Ethnic Groups and Discrimination Essay

On May of 1607, the first English colony in the present-day(prenominal) get together States was founded at Jamestown, Virginia (A drawing History of Civil Rights in the unify States of America, 2007). After many years, a Dutch ship arrived at the port wine of Jamestown and brought about twenty African slaves to the English colonists. Thus, the so-cal guide African slave trade began. The African slaves came from the savannahs of central and southern Africa. The Dutch often called them human monkeys, barbarians, and uncivilized brutes.Thus, the Dutch preferred locking them in the sub cabins of their caravels (A Brief History of Civil Rights in the fall in States of America, 2007). They were irregularly provided with food. Most of the times, they were held in chains (because the Dutch were afraid that they might cause some bickering in the ship). When they were brought to Jamestown, their condition worsened. They were forced to grow in flat farmlands at least 15 hours a day. L arge plantations of cotton and other plain products were assigned to them by the English colonists without pay.Although they were provided with housing, it was in shambles. The houses were designed in the devise of barnyard to accommodate as many slaves as possible (a form of segregation). Added to that, this pillow scale of housing was a means for the English colonists to distinguish themselves from these lofty and crazy human beings. The food provided by the English colonists was never adequate to residual the energy the slaves consumed in farm work. Added to that, the children of African slaves were also forced to work in the plantations. Their work varied, from weaving cotton to harvesting agri heathen products.The landlords, unresponsive to the contributions of these African slaves to their e supposes, usually utilized the whip against the African slaves as a form of disciplinary measure. Thus, not only the African slaves provided a moth-eaten and efficient source of ag ricultural and household bear on, they were also the source of prejudice, inconsistency (described above), racism, and embarrassment to the English colonists. For example, the English colonists did not regard the African slaves as a separate race.The English colonists regarded them as subhuman, but a shrimpy higher than primates. Even after the Declaration of Independence, the descendants of these slaves were not bettor of. Usually, the American landlords regarded them as personal properties. They had no civil or policy-making rights. At times, American colonists in the West used them as soldiers (unpaid) in its wars with Indian tribes. Thus, it can be said that the annals of African-Americans was a history of distinction, oppression, and prejudice. They were the target as well as the source of racial cynicism of purity Americans, British, and al roughly all Americans of European descent.The stigma attached to them by these cultural groups remained until (as mavin may notic e) the present time. The labor market in the united States at the close of the 19th century was comprised of poor lily- color farmers and African slaves-descent laborers (using the term Black is a form of discrimination in this case) (Bohmer, 2007). In 1876, an alliance between African slaves-descent laborers and poor egg whites was bucked by Confederate landlords. The alliance was formed out of the perceived oppression of their class by the ruling Southern landlords. For example, their pay was inadequate to support their families.Nonetheless, their working conditions below these Southern planters were really bad in terms of long-working hours and high rents. Their defeat was magnified y the 1896 Supreme Court ruling that segregation was constitutional. Although their labor produced much of the wealth of the Southern planters, they were never given safety nets (such as social security) in the procurement of their labor in the market. In contradiction in terms to the conception that African-Americans are never interested in environmental issues, here(predicate) are some African-Americans who contributed much in protecting the environment.George Washington cutter can be regarded as one of Americas finest agricultural researchers. He was able to develop throughout his lifetime over 325 untried products from peanuts and over 100 products from sweet potatoes. He often told his students that nature was his outmatch teacher (A Selection of African-American environmental Heroes, 2007). Vernon Jones is another African-American who led the struggle to preserve government-owned lands in a county in Georgia. In surround 2000, he was able to pass a 125 million dollars lodge referendum to acquire public lands for the construction of parks (A Selection of African-American Environmental Heroes, 2007).This is an indication that even if African-Americans are still discriminated, they would never be absent to issues that can affect the lives of people outside his et hnic group. Affirmative doing can be outlined as a set of state policies and objectives created to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, and sex. The unify States government under the terms of different presidents applianceed a series of affirmative actions in order to eliminate forms of discrimination in the United States.For example, President Truman issued an order to the Bureau of Employment Security to implement nondiscriminatory labor policies (Sykes, 1995). Today, the Equal Employment Opportunities Act was passed to put an end to discrimination in the workplace, by giving minority groups opportunities to assert their employment placement (Sykes, 1995). These series of affirmative action was the result of struggle of minority groups, peculiarly African-Americans, to assert their rights as citizens of the United States.In the present, however, discrimination in the workplace against minority groups (e. . African-America ns) is never totally eradicated. Redlining, or more particularly helper redlining, is the custom of refusing to provide severes and services to people of low-income and minority groups (Fuller, 1998). In the United States, African Americans, Latinos, and other minority groups are experiencing this form of segregation. Some white establishments typically create excuses for the purpose of not allowing minority groups (especially African-Americans) to procure goods and services. This was the most controversial issue in the 1950s.There were different types of services one for whites, and one for African-Americans. Although this system was abolished, many white retail stores in the United States still find excuses of not providing goods and services for minority groups. African-Americans today grammatical case what sociologists call double jeopardy. Because African-Americans are discriminated, they gestate difficulty of finding good jobs. It is estimated that a majority of African-Am ericans in the United States today are in the poverty threshold. They comprised also the majority in service sectors jobs. Their poverty reinforces their minority status.Thus, the so-called rill of discrimination as what sociologists call is also reinforced. African-Americans have the difficulty of upgrading their status by economic means. Thus, white Americans always concern African-Americans with poverty. The institutionalization of discrimination was the most noted issue in African-American history. in front the handing down of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (which abolished segregation in public schools) in May 1954, all public schools in the United States were segregated. African-Americans were provided separate public schools, usually close to their communities.Added to that, the formulation of educational course of instruction of some states was also segregated. This was in line with the early belief of white Americans that higher forms of education were only a matter for white Americans. separationism could also be noted in the construction of residential areas. overrule discrimination can be defined as the negative result of an affirmative action to some members of the dominant ethnic group which is seen as tantamount to another form of discrimination (Pincus, 20021). Often some white Americans complained that they were rejected in some jobs because of preferential treatment for African-Americans.They call it flip-flop discrimination. This is though not really a form of discrimination since it does not question the nature of the ethnic group to which one belongs. In the case of African-Americans, the opening of new opportunities is a means to upgrade their economic status. It cannot be a form of discrimination. Glass ceiling can be defined as the barriers or blocks that confront minority groups in reaching the focal ratio ladder of corporate America (The Glass Ceiling for African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asiatic Americans, 2004).A frican-Americans today have little difficulty of reaching the upper ladder of society (noted personalities like Oprah, Morgan Freeman, and Janet Jackson serve our examples) although not as unclouded as that of white Americans. Personally, I identify myself to the cultural group I belong, although I recognize the commonalities between African-American and white cultures (especially those which relate to par and freedom of the individual).