1,500 words response (evidence). Comment on the texts.

What have you learned about your

country and its relationship with race? What does the last chapter of Epic of America tell you
about your country and how it’s changed (for better for worse)? How does ​The New Jim Crow
enlighten you/disturb you? At least 6 cited quotations to support your ideas. MLA formatted.
Works Cited.

The big argument that we fight today is weather or not the United States has changed at all in

the face of racism. Throughout the years we can see that the fight to diminish all racism has

increased and has been seen as a higher priority. In this Independent Study, we began with our

first text being “Ragtime” which discussed several major societal changes. This book was

published in 1975 but is written about the early 1900s. In the beginning of this story, racism did

not play a huge role and in fact was not noticeable early on. Being a different color did not

matter as much in the early 1900s as Richard’s father “didn’t know he was a Negro” (Doctrow)

We can see that a shift in societies views changed throughout the book as the little boy grew

older. About 20 years later when Richard was searching for a job many people would not let him

work because they believed that blacks should not work for them. Based off of Ragtime I believe

that the real change in the way blacks were viewed was around the 1920s-1930s. “Censoring

Racial Ridicule” continues the story of America in its early racist periods as it is written about the

late 1800s to early 1900s. This story continues the unjust treatment towards African Americans

as a young African American boy was punished for whistling at a white woman. One thing that I

related to this story when reading is the story of Emmett Till. Emmett Till was a young black boy

who was caught whistling at a white woman when being dared by his friends. Not only was the

boy scolded at but he was lynched and killed for his actions. I personally believe that this was

one of the main causes to bring about awareness. People were now aware of how cruel whites

can be towards blacks and they realized the racism in the society.

The last chapter of Epic of America

After reading each text and all the articles online I can surely say that the United States has

made progress on racism but is nowhere near diminishing it. Personally I believe that racism

won’t ever be diminished; it is one of those things that there will always be someone who is

against blacks and who does not want to be accepting. Unfortunately there are people who

most likely will never change their views. Although some people will never change, we need to

focus on the majority and the big groups. We need to change America as a whole. I do believe

that we have made a lot of progress when it comes to racism in the United States. There is still

racism in today’s society but it is nowhere near the extent it was years ago. Back in the 1900s

African Americans were punished physically; some even being lynched and killed. Nowhere in

today’s society do we see African Americans being killed because of their skin color. Although I

say that a lot of progress has been made I still agree to my standpoint that enough has not been

done and that there is still a lot of racism present in the United States alone. Statistically it is still

harder for blacks to get jobs, and many are accused of crimes when being innocent. In addition

to life in the workforce for blacks, there many racist comments that I hear every day just in my

town. There are many current events that demonstrate racism some examples including the

racial slurs used on the lawyer and even the comments our very own president makes. One

example of a racist comment by president Donald Trump was when he called all African

countries “sh*t holes”, basically indicating that they are worthless and not important. It is clear to

see that we live in a world where racism is present and seen.

I believe the new Jim Crow is a lot better than the old Jim Crow era. In the old Jim Crow

Era terrible laws were put in place against blacks. In addition there were black codes restricting

the rights of all blacks. The new Jim Crow is seen as a progress period and not much is done to

the African Americans.