FREE ESSAY ON BLACK EMPOWERMENT IN AMERICA

BLACK EMPOWERMENT IN AMERICA

These two articles on the past and future of black empowerment in America. My topic is
something of a fairly new nature and these two articles really touch on the essence of
the point of my would be research paper. The first touches on the past of black
empowerment and further extended my knowledge of significant events such as the civil
rights movements and in particular the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The second hits on the
current and future issues in black empowerment. For instance the need to not ignore the
race card when it comes to political action, because its still very prevalent.
The first article was titled The politics of black empowerment; the transformation of
black activism in urban America, by James Jennings. The main point of his article was to
illustrate how important the issue of race has played in voting in America. He gave the
examples of the post reconstruction era in the early to mid 1900s and the civil rights
movement. He analyzed the similar intimidation tactics used in both periods and how both
periods were important for black empowerment. He also analyzed the impact of the Voting
Rights Act of !965 and the ramifications of government intervention in the area of civil
rights. He concluded that not only representation is necessary for black empowerment, but
power to decide an individual destiny.
The second article titled: The struggle for black empowerment in New York City; beyond
the politics of pigmentation. It was written by Dale Rogers Marshall. He is trying to
point out that although blacks have come a long way in terms of voting and political
power, the fact of race cannot be ignored in the realm of politics. He isn't saying that
race should be an important aspect of how one votes, but he points out several sets of
election statistics that show that it is. He also points out in his analysis of racial
lines playing a part in voting the 60s era; as did the first article. As he goes along he
points out several southern cities and how their elections were divided along racial
lines. For instance he pointed out a city in Florida that had always had white support
for white candidates and black support for black candidates but not vice versa. His
conclusion was that as far as both races have come in understanding each other the issue
of race when it comes to voting can not be ebbed out.
Both of these articles were well written and would be very helpful to a research paper on
black empowerment. They both cover enough of the past, present, and future whereas you
can deduce an intelligent understanding of the issue of black empowerment. Their only
drawback is that if someone has never heard or isn't necessarily interested in this
topic, the articles go a little in depth with their examples and numbers. All in all, I
found them to be a useful tool in the understanding of my topic.