Formed in 1776, the United States has been through eleven declared wars, forty-seven recessions, and many elections, but has failed to eliminate the power of the white majority. Even being a country of freedom, the United States continually makes policies that are detrimental to African Americans and maintain the power of the white majority. The political theorists Alexis de Tocqueville, WEB DuBois, and Fredrick Harris observed this line of blacks versus whites in their writings where Tocqueville, in his “darker” writings, commented on slavery and its impacts for the years after the abolition, DuBois observed the color line, and Harris noted the lack of political challenge to racial inequality. The three of these writings demonstrate how
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The origin of racism in the United States can be traced back to slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries. During his time in America, Tocqueville is disgusted with slavery while being pessimistic on the future of blacks in America. He declared there are “two races bound together without…being united (Lecture, 10/19/16),” meaning whites and blacks are separate but in this country we are forced to live together. This thought, coming from a French outsider, shows how evident the separation is between races, laying the foundation for segregation in the future. During the time of writing volume one in his book, published in 1835, there were little if no laws for the rights of African Americans in the United States and there was no positive outlook for black lives. According to politician Mamie Locke, “interpretation of the Constitution and state laws and statutes merely reinforced the notion of the property rights of the …show more content…
This pushed forward the abolition of slavery and new regulations. Among those were the conservative “Sumner’s bill” that allowed for a new department to establish regulations for the freedman, promising protection, land, wages, and judiciary justice. This bill was ultimately defeated but a “Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands” was created (DuBois, 10). This demonstrates the government’s want to be involved in African American lives and ruling over them. Though they may appear to be for good suit, their main enactment did not help the African American community and further benefited the white tyranny. During the time after the Civil War, Locke argues that two groups wanted to exploit the freemen: the women’s rights movement and Republicans. The women wanted to use the new freedoms that were slowly opening to African Americans to begin opening for women while the Republicans wanted to increase their voting base (Locke, 381). Though both groups had well intentions for the African Americans, it is evident that the groups’ main goal was self-centered and not about the African American rights. The white tyranny was further enhanced during this time of the century and would continually grow as time
The origin of racism in the United States can be traced back to slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries. During his time in America, Tocqueville is disgusted with slavery while being pessimistic on the future of blacks in America. He declared there are “two races bound together without…being united (Lecture, 10/19/16),” meaning whites and blacks are separate but in this country we are forced to live together. This thought, coming from a French outsider, shows how evident the separation is between races, laying the foundation for segregation in the future. During the time of writing volume one in his book, published in 1835, there were little if no laws for the rights of African Americans in the United States and there was no positive outlook for black lives. According to politician Mamie Locke, “interpretation of the Constitution and state laws and statutes merely reinforced the notion of the property rights of the …show more content…
This pushed forward the abolition of slavery and new regulations. Among those were the conservative “Sumner’s bill” that allowed for a new department to establish regulations for the freedman, promising protection, land, wages, and judiciary justice. This bill was ultimately defeated but a “Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands” was created (DuBois, 10). This demonstrates the government’s want to be involved in African American lives and ruling over them. Though they may appear to be for good suit, their main enactment did not help the African American community and further benefited the white tyranny. During the time after the Civil War, Locke argues that two groups wanted to exploit the freemen: the women’s rights movement and Republicans. The women wanted to use the new freedoms that were slowly opening to African Americans to begin opening for women while the Republicans wanted to increase their voting base (Locke, 381). Though both groups had well intentions for the African Americans, it is evident that the groups’ main goal was self-centered and not about the African American rights. The white tyranny was further enhanced during this time of the century and would continually grow as time