Jim Crow Essay Example for Free

Jim Crow Essay C. Vann Woodward’s book The Strange Career of Jim Crow is a close look at the struggles of the African American community from the time of Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement. The book portrays a scene where the Negroes are now free men after being slaves on the plantations and their adaptation to life as being seen as free yet inferior to the White race and their hundred year struggle of becoming equals in a community where they have always been seen as second class citizens. To really understand the motivation of C. Vann Woodward’s motives of his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, one must look at Mr.  Woodward’s life. Comer Vann Woodward was born and raised in Vanndale, AK in Cross County on November 13, 1908. The town was named after his mother’s aristocratic family. He attended Henderson- Brown College in Arkadelphia, AK for two years before transferring to Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 1930, where he graduated. He received his PHD in history at the University of North Carolina and after he took graduate classes at Columbia University where he was introduced and influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. Woodward taught at Johns Hopkins University from 1946-61 and at Yale University from 1961-67. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for Mary Chestnut’s Civil War and won the Bancroft Prize for Origins of the New South*. It was when he was teaching at Johns Hopkins when he wrote the book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. It was during the court ruling of Brown vs Board of Education in 1954 that Woodward started his lectures, which lead to his book, at the University of Virginia. His audience was more or less surprised about the race relations of the old south during reconstruction; most thought that the two races have always been separated with hatred. Woodward argues that the Jim Crow laws of the 1890s were a new concept of separating the two races. Throughout slavery and during the reconstruction period, the two races were fully integrated working on economics and political problems; the separation of the two races would lead to an insufficient and ineffective plantation. â€Å"The typical dwelling of a slave-owning family was a walled compound shared by both master and slave families. Neither non-slaveholding whites nor free Negroes escaped this ntimacy, for they were ‘sprinkled through most parts of town and surrounded by people of both races’† (14). The same relations remained true during the Reconstruction era when the blacks started to urbanize in the south. Woodward goes on to say that the â€Å"blacks and whites lived side by side, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities and living constantly in each other’s presence† (14). The good relations of the south turned sour when conflicts between the whites over economic troubles heightened in the late 1870s. the determination of the Negro’s ‘place’ took shape gradually under the influence of economic and political conflicts among divided white people- conflicts that were eventually resolved in part at the expense of the Negro† (6). The Negro at the time became the scapegoat for all of America’s economic strife. Many thought it best if they separated themselves from the Negro then all would be better. Hence the Jim Crow laws started to form on the segregation of the two races and then court cases followed in suit, aka Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896 which ruled â€Å"separate but equal†. Ironically the south is known for the most racism but most cities were reluctant in to enforce legal separation of the races. In New Orleans, whites and blacks gathered freely at public events and even many had sexual relations with one another resulting in an influx of mulattos in that area (15-16). Racism did in fact take place in mostly rural areas. â€Å"An excessive squeamishness or fussiness about contact with Negroes was commonly identified as a lower class white attitude, while opposite attitude was popularly identified with ‘the quality’ (50). It was within these rural lower classes that extreme racism was formed involving white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. As political parties started to shift in the mid 1880s, more conservative Democrats took the scene and strictly enforced the laws of segregation. The Republicans were the ones in support of more tolerant and equal society. The mentality of if one thing is separate then they all have to be took precedent during this time. With the shift of political parties, the segregation of the blacks from the whites heightened and the individual rights a Negro had were limited. Blacks were discouraged to vote and separation of the two races became almost total with separate modes of transportation to separate drinking fountains. After the Progressive era and the New Deal, integration was a thought in higher education. Colleges started to let Negro students attend white universities because the separation of the races at school was infringing on their fourteenth amendment rights (144). Even though theses students did not attend the university for all four years, it was progress that helped lead up to the 1954 case of Brown vs Board of Education. The school boards argued that â€Å"’Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect on colored children’, for it ‘generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone’† (147). The ruling of integration of public schools was monumental for the blacks at that time. After trying to fight racism and limitations of their individual rights, the blacks could finally be more equal then they had been in the eyes of the law. When Woodward presented his lectures at the University of Virginia, which subsequently led to his book, it was right after the ruling of Brown vs Board of Education. He insisted that his audience would be integrated as well so he spoke to not only students, faculty and dignitary of the university but he also spoke to local blacks and whites of the community. His lectures received mix reviews; some older, more conservative members of the university were shocked and appalled by Woodward’s comments of pro-integration, while others were intrigued. For them, the white Southern professor’s message was a challenge to the assumption that race relations had been immutably fixed over the course of Southern history† (224). Woodward also argued that the south was always changing and something that limited the rights of blacks in the 1890s was to turn around in the 1950s to something better. When The Strange Career of Jim Crow was released nationally, America did not agree with Woodward’s idea that it was time for a change, â€Å"segregation was ore firmly embraced than ever† (225). Whites did not approve of the ruling of the integration of schools so they protested and sometimes rioted when the government tried to integrate some of the schools. States such as Georgia put the confederate flag back on their state flag in defiance of the new laws (225). Blacks protested in comparison. After the arrest of Rosa Parks not wanting to give up her seat to a white man, the Civil Rights Movement launched its campaign of civil and equal liberties lead by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. When this book was originally published in 1955, Rev King called it â€Å"the historical bible of the Civil Rights Movement†. I believe that the main reason behind King’s statement was that the movement was on the front page of every newspaper for over a decade that when the book did come out, Woodward looked at the struggle of the Negro in a historical sense and not putting blame on a specific race, but on certain decisions some legislators made that forced America to head in the direction of segregation. Woodward presented a historical and non threatening story which gave reason to the Civil Rights Movement. The blacks liked it because it showed the persecution they had to endure for so long and the perseverance they maintained throughout that time and the whites bought the book because it helped explain what was going on at that moment in time. No doubt that this book is an important historical document that helped a nation through one if its more difficult times in history.

The Charater of Remedios in One Hundred Years of Solitude Essay

The Charater of Remedios in One Hundred Years of Solitude  Ã‚   In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, the saga of the Buendia family is used as a thorough and contemplative representation of the nature of human detachment.   The Buendias are plagued with a seemingly incurable solitude; a solitude that they turn to and rely on when they find themselves in times of trouble.   When they are secluded, the Buendias lead meaningless and inescapable lives of habit and routine.   One of the family members, Remedios the Beauty, is seemingly unlike any other Buendia.   Her life consists of little other than sleeping, eating, and bathing.  Ã‚   The simple and uncomplicated life she leads is deceiving for Remedios the Beauty is the most complex character in the entire novel.   Furthermore, Remedios epitomizes everything the Buendias represent in terms of solitude and the nature of human existence, and is, essentially, the center of the novel. First of all, although she may seem simple-minded, Remedios is not by any means a one-dimensional idiot.   Colonel Aureliano Buendia continuously asserts that Remedios is "in no way mentally retarded" and is "the most lucid being" that he has ever known.   Such words do not come unjustified.   Remedios has embedded in her mind the way of thinking that it takes some artists years to develop, if ever; the most important example of this being abandonment of all conformity.   "She was becalmed in a magnificent adolescence, more and more impenetrable to formality, more and more indifferent to malice and suspicion, happy in her own world of simple realities."   If Remedios did not possess the mental capacities to think for herself, she would be more susceptible to the senseless traps of soc... ...emedios' have no place on this planet. Remedios is used not only to represent the Buendias, she is an earthly symbol of the baffling complicity of life.   She is simultaneously heroic and disdainful for only living through her own ideals and represents the everyday struggles that everyone faces.   Garcia Marquez ultimately comes to the conclusion that, although believing in one's ideal is important, removing one's self from all of humanity itself is a crime that is unamendable.   Even though the Buendias brought destruction upon others, they never once even attempted to seek out those essential qualities of human existence and life.   They could have found love had they wanted it from the beginning; but by the time they figured it all out, it was too late. Works Cited: Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. The Charater of Remedios in One Hundred Years of Solitude Essay The Charater of Remedios in One Hundred Years of Solitude  Ã‚   In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, the saga of the Buendia family is used as a thorough and contemplative representation of the nature of human detachment.   The Buendias are plagued with a seemingly incurable solitude; a solitude that they turn to and rely on when they find themselves in times of trouble.   When they are secluded, the Buendias lead meaningless and inescapable lives of habit and routine.   One of the family members, Remedios the Beauty, is seemingly unlike any other Buendia.   Her life consists of little other than sleeping, eating, and bathing.  Ã‚   The simple and uncomplicated life she leads is deceiving for Remedios the Beauty is the most complex character in the entire novel.   Furthermore, Remedios epitomizes everything the Buendias represent in terms of solitude and the nature of human existence, and is, essentially, the center of the novel. First of all, although she may seem simple-minded, Remedios is not by any means a one-dimensional idiot.   Colonel Aureliano Buendia continuously asserts that Remedios is "in no way mentally retarded" and is "the most lucid being" that he has ever known.   Such words do not come unjustified.   Remedios has embedded in her mind the way of thinking that it takes some artists years to develop, if ever; the most important example of this being abandonment of all conformity.   "She was becalmed in a magnificent adolescence, more and more impenetrable to formality, more and more indifferent to malice and suspicion, happy in her own world of simple realities."   If Remedios did not possess the mental capacities to think for herself, she would be more susceptible to the senseless traps of soc... ...emedios' have no place on this planet. Remedios is used not only to represent the Buendias, she is an earthly symbol of the baffling complicity of life.   She is simultaneously heroic and disdainful for only living through her own ideals and represents the everyday struggles that everyone faces.   Garcia Marquez ultimately comes to the conclusion that, although believing in one's ideal is important, removing one's self from all of humanity itself is a crime that is unamendable.   Even though the Buendias brought destruction upon others, they never once even attempted to seek out those essential qualities of human existence and life.   They could have found love had they wanted it from the beginning; but by the time they figured it all out, it was too late. Works Cited: Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991.

How to Get Rid of the Homeless

For many years we all witnessed the life the brutal life of homeless people, and for many years we try to figure out a way to get rid of them. So how can we prevent them from knocking on our car windows asking for spare change, holding up signs in our face, sleeping on our busy streets? How can we make them look decent like normal people? What if I tell you there are many solutions on how to get rid of these people or use them for good use? Let’s get to the obvious point, how do we get rid of them? Well we can just simply let them die. Yeah it might be too easy of a way to get rid of these people but that’s the point. With so many homeless people around, they may cause a lot of overpopulation. They serve no purpose here because they don’t even fit in the statistical reasons for overpopulation. They can’t get any jobs so why should they be here. It would make more sense if we just let them go to another place where there are no problems for them if you know what I mean. Another good way of getting rid of homeless people is by eating them, even small children. The small children would have the most nutritional meat. Their meat would be frozen because of the long winters spent outside. Florida is ranked 43 out of 50 in homeless children so you know what this means. This means we normal people won’t have to spend a dime at the grocery store, because we would have plenty of children to devour for many years to come. This would not only end child homelessness but it would also give us a tasty meal for life. If letting the homeless die is too cruel we can also use them to our benefit. What if I tell you that we can use them for good use? How can we make the A. S. P. C. A (The American Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals) happy? We all can use the homeless people facial hair as fur coats. We shave them and make their facial hair a sweater or blanket or fur coats. Now granted, it would probably smell but after you wash it a few times the smell probably won’t exist anymore. This will not only make us warm during the winter time but it will also make all animal rights activist happier. The purpose of my proposal was to give a better understanding on why we should get rid of and benefit from homeless people. There are many ways that homeless people can be useful or not to us. We can kill them to stop overpopulation or we can use their excessive hairs for our beneficial needs. This would make a huge difference in our world. I hope anyone who reads this proposal gets a better understanding of the meaning â€Å"The homeless voice†. ? Works Cited Smith, J. â€Å"Ten Year Plan. † http://www. endhomelessness. org/section/solutions/ten_year_plan. N. P. , 3 September 2009. Web. 6 Nov 2011. McGrath, J. â€Å"Ending Homlessness in america. † http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/1831995/ending_homelessness_in_america. html. N. p. , 24 June 2009. Web. 6 Nov 2011.

The Election Of 1848 And Emerging Sectional Divide Between...

Semester Long Research Paper The election of 1848 revealed and emerging sectional divide between the north and the south over the issue of slavery. The was the 16th presidential election held on November 7, 1848. Zachary Taylor, who was a member of the Whig party won over Martin Van Buren of the free soil party. Slavery was defined as a legal or economic system in which principles of property law were applied to humans allowing them to be classified as property, to be owned, bought and sold accordingly, and they could not withdraw unilaterally from the arrangement. Two societies, two regions, the north and the south had very different views on slavery and struggled to be on the same terms. Slavery was basically claiming human beings as property. Slavery was very crucial and accepted in the southern states. In the south, slavery was considered a necessity in order to maintain the agricultural economy of the entire region. The fertile soil and climate of the southern region made it ideal for large scale farms (plantations) and crops like tobacco and cotton. Slavery was a southerner’s way of life as economic growth stimulated from the ever-expanding system of staple crop production, notably cotton that depended on the labor of at most 4 million slaves. Slaveholders worked these African American slave’s days in and out on plantation farms growing crops mostly cotton that was also sold to the north! The southerners protested that slavery could not be eliminated withoutShow MoreRelatedThe Expansion And Sectionalism Throughout American History1777 Words   |  8 PagesThe expansion and sectionalism throughout American history, the colonial resistance to the proclamation line had been one of unifying factors that had committed many English colonists to revolution and helped spread an emerging nationalism.   The exciting textbook American Nation, states that, American independence and control of a wide and rich domain were the most obvious results of the Revolution.   The revolution provided access to vast western lands and for many years western expansion would