Overview:
Racism and discrimination is a topic of the present and not the past. When looking for a history of racism and discrimination, you will notice there is no history of this. There is no history of racism and discrimination because back then racism and discrimination did not really occur because that was not a problem. The problem in history has always been racial discrimination. Before confusion is created, there is a difference between racial discrimination and racism and discrimination. Racial discrimination is the discrimination of an individual because of their skin color and or racial or ethnic origin. Meanwhile racism and discrimination is the discrimination of an individual because of racial issues and or age, sex, or a different category of reasons. In history, it was uncommon for a person to identify as something different than what they were supposed to be. Ex: at birth the doctor would give you the gender male or female depending on the genitals the baby possessed at birth. It was uncommon for someone identified as a man to later identify himself as a woman or a man or woman to pursue same sex relations. Which is why racism and discrimination did not occur and racial discrimination did in the past.
Past:
After the Fourteenth Amendment was signed and billed, citizenship was given to African Americans. The Fourteenth Amendment was the first attempt that African Americans used to gain entry to a plethora of things they wanted, such as education. But the amendment was not enough for them to get what they desired as a lot of racial discrimination occurred in the educational system between black people and white people. A number of court cases ensued between blacks and whites as blacks fought to receive equal education as their white counterpart was. This led to the “separate but equal” attempt, which occurred after the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson court case, where facilities and treatments were supposed to be held but instead led to segregation as schools for blacks only to attend were created. Education, while not the full reason for the formation of this group, held high importance to the NAACP. The NAACP formation followed the Plessy v. Ferguson case and they went on to lead to an onslaught against the system that oppressed the African American community. Through the NAACP, the Garland Fund and Margold Report and the campaigns against discrimination education occurred. The NAACP fought for any educational right they could get for the African American community, an example being fair salaries for black teachers. But the segregation in the education system would not end until Brown v. Board court case. An almost two year court case that resulted in state laws being establishing that racial segregation in public schools as unconstitutional. This would lead to the end of “separate but equal” attempts public schooling would now be open to everyone and the world would begin to have to adjust to that.
Moment of Change:
But as one era ends, the world would see a new one be ushered in as racial discrimination would become racism and discrimination. This would be ushered in with the suicide of Rutgers college student Tyler Clementi in 2010. The situation occurred in 2010 when Tyler’s roommate used a computer webcam to watch Tyler engage in sexual activity with another man. Tyler’s roommate would go on to post about what he had done on his twitter account before offering a repeat of what he had done to friends and his followers. Tyler would go on to complain to the RA and school officials about this incident. He would request a single room and punishment for his roommates behavior. When brought up in court, the RA would tell of how uncomfortable Tyler was as he fought to get his demands met. But in the end, Tyler would commit suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Unfortunately however, Tyler was not the only student to have faced bullying on campuses because of their sexuality. Four other students faced some form of bullying or harassment before committing suicide. But these incidents would not go unnoticed as the world would begin to see the seriousness behind what occurred. College campuses would begin to work on making college safer for all students. All primary and secondary schools would begin to make harsher enforcement that would adhere to all the factors of the Board of Education laws that were made from 1972 to now.
Citations:
H., Charles, et al. “Brown v. Board at Fifty: ‘With an Even Hand’ A Century of Racial Segregation, 1849–1950.” A Century of Racial Segregation 1849–1950 – Brown v. Board at Fifty: “With an Even Hand” | Exhibitions – Library of Congress, 13 Nov. 2004, www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-segregation.html.
“Suicide of Tyler Clementi.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Tyler_Clementi.