Social Class in America

Running Head: SOCIAL CLASS IN AMERICA

Social Class in America:

African Americans in the 21st Century

Sheila Howard

Strayer University

Social Class in America: African Americans in the 21st Century

Someone asked me the other day, why African Americans do not go back to Africa if they feel mistreated here in America. That upset me. However, after much thought, I felt it was a legitimate question coming from a Caucasian person. After the abolishment of slavery, African Americans made their mark in history. They invented tools and products that helped move this country forward. They wanted to remain and claim their place in society.

The Civil Rights movement helped keep the momentum going. African Americans were able to get better jobs and move up in society. Economical, political, and educational issues are threatening the upward movement of African Americans. Many of the advances (and gains) due to the civil rights movement have rolled back within recent years. Roach put it very well:

We have seen over the past 20 years now a rolling back of many of the advances and gains of the civil rights movement, plain and simple. Attacks on affirmative action, attacks on welfare programs and not only welfare programs, but programs designed to benefit individuals who are among the working poor. And, add to this, the deteriorating economic structure in America,” says Dr. Earl Wright, the chair of the sociology department at Texas Southern University in Houston. (Roach, 2008, p. 16-19)

“’People are quite anxious’, Kohut said. ‘ They do not see the kind of forward momentum that blacks saw in earlier times.’” (Reynolds, 2007, p. A.1). I agree with Reynolds, I do not see that momentum either, especially in education. Is it because our children are lazy or because we, as parents, are not as involved in their education, as we should be? “A majority of black Americans blame individual failings –...