Within the informative piece, “Recent Changes in the African American Population within the United States and the Question of the Color Line at the Beginning of the 21st Century”, Frank Harold Wilson highlights the evolving racial lines amongst Black people, in American during the 21st century. As his main source, Harold envelopes W.E.B Du Bois (sociologist) infamous article discussing the “color-line” in America. Harold showcases contemporary racism/segregation by bringing forth the “new color-line”; which he alludes to not only involving African Americans, but also Latinos and possibly other minorities (Harold, 17). Throughout the article, very few commonalities are found in connection between the author and his audience. Nevertheless, he …show more content…
Though not directly stated it is also apparent that the author is claiming that the new color-line is apparent within urbanized cities, division of labor, and housing markets (17). Moreover, another important claim made relates back to the migration of African Americans into urbanized areas. Harold highlights that such shift is “characterized by economic and housing inequalities that are complicated by high levels of racial segregation” (29). He depicts three theories which interpret such inequalities, those being: progressive integration, continuing significant race, and the changing of significant race. Consequently, he makes another argument, stating that the changing of significant race theory works best in interpreting “African American economic and social integration” (30). Such theory is also known as the “new-color line”, relating back to his original …show more content…
Which has gone through major governmental and institutional changes since the time period Du Bois was writing from; which was filled with clear-cut abuse, segregation, racism, discrimination and prejudice. Additionally, Harold’s incorporates Du Bois’ analysis of racism in the U.S connecting it to not just simply Black people, who Du Bois mainly focuses on in his writing, but other large scale minorities; Latinos, Asians etc. Who nowadays are seeing and experiencing harsh social exclusion and economic disadvantaged due to their legal status and newly re-evoked racism under a, arguably, unapologetically racist
In order to support his opinion, the author uses historical references to the enormous impact of racial inequality on African American lives. Additionally, Desmond names a set of historical data and rates of the poor African Americans in cities to enhance the reader’s understanding of this complex situation. African Americans were also more likely to get the apartment with broken furniture, windows, and other facilities that confirmed the existence of racial inequality (Desmond, 2016, p.249). To reassert his position, Desmond provides offensive statistics that millions of people are evicted from American homes, and most of them are African American (Desmond, 2016, p.293). As a matter of fact, the author proves that housing discrimination based on race is the primary cause of
This book has emboldened and inspired us to think about racial discrimination and classism in the twenty-first century. Foley proves with a lot of evidence that racial power is neither obtained through racial identity alone nor is it maintained through a form of class or gender oppression. It perseveres through endless racism, as those in power accommodate themselves to remain in power. People of color are also able to fine-tune themselves to become white through changes in their economic class and embracement of white values. In this process, the so-called colored whites will be use to reinforce white power and deny hope and freedom to other people of color, the poor and
Lastly, Orly Clerge's in The New Noir emphasizes the overlooked narratives of Black immigrants in shaping the middle class of New York City, highlighting the influence of nationality and regional dynamics. Their scholarship expands the narrative of the Black middle class's pursuit of upward mobility, identifying the intertwined influences of racial capitalism, gendered economic gaps, and the politics of respectability. Patillo, professor of African American studies at Northwestern University, in Black picket fences,3 effectively argues that despite efforts by the Black middle class to achieve socioeconomic success, racial segregation and systemic inequalities constrained their ability to fully integrate into white neighborhoods. Patillo starts her three-section chapter by first explicitly categorizing Groveland, Chicago, as middle class, with three-quarters of its residents meeting the threshold of earning at least double the poverty level. Aside from this criterion, Patillo looks at
Lipsitz uses practices of the housing market to illustrate how the diverse practices provide the privilege to white people in the current institutional arrangements. The capital resides in suburban houses has proven many white families’ economic mobility, although few white Americans recognize that segregation has historically been the guarantee of suburban real estate values. Housing policy and real estate practices, banking and finance, education, tax codes and subsidies, the behavior of the courts, and the norms of urban policing are all heavily inflected by a racialist logic or tend toward racialized consequences. Lipsitz delineates the weaknesses embedded in civil rights laws, the racial dimensions of economic restructuring and deindustrialization, and the effects of environmental racism, job discrimination and school segregation. Lipsitz describes the centrality of whiteness to American culture, and explains how the whites have used identity politics to forward their collective interests at the expense of racialized groups, including African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos.
The national problem over the Brown v. Board of Education court case had come to an end as integration of public facilities was beginning. People were mostly being excepted, Many things were still separated out of national control like water fountains, bathrooms and much more, even though they were accepted they still were not ‘accepted’ into the white society’s eye. Not only did they have to work harder but these under privileged members had to earn what they did and now their “Progress is…[apart of the] largely suppressed story of race and race relations over the past half-century. And thus it’s news that more than 40 percent of African Americans now consider themselves members of the middle class. Forty-two percent own their own homes
2011. “The New Jim Crow” Pp 217.-224 in Rethinking the Color Line, 5th Edition, edited by Charles Gallagher. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Many inner cities within the United States are comprised of people living in poverty and many of these people are people of color. One of the largest and poorest neighborhoods in the United States is the South Bronx. The South Bronx is extensively racially segregated and the plights that the residents face are horrendous (Kozol, 1995, p. 3). It is conservative belief that the people of color that inhabit the deteriorating inner cities of the US remain in such dire conditions is attributable to their own individual choices, lifestyle, and culture. This belief that the persistence of racial inequalities is attributable to individual lifestyle cannot explain the continuance of inequality once these individuals acquire the education and skills
In his essay, “The Souls of the Black Folk” Du Bois (1903) states that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line,-the relation of the darker to lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (275). According to Appelrouth and Edles (2012: 269) “the color line is both a preexisting social and cultural structure and an internalized attitude”. In addition, they explain that the color line “addresses the historical and institutional (i.e., colonial) dimensions of race” (269).
This is when race was the central topic of world history. In the mean time according to him, the color line also has significant subjective dimensions. He also examines race as symbolic and experiential reality. With our modern society, we see a great shift in the racism, or the color line. The perfect example given in our book is about the election of Barack Obama for presidency. As we know that was one of the biggest events in the history of the US. Having a president of color, shows how far we have come. Children today will be less likely to take white dominance, because they live in a world where there are also education African Americans, such as Obama and the first lady. However, as mentioned in the book “racialization continues to be a powerful force in the United States” (pg 349). Statistics show that there are still more black males in prisons than other races. White communities are still healthier, and have higher educational differences than people in color.
Rough Draft & Thesis Statement Minorities are faced with housing discrimination on levels much higher than that of white people which is considered white privilege. Residential segregation has been strategically planned and carried out by multiple parties throughout history and persists today ultimately inhibiting minorities from making any of the social or economic advances that come from living in affluent neighborhoods and communities. From our research, the scholarly sources have depicted multiple causes of racial disparity. Housing segregation perpetuates negative circumstances for people of color, as looked at through history, laws, segregation, real estate, and ... The end of the Civil War and the start of the Industrial Revolution and
W.E. Du Bois addresses race with the quote, “between me [Du Bois] and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it,” (Levine 203). This quote emphasis how people think about race, because the question they want to ask is how does it feel to be the problem? In the time period that Du Bois is writing in, race is a problem. There is so much segregation and hurt that it is a social and moral issue. The books in class, like Harrison, has talked about race and power. Two significant cases in American history have shown that race is a problem. The first is Plessy v Ferguson caused segregation to win the case and then Brown v. Board of Education
W.E.B. Du Bois is considered one of the top five people of the twentieth century. He is an intellectual, who is admired by both his supporters and adversaries. Du Bois, in his essay, tells his audience that he is not only a genius among blacks, but he is also a revered scholar of humankind. He is well educated among prestigious universities such as Fisk, Harvard, and Heidelberg, and is the first African American to earn a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University. Mr. Du Bois is not a meager intellectual, whose intelligence is measured by the capacity of his knowledge, but he also uses his knowledge to fight for the equality of his people. Among the different identities of Du Bois, he is also the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a reader, one interprets that Du Bois' essay is an authentic narration of the life of African Americans. Du Bois uses context from his point of view as a free man; therefore, his words are less biased than his counterparts. He allows the readers to freely establish their own perspective on the problem of the color people by giving them the chance to see the lives of African Americans before the Civil War through Reconstruction. Du Bois also uses historical references, case studies, and personal storytelling examples to define the problem of the people of African heritage in the United States. The first chapters of The Souls of Black Folk contain historically relevant material,
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line,-- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (W.E.B DuBois). This is part of the theme in the novel The Souls of Black Folk, which is based on an actual story/ autobiography of an African American leader, W.E.B DuBois. The narrator DuBois writes about race relations in the United Sates distributing the color-line. The color-line is the fundamental issue of racial conflict between the blacks and whites. It deals with the inequality and disparity of living in America as an African American.
It was a way to constraint African Americans to areas that were far away from those with status, class, and power. Segregation led to discrimination in economic opportunities, housing, and education. The black culture has suffered from the barriers that were placed through segregation. However, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 tried to limit some of the discrimination associated with segregation. It was discovered that even a “rising economic status had little or no effect on the level of segregation that blacks experience” (Massey and Denton 87). The authors imply that “black segregation would remain a universal high” (Massey and Denton 88). The problem with the continuing causes in Segregation is that even though the Fair Housing act was placed, many realtors still discriminate against blacks “through a series of ruses, lies, and deceptions, makes it hard for them to learn about, inspect, rent, or purchase homes in white neighborhoods” (Massey and Denton 97). Segregation and discrimination have a cumulative effect over time. Massey and Denton argued that the “act of discrimination may be small and subtle, together they have a powerful cumulative effect in lowering the probability of black entry into white neighborhood” (98). William Julius Wilson had
W.E.B. Du Bois can be most simply characterized with the “who” element of the question of inequality. Much of his sociological and political writings concern the inclusion and consideration of African Americans and others of African and non-European descent in studies and discussions of the social world. More specifically, he is concerned with acknowledging differences in the experience and conditions of Whites versus non-Whites.