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Society has progressed as a whole because, although they’re not perfect, racial perceptions have gotten much better and more positive. No longer is the terrible segregation or persecution. Social injustices have decreased, along with a change in mindset about color. The farther we go back in history, the worse racial perceptions get, but that just means that we’ve come so far with equality.

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1930’s

In the 1930’s, the great depression was taking place. It was a very somber time. Race perception in the 1930’s was very strong. Colored people were frowned upon and even abused just because of their race. Segregation was at its highest point, with schools, bathrooms, and even water fountains being divided by color. An example of this inequality is Juliette Derricotte situation. Derricotte was a black women’s rights activist from Athens, Georgia. One day, driving on the road in her car, she was driven off of the road by a white man as an act of hatred. Due to this accident, she was badly injured and brought to the hospital. But because of how colored people were looked down on, Juliette was denied of the proper medication and care all because of the color of her skin. She died not long after at age 31 because the hospital refused to care for a black woman.

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1960’s

Although advancements were made, life in the 1960’s for colored people was still difficult. Although the civil Rights movement had abolished segregated education systems, colored people had still been seen as a lower class. This could have been seen through the eyes of a 14 year-old black youth from Chicago, Emmett Till. Till was in Mississippi visiting his uncle when he got kidnapped and brutally murdered by two white men. This had happened because one of the men caught Emett whistling at his wife, an impolite but harmless act. But when the men were brought to court, they were dismissed and cleared of any charges because they were pardoned by the all white male jury. There was no justice for Till because nobody wanted justice for a colored person. Nobody wanted to believe that white people could do any bad, so they, despite many pieces of contradictory evidence, overlooked the terrible crime committed by two white folk.

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2000’s

In the early 2000’s, many strides were being taken to reach racial equality in America. Since the 1900’s, America has come a long way from how it used to perceive race. But there is still a lingering sense of inequality. For example, the Racial Justice Act was an act that was instituted to allow crime punishment to be determined partially by race. In 2013, the people of North Carolina voted to repeal the Racial Justice Act. These people felt for the colored individuals that were punished too harshly just because of their color. The votes stacked up and finally, North Carolina repealed the act and gave the people what they wanted. Some colored folk’s life sentences were even reduced due to the repeal. It just goes to show how much other people care about race now, for they were willing to fight for racial equality in America.

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In conclusion,

America can be a problematic place for people of all races sometimes. There is still injustice for people of color and unjust acts of hatred toward them. But we have come so far from where we used to be and have made countless advancements towards racial equality. In our history, buildings and appliances were segregated, services were denied to colored individuals, and it seemed there was no justice for them. But now race is celebrated and honored. So many people of America now disregard race and chose to see only who is on the inside of one another. This progressed has allowed America to be a better country because now, racial perceptions are optimistic.

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Works cited

60’s:

Works Cited

Osborne, Mamie Fortune. “An Interview with David Jordan on Emmett Till.” Southern Quarterly, vol. 45, no. 4, Summer 2008, p. 136. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=csl&db=b6h&AN=33662825&site=eds-live&profile=edspass:[_]high.

Zheng, John. “Emmett Till in Different States: Poems: An Interview with Philip C. Kolin.” Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies, vol. 48, no. 3, Dec. 2017, p. 189. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=okie,ip,cpid&custid=csl&db=mfi&AN=127365930&site=eds-live&profile=edspass:[_]high