black students are often placed in school tracks lower than their measured abilities
Those put in privileged tracks in early grades tend to perform better, and “racially stratified tracks create a discriminatory cycle of restricted educational opportunities”

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

White Isolation
Due to Segregation

Growing research indicates whites pay significant price for continuing school and housing segregation
“[N]o skills in relating to or communicating with minorities”
Such white isolation will be major handicap as the country becomes more involved in international trade and diplomacy in a world where non-European nations are ever more powerful

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

College Attendance
and College Experiences

2008: A substantially lower percentage of 18- and 19-year-old African American students were in college, as compared with their white counterparts
35.9% of black students ages 18 to 19 in college
50.9% of white students ages 18 to 19 in college
Black students continue to face serious problems of discrimination at predominantly white colleges and universities
“[B]lack students find white universities to be hostile”
Tragic aspect of barriers at predominantly white colleges is that black students identify these colleges with an “agonizing struggle” with campus racism just to get a college degree

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

RELIGION AND CULTURE

Enslaved blacks brought sophisticated African religions and music to North America
Over time, African American religion has mixed various African and European elements
African perspectives often influential
Enslaved men permitted to preach, and some preachers became important resistance leaders
Black churches became extremely important after Civil War as mutual-aid societies

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Recent Developments

Nation of Islam
Broke with black Christian heritage
Today, African Americans usually attend Protestant churches
Organizations protesting oppressive conditions long rooted in African American religion
Effectiveness of churches in providing leadership and mobilizing millions of formerly disenfranchised people in the civil rights movement is rooted in African American culture

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

RECENT IMMIGRANTS

General Colin Powell
Son of Jamaican immigrants
“[M]ost respected figure in American political life”
Representative of one of several distinctive ethnic groups that make up the broad group called African Americans today
Approximately 7.7% of black population currently made up of immigrants
Mostly from Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

From Africa and the Caribbean

African American immigrants from Africa: About 1 million
Most have at least a high school education and have a somewhat lower unemployment rate and poverty rate than native-born African Americans
African American immigrants from the Caribbean:

More than 2.5 million

Population includes Martinicans, Guadeloupeans, Dominicans, Haitians, Trinidadians, and Jamaicans
Better off economically than some other African Americans; most have at least a high school education, with a substantial proportion having a college degree, and they are a bit more likely to hold managerial and professional jobs than are African Americans as a group

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Racial History
and Racial Discrimination

Caribbean and African immigrants have had different racial history than African Americans
Most come from countries in which blacks are the majority and have significant role in major institutions
Because they have lived in a society not controlled by whites, Caribbean Americans often question U.S. system of racial categorization
Caribbean and African immigrants sometimes distance their identity from native-born African Americans
Native-born blacks expect migrants to reject island identities

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

ASSIMILATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

Little integration of blacks into “core” society
Recently, however, numerous analysts argue there has been a major collapse of anti-black discrimination
Assimilation is seen as under way, as evidenced by the progress of the black middle class
Recognizing some discrimination remains, such theorists essentially blame blacks themselves for slower economic and social mobility

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

Power-Conflict Perspectives

Power-conflict analysts reject optimistic assimilationist view
Traditional assimilationist viewed as denying persistent racial discrimination and its large effect on society
Robert Blauner – internal colonialism
Major differences exist in levels of social and economic oppression that black Americans and white ethnic immigrant groups have faced over long periods of time
This view sees subculture of poverty as actually a description of whites’ racial hostility, stereotyping, and discrimination, individual and institutionalized

Racial and Ethnic Relations, Ninth Edition Joe R. Feagin • Clairece Booher Feagin

The Continuing Significance
of Racism

Post Civil War, most black Americans in the South had to remain, becoming poor tenant farmers or sharecroppers again exploited by whites
New industrial economies of cities drew workers from Europe, not from the South
Power-conflict analysts underscore reality of oppression today
White racist framing and discrimination significantly handicap African Americans today in major institutional arenas
View is pessimistic about full incorporation of blacks into critical institutional arenas without substantial change in racist framing and discriminatory actions of white majority