Racism In Modern Day Society Essay Example

📌Category: American Revolution, History, Racism, Social Issues
📌Words: 671
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 31 May 2022

America’s beginnings have been littered with racism and discrimination. From her war with Great Britain, to modern day society, racism has been forcing people to take measures for the same opportunities that other people are given, and to be treated as equals. Though some progress has been made through American History, racism and discrimination is still prevelant in modern society.

In the early beginnings of America, slaves were used as economic profit, and were not seen as human beings. This happened even before the revolutionary ideas took place, and many icons during this era, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, in which the latter had over 600+ slaves. When the Revolutionary War was set into motion, slaves were recruited into the Continental Army, but only as reserves. Both sides, America and Great Britain, were promising freedom to slaves and other minorities, a deal which most slaves could not pass up. As stated on PBS, “As the Revolutionary War spread through every region, those in bondage sided with whichever army promised them personal liberty. The British actively recruited slaves belonging to Patriot masters and, consequently, more blacks fought for the Crown. An estimated 100,000 African Americans escaped, died or were killed during the American Revolution.”(PBS)

Taking this into account, more slaves would travel and fight in the front lines only for the slim chances of being free. Most would fight on the side that promised them absolute freedom,but on both sides,some slaves would simply be returned to their slave masters, having fought for nothing.

After America won her independence, many were questioning whether slavery was needed or not. On one side, the nation was industrializing, and found no use for human labor. On the other hand, the other side is economically dependent on them, being their main source of money. These sides were the Union and the Confederacy. Between these two, they would start the American Civil War. Just as in the Revolutionary War, both sides would recruit ethnic groups to fight alongside one another. This would not be without trouble, as ethnic groups would be treated with distrust and inequality. Until the later years of the war, and the many years after, Americans would not be considerate to those ethnic groups that would sacrifice their lives for others so that they could have the things they didn’t. This is supported by an article, made by NPS, which says, “it would be decades before significant numbers of Americans recognized the considerable contributions of ethnic groups that had suffered chronic discrimination and a racial group that had been alternately enslaved, segregated, or ignored for more than 200 years.” (NPS) Taking this into account, it is concluded that many Americans during that time didn’t take ethnic groups as seriously as they should have, especially with the efforts they put in to make sure every person like them should have gotten the same treatment as everyone else.

Now in modern society, racism takes place in the form of inequality, discrimination, and many other examples. Many types of people are feeling more and more segregated from others in America, especially when it comes to job offers, which they are treated as non-equal, with non-equal pay, and even job’s on the line being taken from them. In order to prove this, a study made by Khan Academy, stated “However, there was also a significant racial difference—white men with a prison record were more likely to be offered a job than African American men who had a clean record!(khanacademy)” This can prove that inequality and racism still exist in our modern world, hundreds and hundreds of years later. As shown in this study, some businesses prefer white men over african men, even if one has a criminal record. This goes to prove how jobs still prefer native born Americans than other people not coming from our country.

In general, America’s history has been riddled with racism, since the Revolutionary War, where ethnic groups had to fight for their freedom, even if they were to be returned again, to the Civil War, where ethnic groups weren’t taken as seriously as they should have been, fighting for their peoples freedom on behalf of their own, to today, where jobs are preferring American men, even with a criminal record than African men with a clean record.Though some progress has been made through American History, racism and discrimination is still prevelant in modern society.

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