Elizabeth's Blog

Throughout this semester, as a class, we have gone through and looked at how slavery has affected our nation and how the after-effects of slavery affected the way African Americans function in America even to this day. Going into this class I had a basic knowledge of American History. I knew basic events like the civil war, and the 13th amendment but this class opened my eyes to the dark reality of American History and the amount of time that it took for African Americans to gain full legal equality, and the progress still to reach full social equality. My eyes were opened to the number of setbacks and pushback the civil rights era received.  Starting in the early days of America we dove into the argument made by pro-slavery supporters in order to justify the act of slavery. We researched and dove into different arguments made by people from this era. One argument specifically prevalent was the argument justifying slavery through Christianity. Many southerners had their own argumen...

In Raleigh, North Carolina Bob Jones transformed the Klu Klux Klan into a group so big and influential the city itself earned the name Klansville, USA. What started as just a small group of friends, Bob Jones grew the Klan to thousands of members.  Bob Jones was the son of a carpenter who lived in North Carolina. Throughout his life Jones was referred to as "white trash" and it is assumed this is one of the reasons his strong racial feelings developed. He dropped out of high school and joined the United States Navy. He was discharged after refusing to salute a black officer. He stated, "I will salute the uniform all day, but I will not salute a ***."  He started the Klan and grew it tremendously. He was the Grand Dragon of the Klan in North Carolina during the 1960s. By 1965 North Carolina's klan had over 12,000 members making it the biggest klan in the United States.  During his time as Grand Dragon, he was investigated for his involvement with the klan. He ref...

Recently in class, I heard oral arguments made by my classmates for t he case  Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. This case involves a white man named Allan Bakke who sought admission into the University of California medical school. At this time in history, integration was occurring in educational institutions. This influenced the University of California's medical school to create a quota for its admissions process. The school only accepted 100 students and the school created a policy where 14 of those seats would be reserved for African American students.  Because Alan Bakke was denied because of this policy, he contended this policy in court.  In class, arguments were presented from both sides. First, representing Alan Bakke, the argument that stood out to me was the argument being made about how Bakke scored higher than those 14 African Americans that were admitted. This  classmate argued that race should not be a factor at all. Eliminating this f...

Recently in class, we watched a video reflecting on the life of Hazel Scott. She was an African American singer and pianist. With the peak of her career being in the prime-time of racial segregation in America, not only was Hazel Scott a talented musician but was also a prominent civil rights activist. Hazel Scott paved the way for African Americans in the entertainment industry and in Hollywood.  Hazel Scott started her career after attending Julliard through her broadway primer in the 1938 musical Sing out the News.   After that, she landed a gig performing at a club. By the 1940s Hazel Scott was a known household name. She traveled the country playing for audiences, but Hazel Scott had one condition. She would not play in front of a segregated audience.  Considering the time in America a segregated audience would not be uncommon. This was during the almost five-decade-long period after Plessy v. Ferguson that legalized segregation in America. So Hazel Scott demanding h...