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The Bottom of the Ladder

Uploaded by mrscutiepie on Aug 20, 2008

African American people have had the feeling of being discounted, having an economic struggle, and a sense of an inadequate meaning of life. African Americans thoughts of upward mobility, meaning “economic success for white ethnic groups”, gave them a level they knew they would never be able to reach (57). In Dr. J. Owens Smith’s book, “The Politics of Ethnic and Racial Inequality”, explains the reason for African Americans struggles with poverty and the upward mobility compared to non black Americans. White southerners were anxious to regain power over African American so they use the law in order to achieve that objective. In 1865, southerners created Black Codes, which served as a way to control and inhibit the freedom of ex-slaves. Codes controlled almost all aspects of life, and prohibited African Americans from the freedoms that had been won. The political, social, psychological, and economic effect resulted in the caused of the downfall of African Americans growth with society and as a people, which in turn gave other ethnic groups an upward mobility over the African American people. These laws were worded in a way such that blacks rights would be restricted which resulted in African American impossibility to gain any real freedom.
Competing against other ethnics groups could be extremely hard when your ethnic group was a lost from the beginning. The political effect of the black codes regulated African Americans jobs and white southern felt that blacks were destined to continue to work in the fields. Unlike the Japanese who developed human capital and bootstraps from American jobs, African Americans were restricted from renting or leasing any land outside of cities or towns and black ownership was left up to local authorities. Dr. Smith states, “Both the Japanese and Chinese were able to gain a foothold in the economic system despite structural barriers and racism”, while the African Americans could not build any capital due to racial discrimination (111). Even though African Americans were considered “freed slaves”, the government continued to control their lives through their pay which they suppose to have received from their employer to the non growth of achievements, which develop in being held back in society. In contrast, the Japanese develop human capital for their farming, education, and work ethic abilities to build America with the help of the de facto system. The creators of the black codes did not try to hide the obvious...

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Uploaded by:   mrscutiepie

Date:   08/20/2008

Category:   History

Length:   4 pages (997 words)

Views:   2632

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