Historical Report on Race

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July 17, 2012

Shari Manley

Dear Tom, This letter is to address some issues that I would like to inform you on concerning African American males. Within this letter we will talk about the experiences of African American male throughout history, Social and political issues, and prejudice. As you and I both know black men has had it hard over the past few decades. First being brought to America as slaves and being used as work horses and breeding stock. Blacks were always held in an inferior position to whites. Whites were considered superior to blacks in all important ways. Including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior. Sexual relations between black men and white women were definitely frowned upon. In this era, Violence against black men was also common. From 1882-1968, 3,446 blacks were lynched. All because some viewed blacks of having too much freedom and to supposedly protect their women from rape (Berea College student, 1999). Now let’s look at the segregation that happened within America. Blacks and whites were not allowed to attend the same schools. If they rode public transportation, blacks where to sit in the back. Even some restaurants didn’t even give blacks service or if they did, they had to receive their food from the back door. All of these events led to the Civil Rights Movement spanning from 1955-1965. During this time not everyone was onboard with the idea of blacks having the same freedoms as whites. But, because of the persistence of African American leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and even John F. Kennedy. That started the change in our social status in America. When President Kennedy took office in January 1961, African Americans had high expectations for the new administration. President Kennedy appointed various African Americans to high-level positions in the administration and strengthened the Civil Rights Commission (Kennedy.Library Musuem). He spoke out in favor of school desegregation, praised a number of cities for integrating their schools, and put Vice President Lyndon Johnson in charge of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity(Kennedy.Library Musuem). Around November 22, 1963, before President Kennedy was assassinated , The Civil Rights bill was left in the hands of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson who served more than two decades in Congress as a congressman and senator from Texas. His connections southern congressional members enable him to help pass the Civil Right (Kennedy.Library Musuem). Although, laws made everyone equal, there was still segregation. Most blacks were placed in the dilapidated parts of town. Jobs were low paying and schools barely had enough books to give students. Meanwhile, whites were steadily flourishing in their careers, remodeled schools and growing neighborhoods. This kind of ongoing segregation and prejudice is what sparked the 1965 Watts riots. Tensions had been brewing between the two groups as prejudice incidents escalated. On Aug. 11, 1965, the riots sparked with the arrest of a black motorist Marquette Frye for drunk driving. When Frye's mother intervened, a crowd gathered and the arrest became a flashpoint for anger against police (Valerie Reitman, 2005). This violent event spanned for a total of six days, leaving 25 black people dead and 600 buildings either burned or destroyed (Valerie Reitman, 2005). After the riots, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the