woman and black oppression in america
...speculate that women have seen advances in the workforce. These facts help verify how women are oppressed in the work place and financially. Our society has accepted women into the workforce but still refuses to treat them as equals. African Americans are another oppressed group in American society. African Americans have been facing discrimination since the 1600s. At that time they were mostly slaves and thought as sub human and treated as such. In the 1860s, all slaves were freed. African Americans began trying to assimilate into society, but were kept back by violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan and others. These groups felt that African Americans were second class citizens. African Americans were kept from getting decent jobs and wages, thus putting them in situations where it was almost impossible to make a decent living for their families. Yet even today after laws such as affirmative action that requires companies have a certain number of minority races. African Americans are still finding that jobs are hard to come by. The statistics released in 2004 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the national unemployment rate was 5.4 percent. While the white unemployment rate was only 4.7 percent. African American unemployment soars at 10.3 percent. These statistics show that with government intervention African Americans continue to be oppressed. White men are predominantly the oppressors of both women and blacks. Whites in America have been long considered the dominant race since overtaking the Native Americans. The number of whites in America, along with European social and religious reasons molded American society to accept men as the dominant sex. While white men are on top of the social hierarchy. History has shown that when someone is in power they refuse to let go. Thus preventing women from earning well paying jobs, leaving more for men. White men, due to mostly religious and social acceptance reasons, want their women to work at home, raising children, cleaning house, cooking, and to serve their husbands. African Americans on the other hand have been oppressed by white men for similar reasons, to be served. White men originally brought the blacks to America to be slaves. White men wanted them to do the hard labor on their plantations, farms, ranches, and even house work. Due to this historical background, some white men still feel as if African Americans should be doing what they were brought here to do which is to serve the white American race. By trying to keep African Americans from getting good jobs thus keeping them from moving up the social hierarchy not only keeps more jobs available for white men, but it keeps white men financially superior to African Americans. African American women have the most to overcome. They are woman and African American, two of the biggest handicaps in America towards getting a job. Although they have it rough, African American women still...