Drew Chambers

November 14, 2008

Paper #3

Purcellville Effective Writing

All Are Equal

Three Ways the Illegalizing of Segregation Impacts Us Today

The year is 1892 and Homer Plessy, a black man, boarded a train car designated for white men. After being asked to move to the car designated for black men and women yet refusing to move, Mr. Plessy was then arrested and jailed. Homer then filed a case in court in which he declared East Louisiana Railroad guilty of denying him his rights reflected in the 13th and 14th amendments of the United States Constitution. Plessy v. The State of Louisiana was found in favor of Louisiana. The year is now 1954 and the case Brown v. Board of Education has overturned Plessy v. State of Louisiana, declaring racial segregation a direct violation of the 14th amendment; racial segregation is now illegal. In 1953 black men, women, and children used separate bathrooms, train cars, and schools than white men, women, and children. In 1954 everyone in the U.S. no matter what skin color used the same bathrooms, train cars, and schools. This groundbreaking decision impacted the United States forever, paving the way for integration.  This impacts U.S. citizens in the workplace and education, and not only for the African American race, but also for other races.

Equal Opportunity in Employment for Every Man

Imagine a black man applying for work at a local grocery store advertising need for shelve stockers. After an interview the man appears to be a hard worker and, well worth hiring.  The employer tells the man he’ll get back to him, but never talks, let alone looks, at the man again. This example is one of the kindest racial discrimination circumstances you would see prior to 1954. Some of the more horrific acts of segregation include murder and abuse: from the period of 1918 to 1927 416 African American people were gruesomely murdered by mobs, this horrible act of segregation is called lynching. And as you can imagine black men and women were regularly verbally abused. Today black men and women have an equal opportunity at any job they wish to apply for, from gas station attendants to president of the United States of America. On November 4th, 2008 the first ever black president of the U.S., Barack Obama, was elected.  President-elect Obama has worked hard to gain the highest position in America, which shows how much the challenges of racial segregation and discrimination have been overcome and conquered throughout the years, going from denying simple grocery store positions to electing the leader of the strongest nation in the world. Not just black men are succeeding in successful careers, but women too. Condoleezza Rice is the 66th Secretary of State, who has been called the “girl who cracked the ice” by Times Online because of her huge impact on the U.S. and its government. Another prosperous black woman is the entrepreneur and philanthropist, Sheila Johnson, the first ever black female billionaire; Mrs. Johnson owns the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and partly owns the Washington Wizards along with the Washington Capitals, being the only woman, black or white, to have stake in three national sports teams. Sheila also co-started the first only black television network, called Black Entertainment Television, or, BET. As you can clearly the abolishing of inhumane and vile segregation, had an incredible impact on the U.S. and the reverberations of this act can still be felt and seen all over America today.        

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The Chance to be Educated

In the 1950s and earlier, although elementary and high schools were segregated, universities were not, even still universities often required a push from the government to allow black enrollment. Although today colleges openly accept black and white applications of enrollment, as you can imagine this has also had a major impact on our society.  Previously mentioned president-elect, Barack Obama, graduated from one of the oldest and prestigious schools in the U.S., Harvard Law. President-elect Obama also graduated from Columbia University, with a degree in political science. Also previously mentioned, Sheila Johnson, thanks to Mr. Oliver ...

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