2. Where could a person living in the United States before the Civil Rights Movement find evidence of Segregation?
3. Sports Teams, Then & Now My husband, is the Only White Guy on his Iraq, Army basketball team. Quite the change from 50 years ago. In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship
5. Segregation at Play… Segregation even extended to places of recreation and play… Today children of all races can be seen playing together.
6. Segregation in Housing… the status of housing “division” in America. This is our neighbors’ home, an African American family.
7. Segregation in medical care… Before the Civil Rights Movement… And After…..Dr. Michelle Brammer DMD and her patient.
8. Segregation in Schools… A sign in the “lunchatorium” of my kids Elementary school Schools were Segregated until May 17, 1954
9. Segregation in the retail world… Protestors wanting fair shopping laws Everyone eats and shops together
10. An African-American President The First US President, George Washington and his wife Martha Our current US President, Barrack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Editor's Notes
Throughout world history, one race has often viewed itself as greater and superior to another. The sense of superiority among others created the concept of segregation; the legal or social practice of separating people based upon their race or ethnicity. Although segregation was often perceived to occur in the South, the unjust concept was found in every section of the United States at one time or another. Segregation was a major impediment to unity throughout the country during the 1950's and 1960's. Even so, the separation of races led to the momentous Civil Right's movement (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/329018/history_of_segregation_in_america.html) Many feel that we have come a long way since that day in August 1963. "Traditional racism," which involves open bigotry, such as segregation, hate crimes, activities of supremacist groups and such, usually based on beliefs about the biological inferiority of blacks, is definitely not as evident today. However, many feel that "modern racism," which is a compound of hostility, rejection, and denial on the part of whites toward the activities and aspirations of black people, is still very much alive. Often times this racism is in the form of "institutional discrimination (kaplanuniversity.com, 2011).
During the 1950s and 60s, a number of racial barriers hung over the sporting world. Black athletes appeared on one out of every ten college teams, but only comprised up to 1% of all players in sports teams. Furthermore, black athletes were not allowed on the first string. Also, many southern teams refused to compete against any teams with black players (Encyclopedia of ethnicity and sports in the United States By George B. Kirsch, Othello Harris, Claire Elaine Nolte, 2000).Greenwood Press: Westport, CT.
Before and during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, whites and other ethnicities were segregated in all things, including restaurants. The first picture was before the civil rights movement and the second was one I took on an evening dinner at McDonald’s. I thought it was interesting because before the civil rights movement, white’s only restaurants were the “norm” and today everyone, all colors and creeds eat together (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/329018/history_of_segregation_in_america.html).
These are pictures from YMCA, then in 1950s and today 2011…my daughter is the baby in pink sitting on the YMCA Children’s daycare room Head Manager’s Lap. He is the African American man on the right.
Before the Civil Rights Movement, housing market discrimination was common and blatant, especially against African Americans1) Below is a newspaper article from a southern paper during the 1950s and early 60s. The second is a book cover from author James W. Lorwen, showing the current status of housing “division” in America, also a sign depicting “an only white community” (http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/collins.fair.housing) Fair Housing Laws, William J. Collins, Vanderbilt University Press.2)They are on vacation right now, or I would have them standing out front. Notice the American flag? They are picking up their son for R&R from his tour of duty in Afghanistan . This is just one African American family in our neighborhood. There children come to our home to play with our kids and vice versa.
Before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, white and black people were segregated into different waiting rooms for medical treatment. Today, there are not only many African American doctors, but also all patients meet in the same waiting rooms and sit in the same medical examining chairs/rooms (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/aframsurgeons/history.html)I work for Dr. Brammer in her Orthodontic Office.
In the early 1950's, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America. Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.In Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grader named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away. Linda's father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal of the school refused. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for help. The NAACP was eager to assist the Browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. With Brown's complaint, it had "the right plaintiff at the right time." Other black parents joined Brown, and, in 1951, the NAACP requested an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka's public schools (http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-civilrights/brown.html) Early Civil Rights Struggles: Brown vs. Board of EducationToday, an excerpt Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech hangs in the main room of my children’s elementary school. We live in a well ethnically mixed area, the classrooms are pretty well ethnically integrated , with all races.
From our first President, George Washington until our current President, Barrack Obama; all US presidents have been white. Although the United States is currently 65% white and 12.4% black, an African American President was still chosen (http://www.census.gov) The Black Population in the United States.In the coming years, I predict that many more African Americans will not only become President, but also will be elected to many more government positions.The lower right picture is of the First Lady, Michelle Obama on her Hawaiian vacation this past December. They actually stayed in the same town we lived in, Kailua. We loved it there, but not just because the President vacations there.
