Prejudice+Theme+Research

We have seen prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men. In history, slavery, women’s rights, Martin Luther King, and sports have all contributed to the way America is today. All of these categories involve hard struggles to obtain what life in America has become. How has the history of prejudice affected life in America?

In Slavery... Slavery has shaped life in the US today because of all the hardships the black people have gone through before they were accepted as equals. To start off, slaves were used to work and shape the states that we live in now along time ago. They were first brought over from Africa to Virginia to work on plantations and tobacco fields. The amount of slaves shaping the US started becoming ridiculously high. Eventually 40% of the population in the south was black. Slaves came about because the Americans had a prejudice that they weren’t equal because of their black skin. This kind of diversity added to the US ’s melting pot that today is one of the most diverse. The work of the slaves also started the south up and made it running. Without their help the south might not have been able to build their homes and they might not have gone broke from paying workers. The amount of slaves in the south brings me to my next point. Without the prejudice of slaves the Civil War might not have happened or have been won by the union. The Civil War didn’t actually start out with the idea of abolishing slavery. It started out with trying to get the Confederate states to join back with the Union again, but freeing the slaves gave the Union that extra boost to win and release the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln was a military strategy that allowed the Union to get that extra advantage against the south and win. If the south would have one we could possibly still have slavery today and that is the worst kind of prejudice. This left America with a large amount of free black people and less workers. The south was not too happy about slaves being free, so they didn’t treat blacks with kindness. This led to the work of Martin Luther King Jr. Eventually black people were accepted into many jobs including politic jobs, they could become mayor, and now even president. Slaves have shaped the diversity and acceptance of blacks now in life and it has added to the melting pot of America. []

Work Cited Behrend, Justin J. "emancipation." In Waugh, Joan, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to 1869, vol. 5. New York: Facts On File , Inc., 2003. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. []? ItemID=WE52& McNeese , Tim. "'Separating the Races'."Brown v. Board, Great Supreme Court Decisions. New York : Chelsea House Publishers, 2007. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. [] ? ItemID=WE52&iPin=GSCDBB01&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 7, 2009).

McNeese, Tim. "'The Origins of American Slavery'." Dred Scott v. Sandford, Great Supreme Court Decisions. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2007. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. []? ItemID=WE52&iPin=GSCDDS01&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 7, 2009).

Powell, John. "slavery." Encyclopedia of North American Immigration. Facts On File, Inc., 2005. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. []? ItemID=WE52&iPin=ENAI0278&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 7, 2009).

In the women’s rights movement… The years between the 1900’s to the 1930’s were difficult for many different groups in America. One of those groups was women. At one time or another, women have been at the hand of prejudice whether it’s socially, politically, or economically, helping shape our lives in America today. Women’s rights have evolved tremendously compared to the past. Women didn’t have the right to vote, run in an election for office, and in life women continued to be subordinate to their husbands, just recently being able to own their own land. Women’s rights was a huge struggle leading to the Women’s Rights Movement, women activists, and groups like National Women’s Party, League of Women’s Voters, and Woman’s International league for peace and freedom. Women like Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, and Suzanne La Follette helped the prejudice of women end up where they are today. Catt argued “Why Women Want to Vote,” in 1915 saying, “The first of her reasons was justice, and the second was that voting was the duty of women citizens.” This helped lead to the ratifying of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote, in 1920. Paul believed this wasn’t enough for the rights of women and they deserved more. She drafted the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Supporting this Amendment wrote a book, Concerning Women, talking about her beliefs in true equality between men and women. These three women overcame prejudice and helped lead women to the rights we get today. __ Bibliography __ · Farah, Marcia M. "women's status and rights, 1890–1930." In Faue, Elizabeth, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: The Emergence of Modern America, 1900 to 1928, vol. 7. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. [|http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?]ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVII292&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 7, 2009).  ItemID=WE52&iPin=EHRTEssay03&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 7, 2009). · __[]__ In Martin Luther King Jr.'s time...
 * Streissguth, Tom. "Newfound Freedoms, Old-Fashioned Temperance: 1920." The Roaring Twenties, Eyewitness History, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">?

The famous Martin Luther King Jr. has affected prejudice today. Prejudice is an act of unfavorable opinion formed prior and without much knowledge. Martin Luther King Jr. put a stop to prejudice upon the King would color of your skin. He led the Civil Rights Movement and banned the hatred of the people based on your skin color. Life without him be utterly different. There would be no sense of equality between people, nor moral stability. The separation of whites and blacks lead to boycotting and fights. People were so arrogant that they made blacks drink from other drinking fountains and sit in designated areas. It was as if black people had “cooties”. Martin Luther King Jr. was a bold man and put a stop to this all

His courage is shown through society today. Every day we sit in class with African American people, have daily interaction with them, and are treated equal. There is no more sitting at the back of the bus for them or drinking from a different water fountain. Martin Luther King’s act years ago has left an impact in life today and for the rest of eternity. There will be no more inequality to black people today based on their skin. Life today has truly changed and will never go back to how it was, because one of the most important people in the world.

http://aviewfrompage.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/mlk_flag_opt.jpg

"Martin Luther King, Jr."//,// in //Current Biography Yearbook 1965//, ed. by Charles Moritz, pp. 220-223. New York, H.W. Wilson.

Reddick, Lawrence D., //Crusader without Violence: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr//. New York, Harper, 1959

Haberman, Frederick. "Matrin Luther King Jr. Biography." //The Nobel Foundation// 1964 Web.12 Apr 2009. <http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html>.

In Sports...

Prejudice is sports in thenpast have been very common the well known sport player, including Jackie Robinson, Muhummad Ali. To start, Jackie Robinson, a well known black first base player for the Dodgers. With him playing baseball was changed forever. He experienced prejudice when he first started to play that position. The players on his team, and other people hated him playing, especially a guy named Ben Chapmen. Chapmen was the Phillie's manager, and during one of the games, he was yelling out things offensive to Jackie. But because of Chapmen, Jackie earned a great reputation from the crowd, and defeated prejudice. After he became one of the best first base players of the time. Also afftected by prejudice, is one of the best known boxers of all time, Muhummad Ali. Ali won<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> the Golden Gloves<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> and Amateur Athletic Union<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> titles. He was a six-time Golden Gloves winner in Kentucky, and from 1959 to 1960, he held the National Golden Gloves title. After he turned into a black-muslim, and denied being drafted for the army, he experienced prejudice from people in the boxing world. For preventing himself from being drafted, he was suspended from boxing. Ali supporters thought that he was punished more harshly than a white fighter, because he was black. He later broke the prejudice, and became one of the best fighters of the time. <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Jackie Robinson <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Barber, Phil. "sports in America, 1947." //Sports in America: 1940–1949// <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, Sports in America. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">//American History Online// <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Facts On File, Inc. []<span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">? ItemID=WE52&iPin=SA40S09&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 9, 2009).

Jackie Photo http://www.eteamz.com/youthbaseball/images/jackie_robinson.jpg <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Muhummad Ali Kranz, Rachel C. "Ali, Muhammad." In Kranz, Rachel C., and Philip J. Koslow. //The Biographical Dictionary of African Americans//. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1999. (Updated 2001.) //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE52&iPin=afbio0104&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 12, 2009).

Ali Photo http://goatmilk.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/muhammed_ali.jpg

America’s prejudice has decreased throughout the years due to the ending of slavery, the fight for women’s rights, the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., and the stopping of prejudice through sports. All these struggles for equality have led to life in America today.