Race and ethnicity  (Page 22/22)

The murder of james byrd, jr.

James Byrd, Jr. was murdered by being dragged to death, down an asphalt road, late at night, in the small East Texas town of Jasper. Byrd was black, his killers are white. Two of them have been sentenced to death and one to life imprisonment. (For more information, please visit the following websites: The Murder of James Byrd Jr . Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act ; Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act .)

Hate kills, and the United States, born in racism, is a nation where hate has been nurtured. Unfortunately, racism is part of the fabric of American society. It is part of our social structure. Thus, we must learn to deal with both the legacy and the ongoing problems of racism. A difficult, but necessary task. In order to fully overcome the racism inherent in American society, we must heed the words of W.E.B. DuBois and remember, that for minorities “One ever feels his twoness—an American, a [minority]; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one . . . body whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” The promise of this country is great, but the reality has not yet met the promise even though there have been movements to overcome our inherent racism.

Overcoming racial/ethnic discrimination

1808— Importation of slaves banned in the U.S.

1863— Emancipation Proclamation signed.

1865— 13th Amendment ratified; abolished slavery.

1868— 14th Amendment ratified; established due process and equal protection to all citizens including former slaves.

1870— 15th Amendment ratified; voting rights for former slaves established.

1905— The Niagara Movement the beginnings of the NAACP .

1952— McCarran-Walter Act permitted Asians to become US citizens; overturned Asian exclusionary acts.

1954— Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka declared that segregation was inherently discriminatory and unconstitutional.

1964— Civil Rights Act prohibited any race/ethnicity-based discrimination in hiring and employment practices.

1964— 24th Amendment ratified; outlawed poll taxes .

1965— Voting Rights Act prohibited any race/ethnicity-based discrimination in allowing minorities to vote.

1965— Immigration Act r emoved national quota systems permitting an influx of immigrants from Mexico Latin American and Asia.

1968— Fair Housing Act prohibited any race/ethnicity-based discrimination in housing.

1980s— Congress issues an apology and grants reparations to those effected by Korematsu .

1990s—President Clinton offers apologies and reparations to victims of the Tuskegee experiment. (For more information, please see the following websites: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment ; U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee ; TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY ; Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study ; Remembering Tuskegee ; TUSKEGEE EXPERIMENT ON BLACK MALES! )

1995— Mississippi ratifies constitutional amendment abolishing slavery

2000—South Carolina removes the Confederate Flag from flying over the capitol dome Current, Richard N. and T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel, Alan Brinkley. American History: A Survey Sixth Edition . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1987. U. S. Census Bureau. HYPERLINK http://:www.census.gov/prod/; (External Link) ; The Official Statistics: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1998 .

See also: Civil Rights: A Chronology ; Slavery Timeline ; Slavery and our Founding Fathers ; Statutes of the United States Concerning Slavery .

Historical race/ethnic population demographics in america: a brief statistical overview

• 1790—Population 4 million
  • 1 person in 30 urban=3.33
• 1820—Population 10 million
  • 1 black to 4 whites=25% Black population
  • 14000 immigrants per year for decade
  • Almost all from England and N. Ireland (Protestants)
  • 1 in 20 urban=5%
• 1830—Population 13 million
  • 1 black to 5 whites=20 Black population
  • 60,000 immigrants in 1832
  • 80,000 immigrants in 1837
  • Irish Catholics added to mix
• 1840—Population 17 million
  • 1 in 12 urban=8.33
  • 84,000 immigrants
• 1840-1850—immigration1.5 million Europeans
• 1850—Population 23 million
  • Irish 45% of foreign-born
  • Germans20% of foreign-born
• 1850s—immigration2.5 million Europeans
  • 2% of the population of NYC were immigrants
  • In St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee the foreign-born outnumbered the native-born
• 1860—Population 31.5 million
  • 26% of the population of free states were urban
  • 10 of the population in the South were urban
  • Irish immigrant population in America=1.5 million
  • German immigrant population in America=1 million
• 1900—Population=76.1 million
• 2002—Population=280 million
• 2010—Population=309 million Current, Richard N. and T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel, Alan Brinkley. American History: A Survey Sixth Edition . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1987. U. S. Census Bureau. HYPERLINK http://:www.census.gov/prod/; (External Link) ; The Official Statistics: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1998 ; (External Link)

Although Europe has been the traditional sending region for immigrants to the U.S., the post WWII era (after 1946) shows a significant increase in migration from Mexico, South and Central America, and Asia. The latest migration trend involves people from Africa. Please visit the following websites for more information: TheStatistical Abstract of the United States: Population: Migration ; The Statistical Abstract of the United States: Population: Ancestry, Language Spoken At Home ; The Statistical Abstract of the United States Population: Native and Foreign-born Populations .