"Man changes his identity as he passes from one stage or group to another"(1),this idea is conveyed by Ralph Ellison, the author of the Invisible Man, through an African- Americans transition from perspective success to alienation and an enlightenment of identity, which conform his identit...

The attitude -- that we seek not the "best individual" but the individual who will contribute the most to the whole -- applies in other walks of life besides sports. Think about the example of college admissions today. Is it constitutional for a school to look merely for the students who individuall...

Affirmative ActionAffirmative action has been the subject of increasing debate and tension in American society. Should someone be able to attend a university just because of his or her nationality? This has been a growing debate all over the country. There are two sides of this argument. On one side...

Anti-Intellectualism by Social Class Why should you be penalized for being intelligent? Nowadays young African Americans face a dilemma for being educated. Students sometimes receive bad grades just to fit in with their peer-group, since of course it is cooler to be uneducated then knowledge...

"As early as 1871, Frederick Douglas ridiculed the idea of racial quotas, arguing that they would promote an 'image of blacks as privileged wards of the state'" (O'Conner, pp. 216). Affirmative action is viewed either as reverse discrimination or compensation for past mis...

During my visit to the University Museum of Texas Southern, I encountered on many interesting quilts containing lots of history of our culture. It surprised me that the quality of the quilts was so good, it showed how durable the quilts have been after so many years. It was amazing in how the qui...

Research Essay Affirmative Action in the United States There has been constant debate about the issue of Affirmative Action in American society. Those who oppose this policy say it actually serves as a hindrance to the nation in that it creates "reverse discrimination." However, in ...

The idea of Affirmative Action was originally meant to correct discrimination rooted in slavery and segregation. To achieve the idea of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to be judged on character not skin color. Sorely, it has further divided the nation's racial groups. For that, and many other reasons, ...

Tailgates as a Cultural Contact Zone "Arts of the Contact Zone" by Mary Louise Pratt is an article that talks about how critical and history-making it is when different cultures meet for the first time. She describes this moment with her coined phrase, the "contact zone". She gives the perfect exa...

We should look at the differences of the world and try to learn from them. All people have their good points and bad points. We live in a world that is not all white, all black, or not even all yellow. We live in a world where all races interact among themselves. The university in the United St...

Racism on Television Everyone knows that September 11, 2001 was a horrible day in America. After those attacks we were a distort country, looking for answers. Did TV coverage of the events at hand help with our coping or did they only feed the flames of hatred against people with Arabic decent. N...

When they were first initiated, affirmative action policies were needed to address the discrimination faced by women and members of minority ethnic groups. These policies have enabled many people to secure better employment and educational opportunities. In their wake, however, affirmat...

Abstract The struggle for equality and justice is arguably the foundation of many societies throughout the world. The American plight for these freedoms began with the end of European empires and the retreat of European settlers to a new world that would later be named America. However, as the col...

Sucheng Chan, the author of "Asian Americans, an Interpretive History", is currently a professor of history and is also the chair of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1973, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Ber...

Culture ShockBeing born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley we are not exposed to people of different ethnical backgrounds. We are enclosed in an environment where we are barely accepting of people of our own race. In my early years, I was never exposed to people of different ethnicity or culture. W...

Positive Social ChangeI have always had a deep interest in cultures other than my own. My fascination with other cultures does not simply lie in an admiration of their cuisine, but an awareness of their political, social, and economic makeup as well. During my sophomore year at State University, I m...

There are many issues in today's society that have two solid sides to them, sides, or positions, that cannot be proven absolutely wrong or right. Issues such as capital punishment, abortion, labor unions, animal rights and the list goes on and on. But one issue of this sort haunts our school...

Affirmative action is active in the classroom, workplace, and society. In everyday society, does affirmative action need to be used? For a person to receive a smoother paved road because of their skin color is not justified. Even people intensely concerned about affirmative action, I said- whether f...

On Representations of Race and RacismGeorge P. Nicholas, from the University of Chicago Department of Sociology and Anthropology, wrote this article after attending a conference in Alberta, Edmonton, Canada called "Anthropology in the 21st Century: Beyond the Ivory Tower". Professor Nicholas was at...

Affirmative Action began in an era when minorities were highly under represented in universities and employment. Unless one was racist, most agree with the need of affirmative action in college admissions and in the workplace. With so much of America's work force made from inter-raced schools n...

Affirmative Action Affirmative action is an attempt by the United States to amend a long history of racial and sexual discrimination. But these days it seems to incite, not ease, the nations internal divisions. Opponents of affirmative action say that the battle for equal rights is over, and that...

Emotions have helped humans evolve and survive by changing the way we react to and think about our environment. Positive and negative emotions create patterned responses in both individuals and in whole societies. Emotions can help people understand the world, including other human beings,...

The dictionary definition of myth is a usually legendary narrative that presents part of the beliefs of a people or explains a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. One baseless myth has haunted American society during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and in the novel A Lesson Before Dying...

Affirmative action is the set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Affirmative action was set into place during the 1960's by President Johnson as a way of redressing discrimin...

Ralph Ellison\'s short story, Battle Royal, takes place in any small town in the south. The main focus of this story is the reoccurring incidences of racial inequality. This is a story of several generations of an Afro-American family that dream about improving their lives in a racially segregated A...