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1. Copy Pasta Racism in the Early Twentieth Century By DJ Scott

2. Racism -- Leading to Change Trying to capture the essence of 100 years of American history is indeed a challenge, yet an interesting and somewhat overwhelming commemorative fête. The growth of America within this century's range showed a nation going through vast amounts of changes. The democratic principles of America during this era were being tested and constantly on display before other nations around the world.. http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/century.htm

3. The ideal vision was that American democracy could work for all classes and races of people. Therefore America had become a testing ground where people from different nationalities and cultures were perceived homogeneously as living and enjoying the benefits of individual freedom and social justice. Looking back 100 years ago, that picture was inexplicably tainted, and the citizens of African-American descent were denied basic civil rights due to their race. Race became the dividing line which disavowed African-Americans their rightful place as full citizens in a nation espousing American citizenship and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness under the United States Constitution Martin Luther King, Jr. in the March on Washington, 1963 The paradox of two separate societies was endured for years and well into the mid part of this past century. Being able to maximize individual achievement was extremely difficult due to restrictive laws and opportunities for most African-American citizens during this era. African-Americans as a racial minority of color could easily be identified and isolated. It has always been difficult to understand historically why the stigma of race as a justification for the denial of basic civil rights for African-Americans was used for so long. To be inclusive in this democracy, most African-Americans had to live in a marginal society, segregated in all walks of life due to their race. Thousands of books and countless studies over the ensuing generations have shown how the widespread use of racism in America grew to outrageous proportions. The visible two separate societies created for African-Americans a certain necessity to create and proliferate as a separate group with specific social, cultural, religious, and political organizations catering to the recognition of their own individual needs in America. This past 100 years of American history seems short, yet still a long time ago. Within that span of time, the clock did move, and it provided us with some ups and downs in the African-American's quest in achieving full citizenship in a society with half closed doors. This exhibit is a retrospective, chronological account of what Events, Personalities, and Milestones evolved within 100 years of history and the role the African-American played in that history.

4. Racism Changes • http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/083_afr.html • http://www.buzzle.com/articles/racism-against-african-americans.html

5. Agony and Relief The period from 1890 to 1940 is known as the Jim Crow era in the history of prejudice against the African Americans. The Jim Crow laws were a series of state and national laws, enacted in the United States that segregated all the public facilities for the whites and the blacks. Millions of African Americans were brutalized, killed and frightened to death for voting and taking formal education, during these years. The concept of 'lynching', where the whites openly 'punished' the black population, was a rampant practice. White people would publicly hang black people for petty reasons, all over the country. The 'America's Black Holocaust Museum' in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has a collection of photographs and other evidences of the plight of African American populace, over the years. The first half of the 20th century also witnessed mass migration of the African American population from the disturbed Southern states to the North and the mid-west. The search for a better and a peaceful lifestyle, compelled millions to take this migratory step. Many African Americans fought for the US cause in World war I and World War II. Their exemplary service led to the desegregation of the US Armed Forces in July, 1948. The African American cause received great fillip during the American Civil Rights Movement which culminated with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which banned discrimination in employment, labor unions and public accommodations. It was at the threshold of this movement, that Martin Luther King Junior delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech from the steps of the grand Lincoln Memorial. Political and economic rights were soon granted to the blacks. In 2000, there were 8,936 black office holders in the United States. According to Forbes magazine, Oprah Winfrey was the richest African American of the 20th century.

6. Defining Racism • Fighting racism requires knowing what it is � not an easy task.Today the word 途acism� has so many contradictory meanings that it takeson the aura of a myth and is, therefore, difficult to define. The followingwill attempt to define racist ideology, independently of any sociologicalconsiderations. The first difficulty arises from the fact that racism is aSchimpfwort: a term with pejorative connotations, whose very use inevita-bly tends to be more instrumental than descriptive. Deploying the adjec-tive 途acist� involves using a powerful epithet. It can be a smear designedto disqualify those at whom the term is addressed. To call someone a rac-ist, even if the charge is intellectually dishonest, can be a useful tactic,either in successfully paralyzing or in casting enough suspicion as to cur-tails credibility. Such an approach is commonplace in everyday controver-sies. On the international level, the term can acquire a significance andweight that does not hide its real nature and purpose.1 Because of a certainaffinity, 途acism� can be used as the correlate of a whole series of otherterms: fascism, the extreme Right, anti-Semitism, sexism, etc. Today, thealmost ritualistic recitation of these terms often implies that they are allsynonyms and that any one falling into one of these categories automati-cally belongs to all of them. The end result is to reinforce the vagueness ofthe term and to discourage meaningful analysis. • http://www.alaindebenoist.com/pdf/what_is_racism.pdf • Rosa Parks, Rosa Louise McCauley (1913- ), African American civil rights activist, who is often called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. Her arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus triggered the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and 1956 and set in motion the test case for the desegregation of public transportation. • http://www.africanaonline.com/rosa_parks.htm

7. References • Michelle Cottle.  "Itching for a fight. " The New Republic  6 Dec. 1999:  Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web.  11 Oct. 2009. • http://raceethnicity.rutgers.edu/Syllabi%20pages/GrayWhit_RaceCultureIdentity.htm • http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/browse/topics.html?cat=5 • http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1033.html • http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1033.html