Stereotypes Of African-Americans

The African American experience is one that is quite different from other racial/ ethnic groups. The majority of the first African American came over, unwillingly, on ships from various African countries. They were brought to America by white, European settlers to be used as slaves in an order to plant and harvest their crops and make money for the white man. This racial group was treated as if they were property and not people. However, with the ending of the American Civil War, African Americans gained freedom, freedom that not all white American were quite ready to handle. After gaining their freedom came the need for education, jobs and suffrage rights. Now in America this racial group has come a long way, having elected its first African American present for two terms, yet still there are many issues that are very prevalent. This racial group has been fighting their way to equality since the birth of this nation. African Americans have experienced an array of conflict, violence, stereotypes, prejudice acts, and discrimination against them throughout their history in America.

The African Americans, experienced for many centuries was very poorly in fact that they treated unfairly. In the communities today African Americans are targeted by their color of their skin. The police brutality towards black people is tremendously horrifying. The population of prisons in the U.S

Many have criticized Disney for their lack of minority representation in their line of Disney princesses. Disney’s debut of their twelfth princess, Anna of Arendelle from their recent film Frozen, marks their eighth “white” princess, leaving only four as “people of color.” Although she was not the first minority princess Disney debuted, Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog was the most anticipated out of the four. African-American moms and children had looked forward to the representation of African-Americans in Disney films for years. Princess Tiana made her debut as the first black princess over 70 years after Disney’s first- Snow White (Cheu). However,

Asians always have perfect scores on the test and aspire to be doctors. African Americans have serious attitudes, are thugs and live in poverty. While all Hispanics are illegal immigrants, who can not speak English and commit vicious crimes. If you watch much television, all of these previous statements may seem true. Television is a powerful source of knowledge that in some ways help us understand others in humanity and ourselves.

Geographically, over two-thirds of African Americans lived in the south during the 1950’s, a place where they were once slaves to the white men. As slaves they were treated horribly and many of the white citizens did not care at all for their slaves and only cared if they were healthy enough to farm their crops all day and make them a profit. This racial prejudice was very evident by the treatment of African Americans after slavery and long after. Even after the Supreme Court reversed the Plessy v. Ferguson case, whites still treated African Americans very poorly and ignored desegregation. Economically, African Americans also had a much harder time getting jobs and when they did, they were usually paid much less than their white counterpart.

History throughout years has proved to us that racism has existed since the birth of the nation. This existence has come up with different issues and huge problems, difficult to handle with. Therefore, America as a nation and the victims too has been suffering since the creation of slavery, a black and bloody period of time. Those who suffered more from this situation are African-Americans. African Americans were black people who moved in America, more in the South to create a better life.

As we all know, African Americans did not originate from the United States. We were abducted from our homeland and brought here on slave ships by the hundreds. Before we were taken we were living a sustainable lifestyle that fit our basic needs. We ate fruits, vegetables, and meat from game that we hunted and gathered from the land. We also used herbs and natural remedies to cure us of our ailments instead of prescribed medication and radiation treatments. Today, many African Americans face countless health issues such as diabetes, asthma, HIV/aids, high blood pressure, obesity, and the list goes on. Many of these health issues come from the lack of education of our past, where we reside, and many stereotypes that are embedded in us in society.

How are African American men portrayed? They have many stereotypes under their race and specifically the men of African Americans. There are numerous reasons why African Americans have dominant racial stereotypes. However, it does not make it right that African American men should be the scapegoat for every problem. Being a scapegoat is taking the sins of others. How can African Americans get equal rights and respect if all they get is racism, disrespect, and get blamed? They do not get equal rights in education, job force, etc. Some African Americans may be in a lower class than Caucasians but often time African Americans make it to the high-class hierarchy but they are still not appreciated or respected as much. This other stereotype that African American men may be boxed into is black masculinity. Conversely, if an African American man acts different from usual African Americans, their own people and Caucasians judge them for being different. African American men are getting blamed way too often for many things and even crimes they did not commit. The society needs to stop view African American men as the scapegoat because it is absolutely not fair to them. Even if those men are purely innocent, people think they are not masculine. African American men should not be blamed or deal with punishment that they did not commit.

Over the past decade disciplinary issues in the schools have increased. Children are no longer showing respect to those in authority. This problem has caused students to not only decrease in their academic achievement but also decrease in their real world social development. African Americans are amongst one ethnicity group to experience bias. In the context of school discipline, race and gender stereotypes particularly function to criminalize African American youth and to reinforce cultural beliefs about perceived inherent behavioral deficiencies and African American cultural norms in need of “social correction” (George, 2014). African Americans are placed in the stereotypical norm of having discipline problems in the schools. Especially African American girls. In a 2014 national data report, African American girls accounted for 12% of all suspensions (George, 2014). With that being said, African American girls are suspended at least “six times the rate of white girls and more than any other group of girls and several groups of boys.” (George, 2014) This is a huge problem in our schools that needs to be addressed.

For many years there has been a lot of talk about what Africans think of African Americans and sometimes most of it isn't in the most positive light, and vice versa. As a Black American myself I want to delve deep into this argument that has been going back and forth for years. I feel that it is important for Africans and African Americans to understand each other, learn from each other because there are only certain things that are mainly different about each group but at the end of the day we are the same.

African American males’ cultural identity has been shaped by stereotypes placed on them down through history. Some stereotypes associated with African American males include incompetence, laziness, and aggression. African American males’ academic performance is often affected because of these stereotypes (Irving & Hudley, 2008). The literature generally concludes that African American male students’ educational aspirations, occupational expectations, cultural identity, and attitudes toward school are related to academic achievement (Irving & Hudley, 2008). Cultural mistrust for African Americans revolves around their belief that public schools cannot be trusted to provide an adequate education when the schools they attend are

In my graduating class, there were seven girls: four Arabs, one Somali, one Bengali, and myself, an African American who also has Ethiopian heritage. While in high school, I continuously dealt with a majority of my classmates, as well as some teachers, making remarks that I considered to be racially offensive and made me quite uncomfortable.

During this time more than ever, African Americans are able to speak on subjects that can affect us in the future. Growing up, racial profiling was never a big deal to me or my family. I was taught to never judge someone by how they look but upon their actions. Ironic to think that is how one is taught to act but stereotypes are now bigger than ever right? Being a high school student I never payed much attention to anything outside of sports, academics and what crazy adventure me and my friends would be sucked into the upcoming weekend. I didn’t have an opinion when surveys asked if I felt that I wasn't being treated equally to my fellow American classmate with all the same qualities I held. Race itself was never something I viewed another

In this world there are ideas that separate people by race, and these are the stereotypes or labels. Stereotypes are put on African Americans, Asian, and even white people, or they could get more specific and go into a certain type of person like their actions or their personality; however labels could also be on different levels such as positive,neutral, and negative.

I first learned about the world from my parents. Their viewpoints on people and their opinions about issues shaped my perceptions growing up. After interacting with people outside of my house, however, I began to doubt the explanations that my parents offered about issues like race and religion. For example, I distinctly remember my dad telling me to avoid befriending black people due to their “inherent aggressive behavior.” Then, I moved schools in third grade and started interacting with African American kids my age while also learning about the civil rights movement and segregation. With these new experiences and education, I realized that what my parents said to me was wrong and how our negative stereotypes of African Americans are harmful. I shared my findings with them, but they simply shrugged my comments off and kept their bigoted opinions firm despite everything I said. I think it was at that moment I realized