Ethnic Groups and Discrimination – Part One
by Edited essay prepared for course work.
Overview
The African American subordinate group was created as a consequence of slave trade activity from approximately 1619 through 1774 (Brawley, 1921). The majority of those imported to be slaves came from African colonies of Spain, Portugal, and Britain. It may be that the slave population was created by colonization (Brawley, 1921) (Martin, 2011).
Slave owners considered the slave as property with no rights. The slaves lived in separate shelters – often substandard – located far away from the owner’s home. In the strictest sense, segregation did exist but slave owners thought of slaves much as they thought of livestock, furniture, or the rest of their property. Racism and prejudice need a human target, and slaves were not viewed as part of humanity. After the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans faced prejudice, racism, and segregation as a subordinate group.
For African Americans in many states post-Civil War, the so-called Jim Crow Laws revoked rights the Constitution granted. According to Boston Blackwell, aged 98 in 1937, “This here used to be a good county, but I tell you it sure is tough now. I think it’s wrong – exactly wrong that we can’t vote now. The Jim Crow law, it put us out. The Constitution of the United States, it give us the right to vote. It made us citizens, it did.” (Simkin, n.d.) For a decade after the Civil War, racists murdered African Americans who dared to vote (Simkin, n.d.)
Jim Crow laws designated separate facilities for Whites and Blacks, including restrooms, vending machines, water fountains, hotels, movie theaters, and restaurants. African Americans who broke those laws faced fines and jail sentences. The Supreme Court in 1896 held that segregation was legal as long as “facilities were kept ‘separate but equal.’” (Simkin, n.d.). The battle for civil rights continued through the 1960s. Law by law, court ruling by court ruling, protest by protest, African Americans made progress in regaining basic rights. Along with many other minorities, African Americans are still a subordinate group facing differing levels of discrimination and prejudice.
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