19 Replies to “Week 4 – Race”

  1. From the reading Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wages by W. E. B. DU Bois talks about the two different group of people and what they are struggling though. On page 244 the author said, “Most persons do not realize how far this failed to work in the south, and it failed to work because the theory of race was supplemented by a carefully planned and slowly evolved method, which drove such a wedge between the white and black workers that there probably are not today in the world two groups of workers with practically identical interests who hate and fear each other so deeply and persistently and who are kept so far apart that neither sees anything of common interest”. (Bois) This explains how the black and white group are being separated from each other because of their different race that created a mindset of that black and white people are not same. These people made the race such a big issue that they were fall apart. Also never had a chance to come together to understand and break the stereotype. Therefore it keeps the big wall between them to see each other unequally.

  2. “Reconstruction was an economic revolution on mighty scale and with world- wide reverberation. Reconstruction was not simply fíght between white and black race in the South or between master and slave. It was much more subtle; it involved more than this.”This quote means that success of reconstruction of económic is necesario y to Change the way of thinking . Those negative thoughts that contributes to all bad action for making a bad economic and unsuccess society. The real situación no success of economic is that all the persons are indispensable for the económico or society for this reason the time of slavery the economic esa not a succes. The society understand that all persons have any function but we need to be Freedom.

  3. In the text Black reconstruction and the racial wage the text that most caught my attention was “Most persons do not realize how far this failed to work in the south, and it failed to work because the theory of race was supplemented by a carefully planned and slowly evolved method which drove such a wedge between the white and the black workers that there probably are not today in the world two group of workers with practically identical interests who hate and fear each other so deeply and persistently and who are kept so far apart that neither sees anything of common interest.” This quote caught my attention because for many centuries men of colored were hated and seen as an abomination to society and treated so poorly and different and all because society was influenced with such hate that whites were taught even from little to hate and point the people in color and were separated because whites were “superior” to any other race and with all of this influence people didn’t have time to realize or to think maybe the blacks have in common with the whites more than they think, that maybe the wealthy were taking advantage of the poor and weak but they didn’t have time to think about that because they were too busy thinking they were better and busy pointing and degrading the blacks. For many centuries people were too busy looking for things to hate instead of looking for the things in common, they were too busy hating that they thought it would be crazy to team up with the blacks, they didn’t think of ways to stop the corruption of the wealthy in which would benefit each other and everyone. for many years this failed to work because society taught them to hate instead of understand, to greed instead of share and to fight to be superior instead of looking for a better system as a team.

  4. According to the article Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage it says”The theory of laboring class unity rests upon the assumption that laborers, despite internal jealousies, will unite because of their opposition to exploitation by the capitalists.” (Bois 243) I choose this quote because it was unfair for black people back then but they didn’t understand that race or color didn’t have to matter. they was all equal and by working together they would had been doing better work and helping their wages increased separation was a big mistake and treating them like animals. Black and white are all equal and can do the same job I still don’t get why the separation of race.

  5. “And yet, despite this, and despite the long step backward toward slavery that black folk have been pushed, they have made withal a brave and fine fight”
    I picked this quote from “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage” by W.E.B. Du Bois, because I feel it best describes the injustice black folks had to go through. They have never had the same opportunities as white man. Still they have fought bravely against racism to gain their freedom.

  6. “If white and black in the south were free and intelligent there would be friendship and some intermarriage and there ought to be.”

    This paragraph tells us about how unfair the black laborers were treated, even white laborers had more rights and respect than they did despite being on the same social level. If society at that time had treated black people as well as white people, the economy and social coexistence would have been better. They would not have spent money on campaigns to humiliate black people, they would not be spending so much time on racial prejudice, everything would have been better if people had learned to co-exist in harmony and respect.

  7. I believe that this article is showing us how the African Americans wanted to be freed in the south and just wanted to feel equally to white people and it was time for a change.

    1. The reading “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wages” by W. E. B. DU Bois talks about how black people were not equal to white people. On page 244 it says that “the Negro were subject to public insult; was afraid of mobs; was liable to the jibes of children and the unreasoning fears of white women; and was compelled almost continuously to submit to various badges of inferiority. The result of this was that the wages of both classes could be kept low, the whites fearing to be supplanted by Negro labor, the Negroes always being threatened by the substitution of white labor.” I chose this quote because it describes very well how black people were seen by white people. They were “scared” of black people and used them as slaves because since their skin tone was black they thought they were different and that they deserved to be treated differently.

  8. In the reading “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage” by W.E.B. Du Bois discusses powerful racial injustice issues our nation faced in the past, however we still suffer from these racial issues in todays society. ” If white and black in the south were free and intelligent there would be friendship and some intermarriage and there ought to be; but none would marry where he did not wish to, and there could be no greater intermingling in the future than in the shameful past, unless this union of races proved successful and attractive”(Du Bois 245). This quote talks about how the possible outcomes would be if white and black indiviuals got togather and formed a bond to succeed in growing our world. This quote stood out to me because we still see racial injustice issues where black and white people or any other race do not get along. We are all human beings and the color of your skin should not define who you are as a person, yet in todays society certain individuals of different races have a hard time getting together. Maybe if all human races unified together we would not have racial issues that we face today.

  9. In the reading of “ W.E.B Dubois,Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage”, I have chose this quote, “despite the long step backward toward slavery that black folk have been pushed, they have made withal a brave and fine fight; a fight aganist ridiculous and monstrous caricature, against every refinement of cruelty and gross insult, against starvation disease and murder in every form”, this illustrates the idea that throughout the time, black people had to go through a lot in life. They were treated differently than white people because of their color/region. Black people had to fight against and be able to survive difficult obstacles. They were viewed not as a humans but only a slaves for the whites. They didn’t have the ability to follow their desires as to go to any place, do things related to their interests, be able to explore themselves to the world or even wear clothes of their choice and be able to go out like how white people used to do. However, they fought back for their rights and freedom that had a huge impact on their lives in order to survive.Even today there has been racism going on since many black people are still treated unfairly and unequally compared to white people. Nowadays, Black people have gained political power by being elected to the senate and the house of representatives and local government .

  10. In the reading “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage” by W.E.B. Dubois its states “They were given public deference and titles of courtesy because they were white. They were admitted freely with all classes of white people to public functions, public parks, and the best schools. The police were drawn from their ranks, and the courts, dependent upon their votes, treated them with such leniency as to encourage law lessness.”Dubois tries to explain how white people in these days were given more respect and better things then african americans because of their skin tone. African americans would receive criticism, made felt less and provided with poor education, parks and public utilities and whoever stood up for equality were found to be a threat to the whites causing the reconstruction era where people fought for their equality and freedoms to not be treated like animals because they are people too.

  11. “And yet, despite this, and despite the long step backward toward slavery that black folk have been pushed, they have made withal a brave and fine fight”
    I picked this quote from “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage” by W.E.B. Du Bois, because I feel it best describes the injustice black folks had to go through. They have never had the same opportunities as white man. Still they have fought bravely against racism to gain their freedom.

  12. In the reading,” Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage” by W.E.B. Du Bois, ” It must be remembered that the white group of laborers, while they received a low wage, were compensated in part by a sort of public and psychological wage. They were given public deference and titles of courtesy because they were white. They were admitted freely with all classes of white people to public functions, public parks , and the best schools”.
    I chose this quote because poor white people were treated equally just like rich white people even though they were getting low wage. White poor people had the same advantages as rich people where black people were suffering for everything.

  13. “The theory of laboring class unity rests upon the assumption that laborers, despite internal jealousies, will unite because of their position to exploitation by the capitalist. According to this, even after a part of the poor white laboring class became identified with the planters, and eventually displaced them, their interest would diametrically opposed to those of the mass white labor, and of course to those of the black laborer. This would throw white and black labor into one class, and precipitate a united fight for higher wages and better working conditions.”
    This quote was interesting because it describes how if people can relate to each other or understand each other they can come together without other things such as race coming between them. It also demonstrates that the fight is not between the people in the working class but the people in power to which if people unite they are able to make much more powerful demands

  14. In Duboi’s “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage” he claims that even though poor white and black people are in the same economic level they’re still a division between them an example laborers may be receiving a low wage but they would be treated differently when came to the hard working white man to the hard working black man his counterpart. It would be as little as praising a white man for being hard workers and ignoring the black man’s effort. To bigger scale differences such as all white being able to go to better schools also vote, speak, and be heard on certain issues on day to day issues. As compared to the Black man having none of those opportunities, but aside from all the difference there’s one thing that unites all the people especially rich people which always tend to be white. That is profits from labor as Duboi claims “ Agreement was possible here; North and South agreed that laborers must produce profits;..”(Duboi 243). The division was deep but the profits joined two total opposition, and thus creating more complex in this already difficult issue of race, labor, and wage.

  15. W.E.B Duboius reading “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wages“ focuses on how African Americans were mistreated and underrepresented on the job forces. “They were given public deference and titles of courtesy because they were white”. America has a long history of categorizing minorities into the same group regardless of their s.e.s. This quote is powerful, it breaks down how black laborers were treated differently. White men did not mind the poor or wealthy to be treated as one, as long as they were white. The race was an issue, not your economic status. I believe we still go through the categorization on a daily basis, so not much has changed. This reading also points out how white men used arrogance and humiliation to antagonize African Americans laborers.

  16. In the reading, Black Reconstruction and the Racial War, by W.E.B Du Bois (1935), I chose a quote that hooked me from the beginning, it says, “ All these contending and antagonistic groups spoke different and unknown tongues; to the Negro “Freedom” was God; to the poor white “Freedom was nothing– he had more than he had use for; to the planter “freedom” for the poor was laziness and for the rich, control of the poor worker; for the northern business man “Freedom was opportunity to get rich”. This quote summarizes one of the main points that are made in this writing, that regardless if you were an ex-slave or a poor unemployed white man, attempting to stand against organized industries, wouldn’t work out. Although the North and the South were able to compromise on production of profit, meaning all laborers are obligated to produce profit. That quote demonstrates the different meanings the word “ Freedom” has for each different race/ social status. It’s about survival, but when separating both the black and white race, it only caused more uproar than there already was regarding blacks and their actions on building themselves up from slavery, in comparison to just plain white people who are also living on or below the poverty line. The rich always make a profit off of the back of poor people, black or white, freedom was a right they didn’t have the chance to have( a significant huge amount were African Americans/ex-slaves ). The ones who truly had nothing, not even basic human rights were the ex slaves, that was one huge difference between them and the poor whites. There truly was no reason to separate anyone for the simple fact that if there wasn’t such ignorance and brainwashing occurring during this time, both races could of just worked together while the blacks reconstruct themselves while adapting to the human beings they are & not the animals they were chained to be.

  17. In the reading, Black Reconstruction and the racial war by W.E.B Du Bois. “Reconstruction was an economic revolution on mighty scale and with world- wide reverberation. Reconstruction was not simply fight between white and black race in the South or between master and slave. It was much more subtle; it involved more than this.”This quote explains that success of reconstruction of economic is necessary to change the way of thinking. Those negative thoughts that contributes to all bad action for making a bad economic and unsuccess society. The real situation no success of economic is that all the people are indispensable for the economic or society for this reason the time of slavery the economic is not a success for the wages and people.

  18. In the reading “Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage” by W.E.B. Du Bois one quote,’“Most persons do not realize how far this failed to work in the south, and it failed to work because the theory of race was supplemented by a carefully planned and slowly evolved method which drove such a wedge between the white and the black workers that there probably are not today in the world two group of workers with practically identical interests who hate and fear each other so deeply and persistently’. This discusses how the poor white and black people are in the same economic level they’re still a division between them an example laborers may be receiving a low wage but they would be treated differently. Also how they fear how society is treating differently that make the black people aren’t equal like the white.

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