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.