Equality for Africans

Essay by pehar April 2004

download word file, 5 pages 4.8

The struggle for equality for Americans of African descent continues despite the significant advances made during the 1950's and 1960's. The question arises as to whether the struggle for Civil Rights has actually benefited the descendants of the many who sacrificed jobs, properties, reputations, and even their lives. Has the American civil rights movement become irrelevant?

Since this nation's birth, i.e., European discovery of the new world, Blacks, with exception to the native American Indians, have suffered disproportionately more than any other group. A cursory examination of world history will show that other groups have suffered more than the American Black. The brutal governments of Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Adolph Hitler are responsible for more deaths than any others in the history of the world. Nonetheless, limiting the discussion to American history, and the history of countries who have had the greatest influence on America's development, the Black struggle for Civil Rights is unparalleled.

No group in America has or has had more difficulty assimilating into the American culture. When one considers Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness for Blacks, we must first begin with the nation's history and the enslavement of African Blacks.

Black Americans are often filled with rage when conjuring up visions of slavery in America. Most White Americans, however, are apathetic concerning slavery. They did not own slaves, so why should they feel any guilt over something that happened 100, 200, or 300 years ago? When one thinks of the Civil Rights movement, we initially think of non-violent demonstrations only forty years removed. From the boycott of the Montgomery bus system to the civil rights march on Washington, D. C., the visions are forever implanted in the minds of most Americans. The struggle for civil rights, however, did not begin with Rosa Parks nor...