Blog 5

I decided to write the family history paper on my best friends family because I was extremely interested in her culture. Her family is from Armenia and has accomplished a lot in order to be successful in the United States. Two members of her family were involved in the Armenian Genocide, and lived to talk about it. When the family made it to America they thought all their problems would be solved, but in fact they were even worse. The family was discriminated against because of their different culture and ways of life. Even today this family finds themselves slightly discriminated because of their darker skin and acents.

My family has lived in the Cleveland suburbs for over 200 years. Politically every one in our family sees things differently; very rarely are two peoples political opinion's be the same. I know this because when our entire family gets together politics always comes up and there is always a heated argument, it is entertaining sometimes. However, in our household our political views are the same. I do feel that my race, sex, and gender have provided me with advantages and ways I have inherited privileges because of my family history. My family would be considered middle class. I definitely think my gender has something to do with privileges I receive. My sisters and I have never had to do any yard work or any hard phyisical labor around the house. My brother on the other hand has to do a lot of yard work and misc. outside chores with my dad. My sisters and I then have to do things around the inside of the house. Although I live near Cleveland which is known for being more of a diverse city, my city is not diverse at all. Most families that live in my city are white middle class families.

After this week, and the class as a whole I feel that my understanding for different cultures is a lot clearer. I feel that I have a good amount of background knowledge and understanding of different cultures. I also have more of an appreitiation for the people who worked so hard to get those equal rights. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and Rosa Parks to name a few commited there lives so that African Americans today can walk around in a world with out mass amounts of discrimination. They did a great job at fighting for those rights, however other cultures are still discriminated against today.

Blog 4

Some parts of the Civil Rights Movement were motivated by the horrific physical and sexual violence of slavery and Jim Crow segregation, including sexual violence. Activists and Civil Rights leaders were generally in agreement about the threats posed to African-Americans., there was great disagreement about the most effective ways to respond to racist violence. I will be discussing the arguments for both non-violence and aggressive responses.

Non-violence responses to the Civil Rights Movement were used to get across the point that African Americans were equal citizens, but wanted to do so by not using violence. Some of the non-violent tactics were actually very confrontational; some tactics used were marches, boycotts and sit-ins. The Montgomrey bus boycott was Martin Luther King Jr.'s attempt to stand up to the white community with a non-violent bus boycott. King did not believe in violence to solve problems but still effectivly got his point across that the whites were mistreating the African Americans. He wanted to end segregation and discrimination in non-violent ways. however, many of these non-violent responses ended in violent ways and many times they ended in death. Through the non-violent responses the African Americans were trying to achieve freedom and to be treated equally.


Aggressive violent responses that were used consisted of lynchings, sexual violence, and abuse. Lynching was done by white men because they felt they were better than all other races, and African Americans were usually the targeted race. The lynchings were mostly preformed in front of large groups of people and seen as social gatherings. One of the main purposes of lynching was to instill fear into the African Americans so they would be silenced and under control. Another aggressive response that was used was that the white men would rape African American women. Even worse, for the most part they would get trialed for it and not get in trouble, and when they did it was very little trouble. Abuse was also an aggressive response used during the Civil Rights Movement, many black men were brutally beaten and abused. These acts of violence eventually lead the African Americans to fight back.

Blog 3

I will be comparing the experiences of the Irish and Chinese immigants. Both immigrants went to America to experience freedom from many things. The amount of work both groups went through to survive in the United States was incredible. It was also a battle for the two groups to not be threatened by their culture and assimilation.

Many Irish immigrants did not want to leave Ireland and felt that they were driven out of their homeland by "English tyranny". While in Ireland before their move over seas, almost everyone was extremely poor living off of potatoes and buttermilk so that other products could be sent to England. The potato famine struck in 1845 causing potatoes to turn black. The potato famine caused a huge problem because most families were already dirt poor and only living off of potatoes. The potato famine left a total of one million people to starve to death. Most immigrants that had some money decided to leave Ireland during the famine and went to America for survival. The Irish found jobs, but not great ones, most involving hard labor. They did many of the jobs that blacks were doing, such as building rail roads, being house servants, cooks, and common laborers. Irish immigrants later found themselves exploited as laborers and pitted against workers from other races.


like the Irish immigrants the Chinese immigrants had one main reason to leave their country; harsh economic conditions. However, the Chinese had a huge advantage on the Irish; the Chinese men were were wanted to build the transcontinetial railroad because they are more adapted then other people living in America. Although it is said that the Chinese that worked on the railroad were slaves, they all came willingly to the United States with hopes of a better future. Most migrants at first were men who were illiterate and had very little schooling. The Chinese then started to come to America in large groups in hopes to find gold in California.

As time passed Irish immigrants and the Chinese immigrants had one main thing in common; they were working in the same types of jobs. When the Irish went on strike for higher wages workers hired Chinese immigrants and found out that Chinese could preform the jobs faster than the Irish. This time was extremely challenging for both groups even though the Chinese laborers had a slight advantage of faster labor, they also had a disadvantage with the language they spoke. The Irish were viewed as outcasts at the time and compared to blacks. They were stereotyped as ignorant and inferior and forced to get the bottom rungs of employment. Over time, the Irish became leaders in the labor movement and were able to find over all better jobs. The Irish struggled with ideas of assimilation and had to decide if they were going to preserve their cultural identity, or assimilate. They decided to assimilate in order to have better chances for survival in America. The Chinese on the other hand, became targets of white labor resentment, and many things started going bad for them such as anti-Chinese riots. As time passed Chinese laborers were banned from entering the United States. The Chinese found themselves as victims of racial violence. Although the Chinese and Irish immigrants are not completely alike both groups have had problems with racial violence and segregation. Both The Chinese and Irish immigrants went through difficult times and at some point were negatively stereotyped and treated in the United States. As time passed both groups have assimilated and are not as negatively stereotyped in the United States.

Blog 2

Slavery was a system of racial hierarchies that structured American social, economic, and political relationships. As slavery spread throughout America it exerted complex effects on all aspects of American society. The majority of slaves were first used to increase productivity on plantations, and then gradually slave owners stated using slaves for other tasks they needed preformed. Slavery continued to be a pattern throughout the years because it was such a common thing, at the time it was just part of American society.


All people were implicated in slavery even if they did not personally own a slave. I think it is safe to say that almost everyone in that time period knew about slavery. With everything going on in that time period such as the underground railroad and slaves running away in general I think it would be difficult for citizens living in the United States not hear about slavery. Not to mention the issue was frequently talked about, so all those people who saw what was occurring and did nothing to stop it could be considered implicated in slavery. Even if people disagreed with slavery no one did anything about it. A lot of the time knowing something and not doing anything about it is just as bad as doing it. Although there were many people who did nothing about slavery there were however many people who did try to abolish slavery, and eventually did. Many of the people who first began to campaign against slavery were wealthy white men, and some of them even living in the south where slavery was the most common.

It was necessary for slavery to end because it was in humane to sell people and treat them in ways you wouldn't even treat an animal. People are people no matter where they come from, what skin color they are, or what religion they practice, they are still people.

In order for slavery to end enough people had to realize this. Petitions had to be singed and laws had to be passed. The civil war also needed to occur in order for slavery to end. An invention that made abolishing slavery easier is the cotton gin, many plantation owners were able to use the cotton gin instead of slaves. I'm not saying slavery was abolished just because the cotton gin was invented but it did make it a lot easier for slave owners do the work slaves did. After years of hard work to abolish slavery the goal was finally accomplished. When slavery was officially abolished in the United States, African Americans were able to experience a sense of freedom.


We can see similar systems of social control at work and in our lives. At the workplace minorities are sometimes discriminated, which can be seen as a type of social control. One minority that has been discriminated thought the years are women. Although men and women have "equal rights" women are still sometimes discriminated. A womens dollar value tends to be less than a mans, and a man can usually move up much higher than a women. According to catalyst.org "In 2006, the median weekly earnings for women in full-time management, professional, and related occupations was $840 per week, compared to $1,154 for men." (http://www.catalyst.org/publication/217/womens-earnings-and-income)
Another type of social control seen in our lives is that not everyone is educated in the same atmosphere.A student who receives an education from a well off suburb can sometimes have an advantage over a student who receives an education in a not so well off inner city school. One reason this occurs is because the lack of money some schools receive, it is hard to get quality supplies and teachers if the school system lacks the money to do it. In most cases, a better education leads to a more stable future with more opportunities for advancement. Students who succeed in high school and can afford college usually go to college to get a degree, which for the most part leads to a decent job. For those who cannot move up have more labor intense jobs and typically are blue collared workers, and work in factories. Both of these examples are not always true, there will always be women that make way more than a lot of men in the world but I am basing my thoughts based on the average number of women who make less than men; and there will always be workers that came from an inner city school who advance higher than someone who can from a wealthy suburb's school district.

Blog 1

The British racialized what they saw as the “savage” nature of Native Americans. This was based on what the British saw as different from themselves. The British viewed themselves inferior to the Native Americans, this inferior feeling is what lead the British to take over the Native American land. The British felt that everything from their race, culture, and religion was better than the Native Americans. The cultural difference was a big shock to the British because of how different the native Americans appeared. According to Michael Omi and Howard Winant the British challenged concepts about the human species and whether or not the Native Americans could be considered in the same “family of man.” The effects of this racialization were significant. The British forced the Native Americans out of there land and began to take over everything they knew. These types of racialized views are even shown today in contemporary pop culture. Racial Formation is shown in everything from TV shows, movies, and even music; actresses, actors and artists are portrayed with features that are common associated with a certain race. An example of how racialization is portrayed is on the television show “The Office”, racialization is heavily shown and referred to. In one particular episode Steve Carell does his version of a Chris Rock routine, and throughout the routine in some way makes a racial comment or gesture to categorize all the employees. In music when you hear a typical rap song most people assume the rapper must be “black”, however emminem is a rapper and he does not fit the racial categorization. When people think of country music most people assume that the artist is “white” and often are called “hicks”. However, Darius Rucker does not fit this racilization, he is a extremely successful country singer and also happens to be “black”. racialization and racial formation have been a continuous problem even in the begining of time.