4.3 American Culture: Race

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• WO
• HBO
• Studiejaar 1

American Culture: Race

Aims

After this lesson you will be able to:

• discuss to what extent assimmilation has occured in the US
• discuss lynching and its relationship to racism in American history
• name several key events in the civil rights movement and place them on a timeline

The US is referred to as a salad bowl due to:

1. the great extent of racial asssimilation
2. the many differences between cultures
3. the rapid growth of the US population

Some members of ethnic groups in the US feel bicultural.
They feel that they:

1. are fully assimilated into US society
2. do not belong to US society
3. they belong to US society and also have a seperate identity

Which of the following was not a characteristic of the dominant American culture during the early decades of the nation's history?

1. Catholic
2. Western European
3. middle-class

Which of the following was true about the political bosses in northeastern cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

1. They were more afraid of new immigrants than other Americans
2. They were more cruel to new immigrants than were other Americans
3. They were more helpful to new immigrants than other Americans

Today ethnic groups in the US

1. have no feeling of belonging to an ethnic group whatsoever
2. consider themselves as part of the US culture in varying degrees
3. Feel much more a part of their ethnic group than part of the US culture

What was the main reason most northern whites disliked slavery?

1. It went against their religious beliefs
2. It went against the US constitution
3. It threatened their own economic opportunities

After the Civil War, African Americans in the South lived in a social system where

1. many continued to be slaves
2. segregation was legal
3. there was racial discrimination, but no laws seperated them from whites

In 1954, the US Supreme Court declared

1. African Americans could not legally be denied their right to vote
2. Racially Segregated public schools are illegal
3. No one may be denied freedom of speech, press or religion

On which of the beliefs did Malcolm X disagree with Martin Luther King?

1. Black people should be assimilated into the larger American society
2. Black perople were not treated fairly by the larger American society
3. Black people should have freedom and equality

Which of these statements about race and ethnicity in America is true?

1. Most young African Americans today have no interest in learning about black culture
2. Racial prejudice, segregation and discrimination are at an all-time high in the US
3. Using the word mosaic to describe the American culture gives a positive image

What is your first impression of the song?

Strange Fruits is one of the most influential protest songs ever written.
What do you think it is about?

Lynchings

Aim: Social and racial control  

1877 -  1950

False accusations > lynch mob > public hanging

African-American lynchings per state, 1877-1950

https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/report/

The road to the 1964 civil rights bill

•  1954 school segregation banned
•  1957 desegregation of Little Rock Central High School
• January 1961 President Kennedy took office
• May 1961 integrated Freedom Rides
• August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
• November 1963 Kennedy assasinated
•  July 1964 Civil Rights Act passed under  Lyndon B. Johnson

Individual Assignment

Use chapter 8 to complete the timeline on racial and ethic diversity in the states

early 1600s

1790

1861-1865

late 1800s & early 1900s

1920s

1950s and 1960s

1965

2008 and 2012

What did you think of today's lesson?